Now here's a blast from the past. Commando was number one back in the Christmas of 1985 which may or may not have been white, we can't remember. Anyway, a lot of people have grown old and died in the time it's taken for this to appear as a cheapo. A lot of clones have appeared too, and that's one reason you might not want to plump for what was really the first licensed arcade game.

That said, it's good clean fun, and whilst the graphics are a bit small, the sound is good (great high score music) and the gameplay frenetic.

This game comes with the kind of accolades that might suggest that you could well save your money this Winter, cancel that skiing holiday in Bavaria and stay at home playing this. One mag (who shall remain nameless) is quoted as saying "It's just like being on the slopes". I mean, come on - it's not. It's like playing a budget skiing game. It doesn't hurt when you fall over, you don't get cold, you can't go for a bit of après ski, and there's no chalet girls in pigtails.

In fact, Professional Ski Simulator is a reasonable attempt at a ski sim with some nice background graphics and a very fiddly control method which will have you spending a lot of time doing things behind trees [Not making yellow holes in the snow! - Ed] and falling over. Fun, in a sort of frustrating way.

"You gotta be cool not to slam!" it says here. Well, I'm not sure about that. My Dad always got annoyed when I slammed the door. Still, this is a skateboard sim in the Codemasters tradition of nice background graphics and horrifically difficult controls. Try as you will (tip: look in a mirror and hold the stick upside-down) your little skater won't go and pick up the blue flags.

This owes a fair bit to 720 Degrees but isn't as good. If you don't want to end up on tranquilisers, don't buy it.

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This was a CU Screen star when it appeared and rightly so - it's stormingly good fun. Guide your Mosquito bomber through several sections of U-boat sinking, V-1 rocket destroying, trainbusting and jerry bashing in a completely absorbing WWII flying game.

Excellent graphics and atmosphere however can't make up for the problems involved when playing this game on tape, since there is much rewinding and fiddling with the tape counter to be endured if you want to play the full missions.

Nevertheless Ace Of Aces is pretty good value compared to the price of lychees in your high street at the moment...

Access' 10-pin bowling simulation was received by some pretty decent reviews, and although two years ago, it's still better than any of the other bowling games that have appeared in one form or another since.

10th Frame has some terrific animation (it's actually a digitised image of Roger Carver), some great sound effects, and a pretty realistic pinfall which makes it all the more gratifying when you get a strike. Can't be bad.

Zaxxon meets Skate Or Die in this latest well-rad sporting 'sim'. The aim is simple enough: negotiate the diagonally scrolling sheet while avoiding the obstacles that litter the pavement. Dodge boxes and signposts, duck under bars and weave past fireballs in order to complete the course within the allotted time limit. That's about it really; scrolling's smooth, the animation is pretty limited, and the graphics are minimalist.

Still, it's plenty of fun - and hardly taxing on the grey matter. Good title too.

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Psi-Droid is a distant relative of Thing On A Spring, who bounces along in a convincing, if slightly annoying fashion, accompanied by a suitable clanking noise, inside a giant spaceship. The spaceship in question is large, inhabited by aliens, and on a collision course with Earth.

Psi on a Spring has to bounce around the flick-screen rooms and corridors of the vessel in order to find the pieces of a pulsebomb which were split into several pieces when Thing-droid was beamed aboard. Once the bomb is back in one piece, the ship can be vaporised and the Earth saved from a fate worse than almost anything else.

Along the way, Psi on a Droid encounters podules which can be collected for all manner of technological wonders, including a smart bomb and temporary indestructibility. There are transporters which allow access to the far flung corners of the ship, and an entertaining sub-game, where you are required to complete a small shoot-'em-up for extra energy.

Plenty on offer here for blasters, mappers and arcade adventurers alike. You could do a lot worse than blowing three quid on this little package.

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Playing like a cross between Deflektor and a flick-screen arcade adventure, Mastertronic's latest budget release is an odd one to say the least. As with all Mastertronic games, it's very polished with smart graphics and a smooth control system.

Unfortunately, it's a touch missing in the gameplay department: you have to direct your pulse warrior into the path of energy pulses that rebound around each screen, in order to deflect them into a large lens, which then re-emits them as one powerful beam. This may then be directed at the alien creatures that inhabit each screen, killing them and clearing that sector.

All very well and good, but in practice, the above task proves extremely difficult; the deflected pulses bounce off your warrior at random angles and it's more often a case of luck than any real judgement.

What with trying to avoid the deadly aliens, and attempting to control several rapid and unwieldy pulses, the job in hand is a real toughie. Take a look if you like - but don't expect too much.