Sanxion (Thalamus) (Commodore 64/128)

The best advice I can give is to dash out and buy a copy of the game at your earliest opportunity.

Kwah (Melbourne House) (Commodore 64)

A great little adventure which will appeal to novice and expert alike.

Championship Basketball: Two On Two (Gamestar/Activision) (Commodore 64/128)

Recommended for sport freaks.

Hacker II (Activision) (Commodore 64/128)

When you actually come to sit down and play it properly, I don't think that many people will have the patience to work it all out without losing interest.

Warhawk (Firebird) (Commodore 64/128)

Great fun to play... and marvellous for those odd half hours when all you want to do is blast something.

The Trap Door (Piranha) (Commodore 64/128)

A highly original and entertaining game. However, the C64 version is merely very good as opposed to the excellent Spectrum version.

Olympic Skier (Americana) (Commodore 64/128)

Reasonable fun if you are a sports fan but nothing sensational.

Captain Kelly (Quicksilva) (Commodore 64)

A straightforward shoot-'em-up with no lasting appeal.

Legend Of The Knucker-Hole (Americana) (Commodore 64/128)

A jolly little platform game. Nothing outstanding or original, but quite good fun nevertheless.

Superstar Ping Pong (US Gold) (Commodore 64/128)

A below average knock-about.

Uchi-Mata (Martech) (Commodore 64)

Take it or leave it, I guess. Personally I'll take it.

Finders Keepers (Mastertronic) (Commodore 16/Plus 4)

Finders Keepers certainly has some nice features, particularly the graphics and sound, with a huge maze being a definite highlight of a substantially enjoyable game.

Tazz (Bubble Bus) (Commodore 16)

A highly competitive game which requires a lot of skill to beat.

Video Meanies (Mastertronic) (Commodore 16/Plus 4)

Poor graphics and a lack of appeal make this game a rather big disappointment.

Marble Madness (Ariolasoft) (Spectrum 48K)

A compelling game that is fantastically addictive, almost identical to the coin-op version, with some of the best graphics and sound that I have seen.

Stryker's Run (Superior) (Acorn Electron)

An excellent game... It is of the same - or higher - quality as those games which owners of 'lesser' computers have had for some time.

Twice Shy (Mosaic) (Spectrum 48K/128K)

A very enjoyable game to play... Highly reminiscent in style to Terrors Of Trantoss.

The Sacred Armour Of Antiriad (Palace) (Spectrum 48K)

One of the arcade adventures of the year.

Trailblazer (Gremlin) (Spectrum 48K/128K)

A frustratingly addictive game.

Zythum (Mirrorsoft) (Spectrum 48K)

You must always pursue the same route and meet the zones in the same order and this rapidly reduces any lasting interest in this game.

Prehistoric Adventure (Crusader Computing) (Spectrum 48K/128K)

Really very poor quality. The presentation is more akin to a game of 1983 vintage rather than 1986.

Frost Byte (Mikro-Gen) (Spectrum 48K/128K)

An unusual arcade adventure.

Stagecoach (Sparklers) (Spectrum 48K/128K)

A fairly old game, as can be seen from the extremely crude graphics and animation, but it is quite good fun to play once you have mastered the fairly tricky controls.

Time Trax (Argus Press) (Spectrum 48K)

Quite slow to play but it should appeal to those with devious minds who prefer to think a bit about their games.

Heartland (Odin) (Spectrum 48K)

If you like hard arcade adventures (emphasis on the arcade) with lots of shooting, you're going to love this.

Tempest (Electric Dreams) (Amstrad CPC464)

I cannot praise the game highly enough. The conversion from vector to raster-type displays is perfect.

Trailblazer (Gremlin) (Amstrad CPC464)

Incredibly simple but marvellously addictive.

Glider Rider (Quicksilva) (Amstrad CPC464)

The game is fun to play and very puzzling, and should prove difficult even for the most player.

Beach Head II (US Gold) (Amstrad CPC464)

Very disappointing. The games don't really stand up on their own and are much, much worse than budget games, even well below the standard of magazine listings.

The Trap Door (Piranha) (Amstrad CPC464)

An excellent game... The Amstrad version is a bit chunky because it uses the 16 colour mode, but this is used to good effect and you don't really notice the slightly chunky appearance of the characters.

Fist II: The Legend Continues (Melbourne House) (Commodore 64/128)

The dullest of all games, apart from a few hot spots.

Sentinel (Firebird) (Commodore 64)

Firebird will have another hit on their hands with this game and it certainly will be in the running for my game of 1986.

Hopeless (Ariolasoft) (Commodore 64)

An excellent mix of strategy, platform game and arcade adventure.

Academy (CRL) (Spectrum 48K)

I'm always wary of sequels but this one is even better than the original game. Pete Cooke has expanded his original idea into a quite remarkable game.

Leather Goddesses Of Phobos (Infocom/Activision) (Commodore 64/128)

Great fun to play... Be warned though, the game is about sex and some people may get very embarrassed by what they read.

The Pawn (Rainbird) (Commodore 64)

One to ask Santa for... Each picture has to be loaded in separately from disk but the wait is certainly worth it. The pictures are very detailed and knock spots off anything seen previously on the C64.

Cluedo (Leisure Genius) (BBC B/B+/Master 128)

The game really comes into its own when you play solo, against computer opponents. But crowding around a keyboard is not as much fun as lounging around the board game with your friends.

Savage Pond (Bug Byte) (Atari 400/800/XL)

An original idea, executed well. It isn't exactly a high-speed shoot-'em-up, but then it doesn't require much in the way of thought to play the game.

Future Shock (Tynesoft) (BBC/Electron)

It's a real pleasure to play a game that is put together so well.

Repton 3 (Superior) (Acorn Electron)

Far from being a pale shadow of the two earlier Repton games, this is a quantum leap forward and should provide you with hours of fun and excitement.

Thunderstruck II: The Mindmaster (Audiogenic) (BBC/Electron)

It may not be creating a new dimension to platform and puzzle games but being able to bring a freshness to a standard format counts for quite a bit in my book.

Uridium (Hewson) (Spectrum 48K)

An excellent conversion of a superb arcade game. Smooth scrolling and sensible colour selection leaves you to worry about the action rather than the graphics.