THIS is the second in the series and builds on the first with some improvements in the game play. This is a real time strategy game in which the player has to guide his nation over a time-frame of 400 years, running from AD 1419 and Joan of Arc to AD 1820, the Age of Napoleon.

It allows you to play various scenarios from different nations' points of view and this gives the game lots of variations and ultimately a longer life than other strategy games on the market.

It comes with a 65-page manual and nine tutorials for you to work through so you can get used to the interface.

Therefore, anyone hoping to get the most out of this game will need to kickstart their brains and dedicate some time to learn how to build armies, win battles and be diplomatic.

However, the game detail goes even deeper than this with the ability to build ships, split your forces and send missionaries to try and convert other regions to yours.

Within your own province you can set tax rates, domestic policy and develop commerce with other regions.

As with most of the strategy games of this type the interface consists of a main map, which shows the rest of the world, and a mini-map, which shows the selected region in detail.

The game is mainly controlled using the mouse although there are some hot keys to speed things up.

The graphics are quite detailed but not that much better than similar games however I did find the music quite irritating after some time.

It is quite difficult, at first, trying to find your way around the interface and this detracts from the game slightly but after a few hours you should have no problems.

I enjoyed the game in short doses but found that sometimes I was receiving so much information I had to ignore some of the information boxes and concentrate on one thing only.

The information comes at you thick and fast and war can be declared in seconds (days in game time) leaving you with little time to react.

After a while, I began to get used to the decisions required and how these affected my nation and provinces and from this point I found myself enjoying the challenge and losing hours in the process.

All in all, this is a very detailed game that either you'll care about deeply and play for months, eventually withdrawing from society altogether, or you'll throw it to the bottom of your pile and get back to blasting alien scum.

The decision depends upon the type of games you enjoy but this game requires the kind of dedication that would put a record breaker to shame.

So if you have the attention span of a mentally challenged fish, give this game a miss.

But should you want a challenge, go for it.

Overall: 4/5