Andy Dyer helps you sort through two games compilations that offer a lot at first glance

Heavens! A history of Freescape on one compilation. And if you don't know what Freescape is, shame on you. It's Incentive's 3D modelling system with which they produce amazing 3D worlds you can explore...

The first in a fairly long line of Freescape games features a planet called Evath, and a very strange planet it is too. For 'tis filling with dangerous gas at a cracking rate of knots. If something isn't done soon, it will explode. This, we are sure you'll appreciate, would be bad, very bad, You must locate the gas centres and set up drilling rigs to release the harmful vapours scattered across the planet's eighteen domains.

As with all the Freescape games you can move freely around as well as look up and down in case some important item is perched high on the wall of a skyscraper or something, and that could well happen when a planet has severe wind. It's a weird sort of environment and a bit sparse when compared to the other games in this package but if you're keen to get into Freescape, you should really see it all.

Atmosphere was the buzzword with this one. The plot was much easier to identify with as it was set in Egypt in the 1930's [And we were all in Egypt in the 1930's weren't we chaps - Ed]. An ancient Egyptian curse stated that if the sun's rays were ever to be blocked during daylight hours, terrible things would occur.

Well it's time for the prophecy to to cash its chips because the moon is about to make a total eclipse of the sun. When it does, it will explode, showering the earth with meteorites and generally doing untold damage. What you have to do is reach the uppermost shrine in the sun god's pyramid and destroy it, as this is where the curse was first created.

Throughout the game a creepy Egyptian tune complements the creepy Egyptian scenery on screen. There are a few basic things you need to bear in mind to enable you to complete the game. Keep your water bottle filled, there are loads of troughs scattered around so it's no problem. Neglect this and you'll die. Whenever you see an Ankh (weirdo Egyptian symbol) collect it; it proves useful in removing barriers of one kind or another. And there's a visual representation of your heartbeat. If it gets too fast, rest. Again, pay no heed to this and you'll die. Other than that, all you need to do is explore every nook and cranny possible. The screen update is a bit slow but the atmosphere in this one rapidly grabs you.

Freescape came on in leaps and bounds for this one (well, more of a hop, skip and a jump but what I'm trying to say is it improved). The graphics style was the same but the detail contained therein had increased. What's more, the puzzles were a whole lot more complex. If you saw our complete solution way back in issues one and two, you'll see just how devious the whole thing was.

The plot revolves around your captive twin, who has been imprisoned in Castle Eternity by the evil Magister, There are keys to collect and spirits to kill on the quest for your bro.

A few more movement options were included here than in previous offerings. For instance, extra viewing options such as look straight up or down. A useful running option was also included to speed up the game. Low maximum speed was one of the annoying features of the earlier Freescape games. Castle Master became a milestone Freescape game by taking all the best features of its forerunners and improved on them.

This is very similar to Castle Master, and so it should be with a name like The Crypt: Castle Master II. It's never been released before, except to the members of the Home Computer club.

The roles have been reversed and it's now you who have been imprisoned. What do you have to do? Escape, it's as simple as that. Much the same as Castle Master but with a different map layout and different puzzles, so if Castle Master left you craving for more, here it bally well is.

There are some people out there who haven't enjoyed the Freescape games, and in all probability they never will. That's the nature of these titles. Those who have tried and enjoyed one or more of these games should not miss this package. For those who think it may all be too geometrical for them - give it a go. And let's not forget that before long we'll all be able to dabble in creating Freescape games of our own with 3D Construction Kit. Virtual Worlds is huge value for money. Buy it and see what's in store.

Overall 90%

Well looky here. Are these really the games to give up sleep over or do they flatter to deceive? Well, with a price tag like that, we'd better dive in and take a closer look...

This is Bubble Bobble 2 for those of you who didn't know already. Bubble Bobble was a cute screen-by-screen platform game that was as addictive as an incredibly addictive thing, Rainbow Islands ain't.

