AND now for something completely different. Well, nearly. It's unusual to come across a game that tries to break the mould but that's precisely what Project Nomads is attempting to do.

It's heralded as a true cross-genre game that mixes the gameplay elements of 3D action, real-time strategy and role-playing.

It sounds great but have the developers pulled off this amazing trick? Well nearly and that's the phrase best suited to this game.

It almost forges a new style of game but falls short somewhere along the path.

The action is set on a planet called Aeres a world which has long since been destroyed by war and reduced to a series of floating islands.

You play one of three nomads in this world who are forever in pursuit of adventure, but at the beginning of the game you are separated from your companions and now you must battle through 28 missions to save them.

To help you do this you team up with one of the "master builders" and he helps you convert your bit of floating rock into a fortress.

The missions require you either battling your way through floating islands, searching areas on foot or flying your plane and doing battle in the skies.

All of this sounds pretty impressive but the game is held back by the repetitiveness of some of the levels; they carry on and on with no end in sight.

Perseverance is the key to these levels.

The gameplay is easy enough to pick up with the same keys being used across the various elements of the game.

While the firing and flying parts of the game are smooth the levels on foot are slightly more difficult and sometimes you end up caught in the scenery, where you need to wriggle or jump to escape.

This is only a small irritation in the scheme of things but one that the developers could have resolved.

The graphics are without doubt the best part of this game and the scenery around you is simply beautiful to look at.

The machines themselves are massive structures, which look different depending on the character you choose.

The sound is unfortunately limited to gun shots and engine noises however the noises it does have are as loud and impressive as the buildings.

One of the unusual elements of this game is that when one of your buildings is destroyed you just pick up its artefact and rebuild it.

So you only get destroyed when your whole island has taken a right old pounding.

The flying scenes are excellent and a game in themselves, as are the parts where you blast everything in sight with guns.

As well as this you also use your noggin slightly but the puzzles are very easy to figure out.

The design of your floating island is very important and the strategic placement of your gun turrets and other buildings is vital to success.

When the game is considered as a whole it has the right looks and certainly the right elements of gameplay to make this one of the most interesting games.

Unfortunately, it falls down on the action within those levels, which aren't very well thought out and in some cases are just plain boring.

It's almost as if having come up with a beautiful looking game they gave up with the content.

It's a shame when the game promises so much that it falls down on perhaps the most important element.

Overall 3.5/5

January 29, 2003 19:00