Billed as the "War to end all wars," it is proving to be, instead, the war that never ended ­ at least in the alternate reality of Iron Storm.

The Kaiser has been supplanted, and the war machines of Russia and German have been united under the tight grip of Baron Nikolai Aleksandrovitch Ugenberg ­ a latter-day Genghis Khan. The bloody baron has a vision of one state, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to China. Not everyone shares that vision.

But a war that lasts decades is not easily financed. Therefore the West came up with the idea of putting its armies on the stock exchange, allowing people to invest in and get rich from speculation. Of course, the stock goes up and down depending on technological advancements, and who is making the most progress toward victory. It is an ugly business. Driven by the motivation to please stockholders, commanding officers don't always make the wisest decisions.

That�s where Lieutenant James Anderson comes into play. He has a knack for causing disruption behind enemy lines. His first assignment: steal plans for Ugenberg's new weapon and then destroy the building and materials where it is being developed. That means a trip behind enemy lines. It means braving sniper attack, eradicating whatever smattering of resistance to his incursion he encounters and being both deadly and quick.

Iron Storm, a PC release from Dreamcatcher Interactive, 4x Studio and Wanadoo, is a shooter game that can be played from either the third- or first-person perspective (you can easily toggle between the two views). The game features a combination of the trench warfare of WWI and 1960s-based machinery. While soldiers hunker down in the labyrinth of trenches, with shells bursting all around and the occasional sniper's bullet whizzing past, helicopters fly overhead, laying down a barrage of machine-gun fire.

Building off the solid alternative premise, the action game follows Anderson through a range of six campaigns, each bound by the common thread of shoot-or-get-shot. Should you succeed, you will end the bloody conflict and win the ultimate prize ­ peace. Fail and well, reload and try again.

The control elements of the game are keyboard and mouse based. Figure on about 20 minutes to get comfortably with the configuration ­ though the controls can be re-allocated to a different key structure. However, just because you are carrying a rifle with a scope doesn't mean you will have sniper-scope capabilities. Options will allow less experienced players to auto target.

The sound is more or less what was expected. The sound of helicopters overhead, the gunfire and blasts of bombs make for a cacophony perfectly suited for the situation.

Graphically the game has its strong and weak points. There are some minor clipping problems, and some of the animation seems a little jerky or stiff. The cut scenes mirror the animation of the game. However, the environments are excellent. The texturing looks good even in first-person mode, and you can really use terrain elements to your advantage.

Iron Storm starts out with a great premise, then becomes an action shooter game that loosely holds on to the plot. The same scenarios could have been used in WWII or any major conflict. That aside, the game does require some tactical thinking and strategy before flying into the face of the enemy. This is basically one man against an army.

The game presents challenge amidst the confusion of war. It looks good and plays well. Yes, it could have been better if the plot were integrated closer to the action (almost like the intrigue and surprise elements that were part of Eidos' Deus Ex), but as a shooter game, this is enjoyable.

This game is rated Mature for blood and gore, and violence.

Gameplay: 7.2
The game does bog down a touch in load times in transitional areas, but the map boards seem large and are well detailed. You won�t always see where the sniper is that is tagging you, but from the reaction to bullet impact, you will be able to make a reasonable guess.

Graphics: 7.4
The game does have some minor clipping problems (with legs disappearing beneath the ground when crawling), and some of the animations are a little jerky. The environments are very well done and the special effects are terrific.

Sound: 7
The game features a mix of spoken and typed chatter. The sound effects of the war are well rendered, but the majority of the audio effects are what was expected from a war game.

Difficulty: Medium
The control elements will take some time to get thoroughly acquainted with. Even though the profile of the weapon you are using shows a scope that doesn't mean you have zoom capabilities­ which can be annoying when you are hunting a sniper that you can't see though you have an idea in which area that shooter is located. There are several difficulty levels to increase the challenge and the computer AI is nicely done. Enemy soldiers won't just stand there waiting to get shot.

Concept: 8
The idea of combining elements from multi-decades of warfare is well integrated into this program� storyline. The player interface is relatively player-friendly.

Multiplayer: 7
The game does feature online Deathmatch and Capture-the-Flag combat.

Overall: 7.2
The game has some minor problems and though it sets up nicely with a strong storyline, it really just becomes another mission-based shooter game.