When you think of simulations, what is the first thing that springs to mind? Microsoft Flight Simulator! I've reviewed numerous add-ons for this king of simulations in the last few months! And therein lies the problem for those of us who crave a detailed and realistic tank simulator - providing the same impeccable experience in a tank that MFS delivers with aircraft.

Enter T72: Balkans On Fire. As the name gives away, this simulation is based on and around, although not exclusively (poetic licence has been used!) the conflict in the Balkans from 1991 to 1995. This software package, it seems to me, will turn the tide on the fortunes of tank simulations and hopefully allow them to blossom into what tank enthusiasts need - quality, realism and longevity of use, proving that there is a market for this kind of entertainment.

The developers have resisted the futuristic battlefield scenario and set this in the past, a refreshing change, and enables tank simmers to use realistic hardware actually used in a real conflict that we are all very well aware of. (Bar one unit - the SU100, which was not used in this conflict, but is from the same era).

On the surface this package looks to be of very high quality, with a detailed manual - thankfully in printed glossy form - which is presented very thoughtfully and explains all the military hardware included in the package with no lack of attention to detail. Even if you are a veteran of this kind of simulation, reading this manual in detail is a must if you want to get the most out of the game. Installation is on two CD-ROM discs and is painless and fully automatic.

Although the menu system is reasonably simple to understand, I have used more friendly interfaces, notably Flight Simulator (sorry to keep bringing it up), which, although a much more complicated package, has smoother operation of menus and is more logical. T72 suffers from annoying returns to desktop and taskbar when you load between menu and the game. The manual explains that this is because the menu and the game are two different programs but still this makes the game look poorly linked together and detracts from the feeling of quality that is otherwise present. I found it also proved to be irritating in the game setting menus, for example in graphical settings. Some actions do not give away clearly what they do, what effect they have on the game and neither is this explained fully in the manual.

The constant 'graphics initialisations' when loading and re-loading are equally irritating, as are the long load times where your PC seems to be doing nothing with no apparent hard-disk activity. This happens even though my machine exceeded all requirements for the game and which thus impacted heavily on my enjoyment.

One of the first things I noticed while playing a tutorial was that some of the default keyboard commands are not as described in that tutorial or the manual. This is even more frustrating when there is no facility to use your mouse to make commands - you are forced to use standard keyboard/ joystick commands to operate the various functions. To find what key some of these actions were tied to ended up being trial and error, the most notable missing command being the 'Drive to Waypoint' AI command when you are the commander of the tank (this was supposed to be ~ but ended up being @). In the manual there is a nice section detailing how you can turn on and off certain realism features and fine-tune the settings. For example, you can enable God mode and give yourself an inexhaustible supply of ammo.

There is also a nice addition of a screen capture facility that enables you to record all of your glorious action to show your warmongering buddies for bragging purposes (HDD space willing). Well-drawn maps are available to help while in an engagement and these come into their own while controlling multiple vehicles via keyboard AI commands. There is also a nice touch in the Encyclopaedia, which details all of the game's military hardware in an interactive way. Although essentially a repeat of what is printed in the manual, I recommend a look!

The game provides three player controllable tanks (T-72B, T-55A, and T34-85) and enhances the eye-candy further with fourteen other vehicles and a variety of infantry on the simulated battlefield, including:

MBT "Leopard" 1A4
M50 "Super Sherman"
SU-100 Tank Hunter
MIV MT-LB Armoured Carrier
BRDM-2 Scout Vehicle, the Mi-8 Helicopter
BTM-3 High Speed Trench Digging Vehicle
BZP (recoil-less gun) B-11 and PTO 2A45M "Sprut-B" Anti-Tank Gun
AAW-9K113 "Shturm-S" Anti-Tank-Guided-Missile
"British Army Jeep" (Landrover Defender)
IVECO EuroCargo
ML170E23 Medium Truck
KRAZ 265 Fuel Truck

The most interesting vehicle for me, aside from the tank types, is the aforementioned BTM-3 High Speed Trench Digging Vehicle. Although you cannot drive this vehicle, when this is at work you can really see the game's deformable landscape being properly deformed. Drive over to where it has been in operation and voila, a nice new trench!

The gameplay consists primarily of campaign mode, but operating from the Croat side there are also single player missions and associated training. There is a multiplayer mode where you can play in competitive or co-operative modes within a network game, which is highly entertaining. The three player-drivable tanks offer various positions for tank simmers to try their hand - you can drive the tank, become the commander, the gunner, or even man the machine gun. Don't expect real, true-to-life cockpits and control stations inside the tank; although you will have to do a lot more than you have ever done before on any of your previous tank simulators, the view choices are limited. In all positions you have the choice of an inside view - (a limited view for the driver or through the viewfinder for the gunner and machine gunner) or an external view (where you can choose to have the control panel visible or not). It's a shame for tank enthusiasts that they won't be able to see inside the virtual tank, as there is no virtual cockpit.

