I started this week's column with very little to write about, and this is quite typical for the time of year. So I thought that I'd point you in the direction of some games that you can download and play on your favourite emulator or real machine, should you know how to transfer over the files. And for this week, it's Commodore gaming I'm playing attention to, with an overview of some of the titles available from Cosine Systems at www.cosine.org.uk.

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Co-axis, by Jason Kelk for the Commodore 64, dates back to 1988, and was ready to be released until some naughty pirate got hold of the preview version, and proceeded to crack and spread it, which Jason was not happy about. So, ten years after this event, the opportunity presented itself to finally release the finished version of the game into the public domain.

The game starts out at a somewhat sedate pace, appearing to be a simple shoot-'em-up in which you control a spacecraft having to navigate space tunnels in your quest to clock up a high score. Heading your way are pesky alien formations which will replenish quickly once shot down. As you get further into the game, the formations and level layouts become rightly trickier, and although the collision detection isn't always perfect, there is enough of a challenge to keep you entertained for a short while.

Jason is responsible for more sophisticated and endearing games, but this one is worth a look. It would have made a nice budget release had it seen the light of day back in the 80s, for sure.

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Warp Zone Remix is another C64 game, this time from Matt Simmonds. It's rather unusual in that it looks like it was written in BASIC and compiled with Pet Speed or something similar, with graphics (which are multi-coloured UDGs rather than hardware sprites, I should say) to match. Aesthetics aside though, you have a rather fun blaster.

This game is a plain Robotron 2048 clone, and you are tasked with the rescue of the scientists from each screen, while avoiding the evil robots that swarm around you to cause your death, as well as the other hazards strewn about the place. Helpful power-ups appear at regular intervals, and a bonus is given for not losing a life and for rescuing the hapless scientists in a set order. The music and robotic speech add to the proceedings.

This is certainly worth adding to your collection, but it's a case of lamb dressed as mutton here. Look beyond the visuals and give this a bit of time. It'll be worth it.

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This game is for the Commodore 16 and compatibles, being a collaboration between Matt Simmonds and Jason Kelk. Jason's provided the game engine and graphics, and Matt the superb music, making great use of the limited TED chip. The object of Lunar Blitz is simple, and that's to land your spacecraft on the deserted lunar cities one after the other. To do that, you bomb each building one at a time as you pass over. With each level, the buildings become taller, in theory increasing the difficulty. However, this isn't always the case as smaller buildings can be more difficult to judge, especially from higher up.

Based on the VIC-20 classic Blitz, and ported from the C64, Lunar Blitz can have a tendency to draw you into its hypnotic yet overly simple gameplay.

You have no control over the craft in any way other than when each bomb is dropped by pressing space or fire, but you can only dispatch one bomb at a time. I find that I have to be in the right mood to play this game for any longer than five minutes. It is worth a look during your coffee break, or while the boss isn't looking.