WarCraft: Orcs & Humans

Known in the office as 'yes My Lord, My Lord', thanks to the incredibly annoying response you get to your every command from the minions in your charge. It's sort of Command & Conquer, only it's set in the days when everyone wore tights: that's right, Christmas panto season. Your task, basically, is to organise your unwashed, half-witted, ill-disciplined rabble and beat the crap out of your neighbours.

The game's a bit like being manager of Arsenal, really - except your men aren't so stupid that they need 'arse' written across their buttocks. Your men aren't that intelligent, though: tell them to chop some trees down next to their house and they catch the next boat to Norway. To be fair, this seems to be pretty much par for the course with all C&C-style games. But the levels are large, with plenty of space for expansion, and there's a nicely judged difficulty curve. Not as good as the sequel, but there are a good few hours of play in there.