The Hun horde rumbles across the steppes, hoof beats pounding as the terrifying army races ahead of the winds and down on the unsuspecting village. It is a job for a butcher, a mad man, or one consumed with the thirst for power. Do any of those descriptions fit you?

If so, you can become Attila the Hun, commander of the one of history's most-feared armies. But you will have to work quickly. You have only a finite amount of time in which to succeed. Attila's reign lasted only about 20 years. He called himself the Scourge of God, and it is only appropriate that the campaign is titled the same.

Microsoft and Ensemble Studios have released Age Of Empires II The Conquerors, a historical foray into some of the greatest figures from the past. You can be Montezuma, El Cid or Attila. But don’t think that all you have to do is attack and conquer.

Nope, this game is much more in depth than that. For example, as Attila, you must kill your brother Bleda, before you can organize the Huns and ride out against your neighbors. There are several ways to kill him, and the Huns can’t advance beyond the castle stage in development. You will have to employ both strategy and quick reflexes coupled with adept mouse movements.

Don’t worry about the controls of this program; they are the same as other Age of Empires games. And you will be familiar with them simply because you need to have Age of Empires II in order to run this program.

Other new features include: civilizations such as the Aztecs, Koreans, Mayans and Spanish; new units and technologies; new game types such as King of the Hill, Wonder Race and Defend the Wonder; real world maps; winter and tropical terrain; smarter villagers; new controls; and an improved map editor.

The historical data is concise and informative, and each conqueror campaign has conditions for victory, goals that must be met along the way, and three difficulty settings beginning with standard and getting increasingly difficult.

Do not expect an easy time here. This program will consume vast amounts of time, but will reward with incredible strategy gaming. You can choose to be merciless or diplomatic. Conquer through force or intrigue. This program has evolved quite nicely and though the graphics are only two-dimensional, the detail gives it a stunning visual element that entreats the eyes.

The sound is solid, from the vocal introductions to the new scenarios, to the dialects of the villagers. Controls involve the point-and-click style that seems to be standard throughout the genre. A backspace keystroke has been added to allow the gamer to return to a previous location on the map. You can use this to move from one location to another quickly – such as from your main army to your scouts. The keystroke will hold 10 locations, but you can only go backwards with the view, not return or toggle from one group to the other.

Age of Empires II The Conquerors is an old friend with a stylish new suit of clothes. This product intrigues, and delights. The rewards are a campaign against a solid computer/enemy AI that adapts and changes and can defeat you quickly. Though this program has not joined the 3D age, it nonetheless delivers terrific graphics without requiring a high-end system. Age of Empires II is a terrific program that, with this expansion pack, just got a little better.

The Age of Empires programs are rated Teen for animated blood and animated violence. The program supports multiplayer gaming on network, LAN or the Internet.

Install: Easy. Age of Empires is a game that delivers great value for little hard drive space – a full install is under 400 megs. The expansion disk, The Conquerors, only eats up a little more than 200 megs for the full install.

Gameplay: 8. Smooth and seamless with a  map that reveals itself as the game progresses. This program features goal-oriented campaigns based on historic figures.

Graphics: 8. This is a two-dimensional world, but the graphical detail is still outstanding. This is not surprising. Yes, this has become a three-dimensional world with graphics driven by 3D accelerators, but Age of Empires II: The Conquerors carries the original game graphics, and those were very solid.

Sound: 8. Ambient sounds and regional dialects are all well rendered.

Difficulty: 8. Yep, still a tough program.

Concept: 7. Nothing really new here, but the addition of El Cid, Attila and other historical characters make for a nice addition.

Overall: 8. 5. It’s nice when an old friend pops up with something familiar and yet refreshing. That’s what Age of Empires II: The Conquerors does. It provides new elements to a game that, after three years, is still one of the best in the civ genres.