Combat Mission 3: Afrika Korps

If You appreciate a spot of turn-based action and have a healthy interest in historical accuracy, you really should have played Combat Mission in one of its guises over the last three years. It's the single most important development in hardcore strategy gaming that's happened in eons.

This third instalment is less a new game, and more a new setting - North Africa and Italy - and uses the same we go' system as before. You and another player take as long as you want to issue orders to all your units for your upcoming one-minute turn. The computer then generates the outcome in what is essentially a one-minute-long piece of film, which you can replay as many times and from as many angles as you like. Shells rain down, tanks go up in flames and men panic under incoming machine-gun fire.

CM's total commitment to realism does have an impact on playability, as you have to plan your moves and appreciate the vagaries of such things as battlefield communications and artillery-spotting techniques. But the pay-off - especially in multiplayer play-by-email (PBeM) games - is a tactical hit the like of which few other titles can match.

A lot of people will find the system too intricate and not immediate enough. But if you're inclined towards a more cerebral thrill, Combat Mission still offers the most realistic and arguably the most satisfying World War II strategy fix around.