CONSOLE REVIEW; Steel Reign (Sony) PlayStation

There's nothing better of a Sunday afternoon than climbing into a prototype tank and blowing everything within a five-mile radius to smithereens. The folk at Sony obviously share this enthusiasm and have decided to take the hassle out of owning and running a tank by publishing a tank simulator.

Steel Reign invites you to undertake a series of missions spread over 10 different locations, ranging from sun-baked deserts to inner-cities populated with skyscrapers. There are a number of tanks to choose from, each with its own strengths and weaknesses and there is also a two-player split-screen option which lets you compete with a friend.

With a concept like this behind it, you wouldn't have thought the developers could go far wrong; huge amounts of death and destruction presented in 3D is usually enough to send most gamesplayers into ecstasy. Surprisingly, it doesn't really work in this game. The graphics are okay, and the element of competition makes the two-player mode quite playable, but as a one-player game it's extremely repetitive. Get in your tank, blow everything up, move onto the next level and do it all over again. It may sound like fun, but, in truth, it's pretty mind-numbing. It is mildly entertaining for a time, but not for long. Chances are you'll be bored of it within a few days of purchase.

A good idea on paper which doesn't work too well in practice.

On release, pounds 34.99