School Daze (Microsphere)

An achievement in social realism and fun to play too. Somehow, Microsphere have inserted real individuality into what are very sparse cartoon miniatures.

Cave Fighter (Bubble Bus)

If it wasn't for the rather poor graphics this would be a good game.

Insurgency (Cases)

Serious stuff. As in real life, there are no quick short-cuts to victory... Both sides must try and accumulate a mass of small pay-offs that will add up to success.

Attack Of The Mutant Camels (Llamasoft)

If you enjoy a fast-paced arcade quality game with a difference you should definitely add Camels to your selection.

Gisburne's Castle (Martech)

There's far too little happening to warrant any claim to honest arcadia and as an adventure it's a complete non-starter.

The Mystery Of The Java Star (Shards)

Not an adventure, as the packaging implies, but an amusing four-part puzzle-test for undemanding explorers.

Ghostbusters (Activision)

This game is really lifted by the sampled dialogue.

The Spider And The Fly (Interceptor Micros)

Not a particularly entertaining game... and with a set of instructions which suggest the writer is a sheep.

The Love Oracle (Solar)

Not a patch on the original I Ching (book). The one-liners that purport to seal your fate on-screen seem a little trite.

Erik The Viking (Mosaic)

The game has your usual adventure game vocabulary and style, immediately recognisable to Level 9 fans, with a useful guide in the accompanying booklet.

Sir Lancelot (Melbourne House)

A minor miracle from Stephen Cargill, who has managed to squeeze 24 very different screens, complete with seven monsters and moving staircases, into 16K!

Heathrow Air Traffic Controller (Hewson)

'Playing' through a course of exercises designed to give you the ability to direct masses of airliners safely onto the Heathrow tarmac.. Don't ask me what you subsequently do with this new skill.

River Raid (Activision)

Something of a compulsory purchase.

Ambush (Virgin Games)

Yawn. If the player possesses dogged tenacity and high boredom threshold, special twin lasers are awarded in frame 24.

The Andromeda Trophy (Finsbury)

Please. I played through the whole thing in less than fifteen minutes. It's unlikely to test the mental prowess of the average housebrick.

Here And There With The Mr. Men (Mirrorsoft)

A well crafted and cheerful educational compilation.

Sports Hero (Melbourne House)

You really will be sweating it out in the foreground... because the only way to stay inside the qualifying time is to punch your RUN button repeatedly.

The Prince (Cases)

There are no rules at all - lies, deception, betrayal, threats, blackmail, bribery and the double-cross, anything goes.

War Zone (Cases)

Not for the hardened wargamer, but good fun.

Kalah (Talent Computer Systems)

Great graphics and music disguise that this is a very simple board game at heart.

Galactic Plague (Amsoft)

This game is about as much fun as bubonic plague but I'm afraid it's not half as addictive.

Classic Adventure (Melbourne House)

A text adventure that has a freshness and wit that comes from having been written for fun, not profit.

Message From Andromeda (Interceptor Micros)

Many of the locations are supported by instantaneous split-screen graphics, but their effect is rather diminished by the total lack of any real descriptive text.

Mystic Mansion (US Gold)

Each room is an individual problem, and you may have to do a fair bit of thinking to get to the treasure.

Tube Way Army (Crystal Computing)

Visually, it's neat enough and there's an effective synthi vox on board which will count you down to launch.

Crusoe (Automata)

Initially I thought it an overly ambitious and largely inaccessible graphic adventure, noteworthy only for its ornate presentation. However, after some time it did win me over.

Waxworks (Channel 8)

I had high hopes for this one, being a devotee of Vincent Price... but, in the event, I really couldn't work up the energy to bulldoze through it.

Ad Infinitum (Mr. Chip)

Very much a traditional shoot-'em-up, move left/right, blast away. But its charm lies in variety, and I can't fault it for that.

Battle Through Time (Anirog)

Great graphics, smooth action, speed functions and a continuous play feature make this much better than comparable games such as Moon Buggy... It has that indefinable quality that makes one respond to a game.

Caverns Of Khafka (US Gold/Cosmi)

This game is very hard work... It might pay off, but a problem is that the joystick controls no less than fifteen (!) different functions.

Gilligan's Gold (Ocean)

The graphics and music make it an addictive game to play, although it does have some annoying aspects.

The Prince, Princess And The Wicked Witch (Finsbury)

An educational game in which you slay the dragon with a dazzling display of multiplication... and behead ogres with flashy subtraction! Well, it beats school... just.

King Arthur's Quest (Hill Macgibbon)

The graphics are adequate, though the 3D field isn't very deep, giving you a rather limited visibility range.

Hover Bovver (Atari 400)

Eight screens to choose from, making it one of the better Pacman-type games around.

Battlecars (Games Workshop)

There's a selection of differing off-the-shelf behemoths or you can use a Designer program to customise your own... Unfortunately, the poor controls break the game.

Aztec (Hill Macgibbon)

You get a very brief outline of what to do, and you have to work everything out for yourself.

Pacmania (Mr. Chip)

Sound and graphics are very uninteresting and the game itself lacks playability.

Ant Attack (Quicksilva)

The choice of four viewing angles adds a convincing depth to the scene, but I found that, graphics or no graphics, the game didn't quite work.

RoomLord (Paramount)

A lightweight but fun game... The villains include Cyclopses, gangsters and giant eyes, and all the rooms are full of little tricks and traps.

Falcon Patrol II (Virgin Games)

Nice graphics too, not really true 3D as stated on the pack, more a sort of side-scrolling semi-3D, but very effective nonetheless.

Forbidden Forest (US Gold/Cosmi)

For attention to detail, this is great, I just found actually playing it a bit of a chore.

Loco (Alligata)

Loco is made by the graphics. At first, I thought the gameplay was a bit too easy... then I noticed there was choice of levels.

Star Trader (Bug-Byte)

The game's incessant insistence on the minutiae of everyday life (for example: declaring you unfit to fly if you don't constantly eat sandwiches) becomes very tedious after about five minutes.

Chiller (Mastertronic)

A Michael Jackson-inspired quest for crucifixes, where you control both Jacko and, latterly, his girlfriend... and a dubious rendering of Thriller in the background.

Daley Thompson's Decathlon (Ocean)

A game that calls for no imagination or instinctive skill... just brute force. And I wouldn't like to say how long the average joystick will stand up to the pounding necessary to complete the 1,500 metres.

S.O.S. (Visions)

Just another version of Lunar Rescue but one that's so difficult that it promptly kills off whatever vague historical interest the game might still hold. Avoid.

Cybertron Mission (Micro Power)

The maze is a fair size, some sixteen rooms on each level, but I really found it a bit too zap-or-you-get-zapped.

Mummy Mummy (Lothlorien)

Despite the promising scenario, there's little to commend this game. It's all fairly pointless very fast.