Birth of America

Let's Be Fair; the American Revolution wasn't the most exciting of conflicts. In fact, 18th century soldiers seemed more interested in buffing their frock coats than blowing stuff up. Thankfully, Birth Of America does a good job of keeping the war interesting, in a turn-based battle set-up with plenty of tactical depth and a wealth of historical information.

The game covers two iconic American conflicts: the first is the French and Indian War, while the second more prominent scuffle is the American Revolution. Action plays out over a colourful game board, which is split into areas each rated for terrain effects as well as showing important towns and forts. Each turn takes place over one month of in game time, which helps to keep things fast-paced and exciting.

At first the complexity of the game can be quite daunting; combat units, historical leaders, Indians and ships all have to be simultaneously manoeuvred around the map, and strategic towns targeted. Work has been made through tutorials and the GUI to help the less strategy-sawy, but you're still likely to spend the first few hours clueless, marching around the mid-west.

Once you've mastered it though, Birth Of America is a fine entry in the turn-based strategy genre. It's not going to blow the big guns out of the water, but it could be worth checking out purely so good ol' Blighty can dominate the Americas once more.