Crossing the massive American continent the battles will rage from the far south to the cold north and pit 5 new nations in all-out battle. The Alaskan Haida natives, Russians, Portuguese, Dutch and Germans join the original combatants making 17 in all, and during the 42 missions and 8 campaigns you get to meet all of them… Brutally…!

If you have already played the original American Conquest you won’t be surprised to see just how huge the game maps are… 30 x 20 screens at 1024x768 and that is really huge. But the speed that you can scroll around without loosing any detail is equally amazing. Apart from a small mini-map and a top info bar the screen is uncluttered by control icons and it’s simply a case of selecting your men and sending them off to work or do battle. Like the original there can be up to 16,000 units at one time but I’ve never got anywhere near that in my campaigns.

Spanning the era between 1492 and 1813 these campaigns cover some fantastic historical battles, such as Pizarro's Expedition, the War of Tecumseh, the Seven Years War, and the American War of Independence. There are also 9 separate single player missions to tackle. In every case, however, the diversity of landscape features, as well as over 100 different buildings, can be used to afford cover to the troops and an advantage in firepower.

If you want to be efficient, tactical formations can be used, just as they used to be in the good old days. Personally, I prefer to use formations when defending but adopt a free-for-all attack mode when going in for the kill. The beauty here is that you can use whichever style suits you best… You can have all the standard bearers and drummers you want as you march into battle but your troop morale is influenced by victories and defeats – so choose wisely…!

However you decide to play there are some basics that you will need to stick to. Resource gathering and management, unit and building creation and defense, training, and even diplomacy as you negotiate for much needed resources and reinforcements. Each nation has its own requirements to cater for but across the board the attention to detail is awesome. You can watch you men reload their weapons and move equipment around, look on as buildings burn, and zoom out for an overview of the entire battleground.

There are multiplayer maps too for those that like to go head-to-head which all adds up to AMERICAN CONQUEST: Fight Back being another winner for CDV.

Price: £29.99 for PC CD ROM.