Father's Day is quickly approaching, which leads me to ask the question, "does your dad have games where you annihilate the enemy and blow stuff up?"

This rite of passage into manhood has been linked to the male ego since the beginning of time -- or at least since the first version of Doom hit the market eons ago.

We've entered the era of the war game, once dominated by just a few well designed titles -- most notably the Command&Conquer series from Westwood (now part of the Electronic Arts stable) and the Medal of Honor games, also from Electronic Arts .

We find ourselves buried in these games, each trying to outdo the other in their realism and story line. And in all of them we get to satisfy our need to destroy stuff.

Now, I'm a terrible computer game player -- unless Solitare and Hearts qualify -- and my attention span when it comes to these things is only rivaled by my inability to get past the first level. But these games fascinate me.

"Commandos 3: Destination Berlin" from Eidos; "Hidden and Dangerous" (another WW II simulation) developed by Illusion Software; "Secret Weapons over Normandy" from Lucas Arts; "American Army Special Forces" from the U.S. Army; and "Call of Duty" from Activision are just a few of the titles that have hit the market since Christmas. And let us not forget "Return to Castle Wolfenstein," a new, bloodier version of the game that started it all way back in the ancient times of computing.

And how many hard-core gamers are holding their breath waiting for the release of the new version of Doom?

So, despite my game-playing handicap, several of these epics have found spots on my hard drive and I do return to them from time to time, trying to get through basic training. In fact, I find my self returning most often to "Call of Duty", which was developed by Infinity Ward for Activision and has been declared by many devout gamers to be the Game of the Year. (It even won the coveted Bermie Award from yours truly.)

There are 24 missions spanning four campaigns, but what is unique is that you get to see these campaigns through the eyes of American, British of Russian soldiers, whose main objective is to get to Berlin and leave no man behind.

Also the characters in this game actually tend to form a bond as the game progresses _ a human characteristic rarely found in these types of games developed for the PC.

Don't get me wrong, all of the games I've mentioned are worth your time, but "Call of Duty" seems to rise above the rest, portraying what it really must have been like on the battlefields during WWII.

Also, keep an eye out for an expansion pack for the game which is expected to hit store shelves later this year. For more information, go to www.callofduty.com.