An Electronic King of the Hill

Call us irresponsible. We didn’t know what we really wanted.

Somebody finally comes up with just the kind of multidimensional, cerebral, inter-galactic strategy game that, any frequent reader knows , will appeal to us. . . . Nope. It’s boring.

Well done. Clever. Inventive. Challenging. All the right adjectives apply to “Imperium,” a new British-made game released by Electronic Arts, but the look and the play are a few years off the pace for computer games.

Your job in “Imperium” is to rule the Earth’s empire. There are diplomatic, economic and military tests of your power. If you survive them and rule for 1,000 years or conquer all other empires, you win. The game employs some fairly sophisticated artificial intelligence programming (political rivals and advisers) and has plenty of built-in surprises. This is a simulation so there is no one way to win--although some strategies work much better than others.

“Imperium’s” problems lie in its complexity. Games can be long, drawn out affairs taking place largely as written reports from the various fronts--a battle site or another imperial court. While that may mirror a ruler’s reality, it’s not necessarily what you want in a game.

“Imperium” is an anachronism amid the flashy, action-filled current generation of RAM-devouring game programs. Even more intellectually inclined players may find “Imperium’s” internalized play and predominantly black-and-white graphics a bit too retro.

We felt like a couple of grounded space jockeys longing for a fast ship and some aliens to blast.

IMPERIUM Rating: **

IBM & compatibles, Tandy, Atari ST, Amiga. List: $39.95.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.