In 1944, the German High Command made the decision to hang onto one of their last strongholds in Russia, at all costs. However, Stalin had other ideas and ordered his Generals to repulse the invaders at the earliest possible opportunity. The bitter conflict that ensued was in a town with an airfield called Korsun and is seen as one of the decisive battles of World War II. How nice of Matrix Games, then, to re-create the drama in Korsun Pocket, a turn based strategic combat game rumoured to be one of the most intelligent and stimulating of it's type for quite some time.

This is quite a remarkable rumour when you discover that the game is of the old-school hexagonal grid type strategy affair, which became very popular throughout the Eighties on board games and computers alike. Is a return to this type of gaming a step forward or a step back? Well, initially I found the game fairly simple in its point and click 'my turn, your turn' approach to movement and the plainly laid out icons that represent various troops, artillery, supplies and armoured vehicles. However, as I read through the eight lessons provided in the manual I found I was looking at something much deeper, which surely would appeal to fans of this genre.

First of all, I found that right clicking various hexes displayed a lot of very useful information. I was given a breakdown of the type of terrain, the troops, movement penalties, alerts, victory points and all kinds of other info. This was my first hint that I was looking at something quite absorbing. Left clicking on various units then show such things as unit strength and movement. These two actions are very important when placing troops and armoured vehicles, as one turn is broken down into two sections - either a move and an action (such as combat) or a move and then extending the move that bit further. If you extend your move you can't act though, so if you stretch yourself and come up against enemy forces, you have to wait the next round before you can do anything. Mind you, if you have a few trucks around then troop movement can be extended even further. Anyway, these allowances on action and movement are represented on the left side of the screen after left clicking each unit icon.

Of course, these movements are also determined by the type of terrain you wish to traverse. If it is road, you're pretty much sorted as all types of units can use those. However, if you want to go cross country then you're going to have to watch out for mud, trees and hilly areas, as some of these aren't traversable except by infantry on foot. Also, keep an eye on the weather, as this affects the terrain. Cold weather is great, as frozen ground is almost as good as a road to move over, but watch out for rain, where your mechanised forces may have traversed freely a few turns ago could now become a boggy mire where movement is either restricted or stopped altogether.

Besides movements there are a variety of other options available, depending on the units you're using. These include bridge construction, repair and destruction, entrenching and creating detachments. All have key roles in any combat situation you're entering into, or leaving. If you're trying to funnel enemy movement in a particular direction, laying waste to all but one bridge is a great option. Similarly, if you have to make tactical retreats, repairing bridges you've blown can be necessary to get you out of trouble. Similarly, entrenching can be used for advance or retreat. Entrenching can consolidate your position during an advance but it can also take out great swathes of enemy if used during a carefully considered retreat.

The units in combat couldn't be simpler, they just need to march up to an adjacent hex and take each other on! Certain units do have certain advantages though. For example, tanks have a kind of shock aspect, although this can be offset with anti-tank units. You have to keep constant watch on which units have been weakened, which have fresh supplies and ammo, and which are most likely to pull off an attack against opposition units. If you don't keep an eye on these things you could end up sending weakened units to the front to be slaughtered by similar looking but much stronger enemy tanks or infantry. Also, if you're out of ammo and don't realise it, rolling up to an adjacent hex could be completely fruitless and leave your boys impotent, immobile and totally vulnerable.

I found myself getting a bit swamped and bogged down by detail when it came to taking on the Soviet forces. Quite often I'd neglect to check out the exact type of terrain, the strength of nearby enemy forces or the supply status of my own. I soon discovered the 'Combat Advisor' though, a powerful little tool that helped me identify the most vulnerable targets. Green represents the best chances I have, orange for more dubious possibilities and red for areas where I'd be completely wiped out. However, while the Combat Advisor gives you plenty of info and breakdowns of the weakest point of the enemy, this is only a fleeting snapshot of a particular section of battle and by no means guarantees you success. It did make the game that little more user-friendly though, just another of those nice little touches that gives you the information at your fingertips instead of having to pile through several pages of stats to get what you need.

The visuals are kept fairly simple, which is good for this type of game. Cluttered pieces in strategy games lead to confusion and frustration all too often. The decals from each piece are made obvious and the stats are carefully represented. Troop damage is represented with skull and crossbones, movement is represented by a running figure in green if the hex is all clear, orange if there's no more room on the area for troops and red again if it's an absolute no go. The hexes themselves can be toggled to graphically represent a wide variety of things. Along the bottom and sides the icons for movement allowances, reconnaissance, battalion selections and suchlike are well laid out and simple to navigate. What has the most attention to detail are the painstakingly clear, and achingly well crafted maps upon which you fight. The roads, hills, lakes, rivers, trees and towns are so well represented you can't go stumbling into an area without realising what it is first. The top down view does look like a direct aerial photograph, made all the clearer by the splashes of colour usually missing from WWII aerial shots. Also, the designers have allowed you to add or remove the hexes as you see fit, so you can appreciate the subtleties of the terrain all the more. Sweet!

There isn't that much to say about the sound. It's pretty basic rumbling of tanks, tromping of feet, typical gun and other combat noises - you get the idea. However, while sound effects are thin on the ground and not particularly spectacular, this doesn't detract from the game in any fashion. I get the impression it was breezed over in the creation of the game, but it's not really missed.

This game will keep you occupied for a long time, even if you are an old pro at strategy games and WWII re-enactments. The minutiae of the engagements at Korsun will involve you to an unexpected level and you'll see hours disappear without a trace. To keep you occupied once you finally finish the Korsun Pocket scenario, Matrix Games have also kindly included a new and improved version of SSG's Ardennes Offensive, which recreates the Battle of the Bulge. This is superb if you've never come across it before - you're really getting two scenarios for the price of one! Besides this, once you've beaten the computer AI you can turn to the web and play by email. A quick Google search will find loads of micro sites and personal sites for Korsun Pocket, the members of which usually seem keen to take you on. Playing against the computer is one thing, but playing against a canny and unpredictable human adds yet another layer to an already multi-faceted game.

Ultimately, Decisive Battles of WWII Vol 2: Korsun Pocket is a game for strategy enthusiasts who will welcome a return to the old hexagon grid with a fresh, new approach. However, this is an incredibly giving game and thanks to the accessible training manual it can be picked up and played quite quickly. This should draw more players away from other game genres and onto one that encourages exercising that big grey muscle between the ears. Although the graphics and sound are both fairly simple, (besides the beautiful maps) they certainly do the job. However, this is one of those occasions where these factors are secondary considerations and gameplay and lifespan come first. So, I'm dug in, the artillery is placed, the supply routes are clear, I've got some serious machinery backing me up and my email servers are raring to go - come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!

Reviewed by Dave Wynn for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).