Of course it wouldn't work in Windows XP, after all it's an old Dos game and neither Windows XP nor the old Dos games were ever intended to get along with each other. Back then nobody knew there would be Windows XP one day, and Bill Gates didn't care in the least for the players all around the world to provide compatibility for the classic Dos games.
There's however a ray of hope for you. There has been created a special program to allow people to play these old games despite today's lack of compatible hardware and support for all the old Dos games. This program's name is DosBox and you can download it
here
On the same site you'll find hints and documentation to help you get along with DosBox. And if you still have questions or problems, don't hesitate to ask here and we'll be happy to help you. May the force be with you... oh wait, that's a wrong game
