Most computer games seem to be bent on the idea of conquering the earth or some other race. Usually in real time strategy games one must annihilate the opponent and build up a massive army and take over the world. First person shooters have their own twist. In this case it is usually aliens who come from afar to take over the world. Other than those "authentic" (read:boring) turn based war strategy games, nothing has really come close to real life combat or real life occurrences. However, thanks to Psygnosis the real life application of games has finally hit home.

Global Domination: The title says it all. The premise is simple: Take over the world with nuclear weapons. You become the supreme global power by pointing and clicking and nuking your opponents. I never pictured Sadam Hussein as the computer game playing type but I can definitely see him playing this one - cackling maniacally as he nukes the whole world.

Graphics: The graphics in the game are not what you would call stellar. GD does however use 3d, but it appears to only use the lighting effects incorporated in Direct3D or glide. I found very little difference in speed between my g200 and my voodoo2. Software mode seemed to be quite playable. Each missile is nothing more than a rectangle that moves across the globe-like view. Probably the best effect of this game occurs after firing a missile; by moving around the globe you can see the missile appearing on the horizon as it circles just as if it was really heading for its target. After firing a lot of missiles little screens appear in the bottom corners showing cutscenes of the launch sequence. It's not a bad effect, except that there are only four different scenes. As a whole, the cutscenes in the game are quite nice. They outline a plot revolving around a splinter faction, which tries to preserve the globe from total nuclear war.

Sound: The sound in this game is quite bland; it offers nothing more than the explosions and launchings of your missiles. More work could have been put into this area by adding speech and siren alerts similar to the real life ones.

Gameplay: Anyone and their mother can play this game. You see a country, you left click to attack... you see a missile coming at you, you left click to defend - it's that easy. It seems the developers went out of their way to make the game as playable as possible. Each mission has guidelines and objectives; usually it involves defending a country while attacking another. During the course of a mission other countries may join or leave the war. Submarines can also enter the war in mid-mission. As well as the missiles themselves, you also have direct control over ships, submarines, and bombers/fight planes. The game is easily a battle for who can click the mouse the fastest.

Fun Factor: Anyone that loves destruction will definitely love this game. Most games offer nothing more than killing little pixels that are supposed to be humans, but in this game you actually get to launch missiles at countries. (Yes, even Canada) The only downside is that when attacking you can only inflict damage on the country you are directly attacking.

Multiplayer: Your basic flavors of multiplayer are included, even TCP/IP. It does not seem fun to play network games though. The end result is basically a battle of pointing and clicking. There is very little strategy involved in multiplayer and you could easily lose to the blind kid down the street.

Overall Impression: At first glance this game seems to have what it takes, but it offered nothing to keep me into the game. The graphics got boring, the sound got boring, even the gameplay got boring. The full motion videos give the game some life, but again, not enough to make you keep playing. If you have a hunger for power or love the thrill of nuking someone or even if you just happen to have a Hussein complex by all means go get this game.