World of Backgammon

Backgammon is the oldest game in recorded history, its roots running back to ancient Egypt. Forget pocket aces, forget seven-letter words, if you wanted credibility 5,000 years ago you had to be a dab hand with a pair of dice and a bunch of checkers.

Introducing you to World of Backgammon is an ancient sage, who floats around the main menu, keen to set the mystical scene with wise words of wisdom. "This game is older than history, so try to play with respect," he preaches. Better mind your Ps and Qs, then.

The sage claims to act as your game guide, but is actually pretty useless and does little else apart from tell you when it's your turn to roll the dice. If you're a newcomer to backgammon, your first port of call should be Rules, accessed from the Help menu, which will teach you everything you need to get started.

Three game modes are available. Duel enables you to play a single game against the computer with three levels of difficulty to choose from, or you can play against a friend, passing the handset back and forth to take turns. Best of Three is self-explanatory, really, and follows the same mould.

Tournament mode sees you compete against ancient civilisations for an artefact known as The Scepter of Nations, ownership of which establishes order in the world for the next 500 years. They really took backgammon seriously back then. There are four heats to beat that get harder as you progress, but the computer opponent never really puts up much of a challenge – we were crowned champions on our first attempt.

You can select from four different game boards: Classic, Wood, Marble and Beach. Unfortunately, though, the boards are numbered and not named, so there is no way of telling which one you've chosen until you start the game.

A relaxed variation of the theme music plays in the background as you battle your opponents, but there are no accompanying sound effects. On the plus side, there are a few neat touches (your checkers take the form of shells when playing on the beach board), the colours are bold, and the sage animates in a way you'd expect from a jittery old guru.

The keypad controls move a cursor in four directions, which you then use to move individual checkers around the board. The areas that you can move to are handily highlighted, too, so you don't have to manually count between points to figure out where to go.

As for assessing your performance, a new scoring method is included that you won't find in the official rules, with points being gained for every opposing blot you strike onto the bar. Rolling a double also increases your score. To simplify things, however, the doubling cube (a die used by experienced backgammon players) has been removed. It definitely makes the game more accessible to newcomers without the worry of added tactics.

Once you've completed the tournament (which should take about an hour), there's little else to keep you coming back for more. The sage is an obvious element that could have been used more efficiently, perhaps to guide you through different backgammon strategies, but instead he becomes rather irritating, stating the blindly obvious.

World of Backgammon is a good choice for beginners, but there's nothing new here if you own any other versions of the game. As a result, those of you looking for a real challenge might be better off leaving this one buried in 3000 B.C.