June 6, 1944 is a date long remembered for its heroics, its daring and its impact on the world. D-Day was the greatest amphibious invasion of enemy-occupied soil in history. Now, thanks to Atomic Games and SSI (and parent company Mattel Interactive), you have the chance to battle from the beaches of Normandy inland to topple Germany and Hitler's plans to rule the world.

Or maybe not. Maybe you like the role of the underdog and prefer to try to hold off the invasion by commanding the German troops.

The choice is yours as history comes to life in Close Combat Invasion Normandy. This is the latest and fifth in the line of award-winning strategic war games. From Utah Beach to cleaning up the Cotinten peninsula, this program begins as if a turn-based game, allowing you to set up your initial moves, and then the pandemonium of war erupts as the battle — in single player mode — becomes a real-time gut crawl through a rain of bullets from machine guns and the bombardment of artillery from tanks, howitzers, armored cars and half-tracks.

The program features 44 individual battles, seven operations and four campaigns (including Airborne Attack, Attack on Cherbourg, Grand Campaign and The North Flank). Faithfully recreating the conditions, the landscape and forces on hand, Close Combat Invasion Normandy views the world from high above and uses the "fog of war" (to keep you from zipping through the enemy.

Of course, the options package is quite solid. Pick the side you wish to represent, then select from five difficulty settings. There are four realism settings: always see the enemy, never act on initiative, always have full enemy info and always obey orders. The conditions for victory also can be set the way you wish — when morale gets too low, time expiration (15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes), after taking all victory locations, and two-minute warning.

The sounds of this program are incredible. From the rat-tat-tat of machine guns to the boom of tank cannons and the radio chatter, the audio track is crisp and clean. Each sound is wonderfully rendered and greatly enhances the gaming experience.

The graphics are also solid. The game emulates an overhead three-dimensional look, uses line-of-sight targeting. There are no hexagons in this program because it is real-time action. You can give initial orders before the scenario plays out, but once you fire the starting gun, be ready to make quick decisions.

There was a problem during installation of this program that does need to be mentioned. Although the ROM included a Codec program on it, it did not seem to install correctly. As a result, the error message read 'Unable to Find Stream.' The program would not play. It was necessary to download the newest MediaPlayer Codec file from Microsoft. After that, the program worked very well, and the historical film clips retelling the tale of D-Day at the intro to the game were amazing to watch.

The program also comes with a scenario editor which allows you to fudge with history and create your own campaigns and operations. There are 15 starting stages to choose from (such as American control with no supply depot, or Split control with a minor German supply depot), and you have the entire strategic map of the game to create on.

This program supports multiplayer gaming through an Internet TCP, Internet UDP protocol, modem or serial connection. Though it does contain animated blood and animated violence, this program is rated for Everyone.

Close Combat Invasion Normandy is a terrific war program that challenges the mind and reflexes. It incorporates solid graphics, dynamic sound, and historical perspective in a manner that brings moment in time to life.

Install: Easy. Though the game only requires 150 megs of hard drive space, counter that with the Codec problems. However, once all elements were in place, this program presented no problems.

Gameplay: 8. The maps are wonderful, and the game plays each scenario, operation and campaign smoothly.

Graphics: 8. The graphical elements are well rendered.

Sound: 9. Wonderful sounds really give this program a boost.

Difficulty: 7.5. Five difficulty settings and several realism settings allow you to customize just how challenging the game will be.

Concept: 7.5. Though the fifth in the series, the focus of the game is wonderful.

Overall: 8. Real-time battles, an incredible audio track and the rich history all come together to make this a solid war gaming experience.