A truly pan-European game, this one. Developed in Germany by Ascaron, and published by The Netherlands' HD Interactive, this PC title is just what you've been waiting for if you're a strategist who craves more action, or an action fan who wants more in-depth gameplay against the computer or in three multi-player modes - 'hotseat', LAN or Internet. Ballerburg takes you back to an era of castles, knights and crucial battles fought with cannons, catapults and magic spells - a time when ruling a kingdom was a daily battle for survival. In this humour-filled story, you mastermind the action as a general who has been ordered by his queen to get rid of her hated sisters in neighbouring settlements. Both you and your human or AI opponents have your own castles. Inside or around the castles you can also erect additional buildings and repair any damage to them as your power increases, giving you more weapons and magic. With either mouse or keyboard control, your aim is to destroy a pre-determined number of enemy buildings, and the goals become more challenging as the action progresses with battle ratings and medals to be gained, and record lists to track your progress. Battling through four day or night campaigns, each with eight levels of increasing complexity and 16 missions plus three tutorial missions, you have an arsenal of 11 different weapons and a store of nine magic spells, including the power to rain lightning down on the enemy and create earthquakes. There are 14 different buildings, each with individual functions.