For control you can use your mouse and keyboard as the default control medium, or like me you could use your joystick (which, incidentally provided me with hours of enjoyment). And you must try driving; I guarantee you will find driving the tanks in T72 a real joy, which cannot be said for most other tank simulators. There is more to driving a tank than just accelerator, brakes and steering; those hungry for realism will find themselves sated here. If you opt for the driver position you also have to start the tank, ensure there is enough fuel to keep her running, release the parking brake, change gear (although you can enable auto-transmission), steer using two pedals and run the gauntlet of becoming lost in your own plume of engine smoke and kicked-up dust. All the while you must keep an eye on your infantry companions and warn them with a toot from the horn perhaps, if you are about to move off and blow their cover.

The dust and dirt created while moving around and generally operating your tank builds up on your viewfinders (in gunner positions) and can be cleaned with the provided hydraulic/pneumatic system which removes dirt and moisture. Again, to add realism, the player must operate this manually.

If you have played tank simulations before, you will no doubt be well acquainted with the gunner position. In T72 the work involved in this position involves far more input from you, the operator, than there has ever been before. You will be even more hard-pressed for help in the T-55 and the T-34, as these tanks are more sparsely populated with sophisticated systems than the T-72. As the gunner you have a variety ammunition types available, you can then work out the range of the target, get them in your sights and fire - the perfect formula for hours of nail-biting engagement!

As the commander, you can take on some of the functions of gunner but you don't have as much hands-on involvement. Your view in this position is a viewfinder type outlook and in this role you have the privilege of making your crew do all the work, quite literally with the many keyboard AI commands at your fingertips. These keyboard commands work equally well when dealing with multiple vehicles - as previously mentioned. The other viewpoint you may wish to try your luck at is the AA gunner position; here you are in a similar view to the gunner but have a machine gun to pick off fast moving targets like helicopters and even those snipers and foot soldiers hiding in the bushes!

The nice thing about this simulator is the plumes of smoke that rise in the distance to emphasise your progress in weeding out the opposition. This smoke billows from your past conquests, as the tanks you destroyed continue to burn, in realistic fashion, on the battlefield. After you have completed the battle, be it in victory or defeat, you can use the statistics option to view your vital information or take a virtual tour of the battlefield to view your successes and even how the enemies were destroyed!

If your tank is hit in an engagement, depending on the type of ammunition that hits you, realistic failures will start to occur. To this end, the game's engine does a grand job in simulating the effects of a strike hitting your tank in different locations, destroying and damaging systems relative to the location of the impact. This adds a very realistic feel to the whole T72 experience and you will note with wonder and dismay that certain types of ammunition open your vehicle up like a tin can! This model of destruction also applies to the land and buildings in the game, which also deform and change shape depending on impact and ammunition used. The graphics are excellent and you can even see individual blades of grass, cloud shadows moving across the battlefield, shimmering and reflective water and much more. Impact damage is also modelled for shrapnel and the results of a nearby impact affect the surroundings and can damage you.

The land maps are based on the area of the Balkans, so they are mountainous and sparsely populated in places. The environment does an excellent job of convincing you that you are really there, although for the record, none of the land is actually modelled on reality. There are many options to change graphics settings, as I have mentioned before, so you can be sure that you can tune this game to your individual hardware needs, optimising your experience to make the most out of it.

There are some flaws though. I have already mentioned that the game's link between menu and actual gameplay feels disjointed and detracts from the feeling of quality. In addition to this, the accuracy of the tanks is not 100% correct. The developers are honest about qualifying the fact that the tanks and systems are realistic, but not definitive. My view is that simulators should make no compromises; if they pass themselves off as simulators, otherwise they are just another game.

The sound too, although for the most part reflecting the high quality of the rest of the game, is let down seriously (and I cannot emphasise how serious an impact this makes), by the Russian accented English that repeats the same things over and over again. It drove me crazy! I admit that the accent does add to the ambience a little, but because of its repetitive nature it does nothing to enhance the experience in the end.

T72: Balkans On Fire has been made with much thought and a careful eye for quality and detail, meaning that it will entertain the simulation fans out there for a very long while. It is definitively the new benchmark in tank simulators and will doubtless be built upon to make an epic experience for military hardware enthusiasts. The package gave me hours of enjoyment and nail biting engagement; it even made me sweat with suspense and convinced me that I was actually in a battle! I say this even though I was not a fan of this genre when I started this review - but T72 convinced me otherwise and I will definitely be going back for more. Sure, it's not perfect, but T72's longevity, engaging gameplay and excellent graphics make it one for the collection!

Reviewed by Reuben Glossop for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).