It's not dreadful by any means though. Bub and Bob, characters from the first game, are back, But this time they've changed from dinosaurs into little people. Not only that but they can shoot little rainbows which they use to either kill creatures (bless 'em!) or to help them scale the heights of each vertically scrolling level. All they have to do is get to the top of the level, killing creatures and collecting bonuses (which more often than not look like bits of food). At the end of each level is a large end-of-level guardian. Kill this and it's onto the next Rainbow Island.

The graphics are gert lush [That was Bristolian for 'extremely likeable' - Ed]. They're colourful, cute and nicely animated. The gameplay is good too, but suffers a little from a lack of variety. Not a patch on Bubble Bobble but entertaining nevertheless.

How do you describe a game like this? Awful? You could do. Dreadful? Not a bad one. Atrocious? We're getting there. Total and utter crap? Bingo.

You're a member of Chase HQ, a group of police types who drive after criminals, smash up their cars by ramming them then swan off to do the same again to more baddies.

The way that description was written probably struck you as tedious, repetitive and not a little annoying. In this respect it's an accurate description of the game. Not only is the gameplay bad but the graphics are awful too. It's like a Spectrum game with C64 sprites over the top.

If you, as we say in the business, try before you buy, make sure you look at something else from Power Up or you'll be put off buying this collection or any other game in the world ever, ever, ever.

Tragic, Satan slaps me in the face once more. What we have here is, at first sight, a helluva shoot-'em-up. At the start you get to choose your ship from a list of four and then equip it with a ludicrous variety of lethal firepower. What follows is a nice-looking, well-designed and very playable game. The terrible part is that when you die. you have to rewind the tape and load the equipment shop sequence and level data all over again!

This is probably all very well on disk but on tape it's a blinking nightmare. It's all a bit of a shame really as there are eight stonking great levels complete with massive end-of-level baddies and all the usual gubbins you'd expect from a quality shoot-'em-up.

Zeus has called upon you! Only a brave and fearless warrior can save his beloved daughter Athena from the cunning clutches of Nelf, evil Lord of the Underworld. Yup.

That's what the manual says so who are we to argue. The game that follows this outlandish plot is, at first, a little odd. The graphics have a very strange style and the beat-'em-up controls are hard to get to grips with. After a while though, your eyes and fingers adjust as you're drawn into this atmospheric horizontal scroller.

By collecting power orbs you can change your form from man to hard man to were-wolf to were-tiger to bear. Each alter ego possesses different fighting abilities for use against the beasts of the underworld. And what weird and wonderful beasts they are. Apart from the zombies and skeletons that appear throughout the levels there are superb end-of-level creatures, like the one in the very first stage. It's a huge pile of rock with a giant of a man poised on the top. But it gets stranger as he starts to detach his heads (yes, heads) and hurtle them at you causing untold damage.

Again the multiload is a bit of a pain but the more-ish gameplay enables you to ignore this to a large degree.

Do we really have to Steve? [Yes - Ed] But they already know what a classy shoot-'em-up Turrican is? [Not all of them - Ed] Yes, they do. And they know that you play a heroic warrior who has to save his planet from Morgul the three-headed monster. I bet they've heard about the brilliant gameplay stretching over five huge scrolling worlds. [But are they aware of the huge number of sprites on screen at once, the massive swarms of aliens, or the hideous end-of-level challenges? Moreover, have they ever been told of the large array of weaponry to be collected or of the discovery of its various and intriguing uses? - Ed] Yes I think so.

There's a whole spectrum of quality here from the truly appalling Chase HQ, to the stonkingly wonderful Turrican. I won't use the "it's worth buying for Turrican alone cliche" because it simply isn't true. However, Turrican, Altered Beast and Rainbow Islands together make it worth it (there's a little bit of pleasure to be had from X-Out). As for Chase HQ, use the tape as a blank.

Overall 85%