If at first glance you get a strange sense of déjà vu when you look at the box cover for this game, then don't be spooked. Developers World Forge recently released Ancient Wars: Sparta, an RTS which featured Spartans, Persians and Egyptians fighting for supremacy.

Fate of Hellas could almost be seen as Version Two, as the same three nations are again at loggerheads but this time the Macedonians have been added to the mix. There are two campaigns of seven missions each and the aims are broadly the standard ones of forging alliances with potential friends and then building an impressive enough force to overcome your enemies.

It's perhaps unfortunate that Fate of Hellas has been released simultaneously with World Forge's other ‘ancient world' strategy game, The Golden Horde, as the interface, graphics and gameplay are virtually identical. Both make use of heroes that have the ability to moderately upgrade their particular skills and both make use of an otherwise novel technique of using serfs to collect the enemy's weapons after a battle and effectively recycle them when creating new warriors.

If you're already a fan of the strategy genre then you'll feel right at home from the beginning. Trees are harnessed for wood, mines pump out gold and farms produce food. Another clever modification is that your units' health bars will start to decline as the food runs out, so it's in your interest to keep granaries and food stores stocked up and farms well populated.

You'll have all the usual toys to play with, including siege engines, chariots, battleships, war elephants and even camels, and your objectives on the surprisingly small maps are clearly highlighted before you get under way. However, there are several glitches and irritations that may well mean you give up long before you complete each campaign.

The main annoyance is the almost constant stream of enemy raiding parties which begin unrealistically early in each mission and keep repeating while you try to build up your troop numbers. Another problem is the lack of control you frequently have over your troops keeping together, and with comparatively simple pathfinding.

Then there are plain and simple bugs. One mission had to be abandoned completely when none of the workers could be persuaded to operate in the only gold mine in our territory. On another occasion a series of rock traps always aimed the boulders away from the advancing troops. By the end, any lasting enjoyment of Hellas was turning suspiciously close to Hell.

Once again, a potentially fruitful hunting ground for new inspiration in a strategy game has been spoiled by severe technical flaws and only minor attempts at pioneering something truly original.