Watching too many episodes of The Flintstones would have you believing two things. The first is that it is feasible to cut a hole in the floor of your automobile and ditch the engine in favour of the power in your legs. The second is that human beings and dinosaurs lived happily together in the same time period. Sadly the latter example wasn't and never will be true, (which is a shame, because flying abroad atop of a mighty prehistoric bird seems like a lot of fun). Despite the inaccuracies, pairing both man and beast remains a popular choice in today's media, a theory demonstrated by the latest real-time title to do just that. Paraworld enables you to command an army complete with some of the most commonly recognised dinosaurs, across sixteen maps and five climatic world zones, as they would have appeared millions of years ago.

The fantastical environments of Paraworld are based on events that happened in the early nineteenth-century. A pioneering scientist named Jarvis Babbit had formed a secret society, one consisting of top mathematicians focused on the research and discovery of parallel worlds only dreamt of by his ancestors. After decades of work he and his dedicated team discover the secret to accessing these strange new lands. Babbit constructed a large mechanical computer capable of pinpointing the location and times at which the warp gates to the Paraworld are in existence. He hopes that these strange lands will harvest the resources that will lead to the discovery of the secret to eternal youth. However, neither Babbit nor any of his team are prepared to risk their lives to travel through these newfound time warp gates. Instead, three bright, young scientists who have all stumbled across knowledge pointing to the existence of the Paraworld are lured by Babbit into a trap which sees them flung, ill-equipped into a universe of warring tribes and prehistoric creatures, relying solely on their wits to keep them alive.

Each of the three young adventurers has their own set of strengths. Predictably, one is adept in close combat, another strong whilst fighting at range and the other with a forte that lies in slaying animals. All nicely balanced and helpful. As you progress the amount of controllable characters rises to a total of nine, with lots more scope to discover who's best at what and a level playing field with which to concentrate on the more crucial elements of your army to enhance.

Before you have any army to take them to war, you must spend some time building a base and fortifying it's four walls. In traditional real-time strategy style, you must send men off to mine and gather vital resources (wood, food and stone) in order for you to start developing your camp. The buildings that are constructed at your chosen site all have predictably different uses, such as warehouses to increase storage capacity, barracks to train up warriors and tents to increase the population. How tents are used to multiply the amount of persons at a stronghold are a mystery to this reviewer; best e-mail the editor for an answer to that one (don't - Ed).

Despite the large numbers and hefty mix between man and dinosaur, battling against rival tribes in Paraworld's campaign mode is smartly done, with a definite emphasis on varied tactical methods in order to win the day. As previously mentioned, certain individuals are good at one thing, while others are good at another.

Managing your resources so that every group is performing their jobs to the best of their ability and at the optimum location is vital to the success of your micro society. If say, panning across the organised chaos unfolding in front of you, a set of archers are being under utilised in one area while a set of close combat warriors are in a similar predicament nearby, they can simply be commanded to switch so that the job in hand can be dealt with more effectively. Each mission allows you to select only a certain amount of the 52 units made available. Choosing wisely can easily make the difference between success and failure. Do you choose mammoths, which are slow and powerful, or raptors that are speedy and lethal, but more susceptible to the perils of battle? After the pleasantries of picking your armoury, a clear, no-frills inventory will help managing your virtual pawns a breeze. A couple of stress-free clicks between the icons, your men and a piece of the environment is enough to satisfy the demands of Paraworld's most complicated of tasks, freeing up more time for you to go about your business and stare in wonderment at some of the title's glorious graphical touches.

Though the Jurassic Park films are the closest most of us will have come to experiencing the movements and habitat of dinosaurs, Paraworld's environments are worthy enough, convincing to the point a being educational in fact. The cut scenes are all beautifully staged, whilst the care taken to furnish the variety of in-game landscapes is enough to transport you into the game's antiquated world. Frozen ice caps shimmer, trees and shrubbery blossom magnificently throughout the valleys and hills of the more humid areas, and it's all interspersed with smoothly animated characters, full of energy and life.

As well as the campaign mode's levels that consist mostly of increasingly difficult tribes to destroy, there are numerous side quests to hold your attention for that little bit longer. These include the task of discovering ancient artefacts and the hunting down of poachers. Add to this an mode for up to eight players and there's enough here to keep you occupied until the next huge asteroid hits Earth and destroys us all. Despite all this, however, it is disappointing that Paraworld doesn't stretch itself to beyond the realms of the traditional real-time strategy genre. There's more than a sense of crossing old ground here; something sure to disappoint fans of the genre looking for something new to sink their teeth into. Casting that regret aside, Paraworld is more than worthy of getting hold of, certainly if you fancy a taste of dino but don't quite know where to start the search for time-travelling warp gates.

79%

By Andrew Macarthy

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