COSSACKS game developers from GSC have hung up their furry hats and boots for a while and turned their attention to the Colonial Wars in North America.

The game spans the period from the time Columbus set foot on American soil to the American War of Independence that's over three centuries of war.

There are 12 nations and tribes involved during this period, all staking their claim for the land and you can play all of them in various campaigns.

Most of the campaigns feature England, France and Spain with the native American tribes only featuring in one campaign.

Clearly they didn't win a lot of their battles with the invaders of this new world.

The missions within each campaign have various objectives and it's not always a case of killing everything within a certain radius.

In fact, some of the objectives are simply to have a population exceeding a certain number, or creating a certain amount of gold.

The game features a number of missions where the objective is to hold off an attack against your position or to ensure a supply of food to the British troops fighting against the Americans.

This gives the game a different feel from other RTS (Real Time Simulation) games where the sole objective is usually to destroy the other nations within the game.

The game has a variety of skill levels to choose from so you can make it more difficult if you like.

However, in the earlier campaigns, the Native Americans do their very best to make it impossible for you, no matter what the skill level.

The landscapes are richly detailed with hills, streams and forests all packed with wild animals and enemy forces, both of which will kill your men if they get the chance.

The buildings, too, are well detailed and their construction requires a supply of peasants to do the hard work, together with some other artisans, so for a mine you have to have a blacksmith, for example.

The only drawback in this well thought-out game are the large battles, which can become a bit clumsy and require lots of practice to make sure you're not wiped from the face of the map.

You really need to think quickly before sending your troops in a certain direction to battle the enemy because they can get caught up in the terrain, which makes them easy prey.

The game builds morale into each battle and this can have a devastating impact on your army if its morale is low.

Therefore you need to ensure when the troops are fighting they can operate efficiently and this requires each group of men to have an officer to assume different formations (some also need a drummer), a steady supply of food and decent equipment.

The formations function is the most obvious way to ensure success in the heat of battle and fortunately it can all be done through hot keys to speed things up.

As well as the campaigns, there are single missions and you can generate your own maps and missions using the map editor.

So the possibilities are only limited by your own imagination.

This is an excellent RTS game that requires careful management of limited resources to ensure success and it will keep the gaming enthusiasts happily engaged for hours.

A must for Cossacks and RTS fans alike.

Rating: 4.5/5