Air Defence (Cases)

A subtle game, and excellent as an exercise in tactics.

Alpha-Beth (A 'n F)

There may still be a place in education for general knowledge games like this, but it seems to me that non-specialist designers of educational programs have to remember that the school curriculum has changed vastly since they were pupils.

Bruce Lee (US Gold)

I really enjoyed playing Bruce Lee. Although it was easy to complete, I will keep playing it just because I like beating up the nasties.

Bug Eyes (Icon)

Not immensely exciting to play but this is an attractive game and very challenging to master.

Car Cure (Simtron)

A very worthwhile package if you are one of those who can only manage to lift the bonnet and stare with awe into the engine.

Castles And Clowns (Macmillan)

One of the good points about both games is that they involve an element of chance as well as skill, so children of different ages and abilities can play together.

Chaos (Games Workshop)

Games Workshop have brought their knowledge of D&D and board-games to the microcomputer in a very professional manner and have produced games of real substance.

Composer (Contrast)

Composer presumes the user knows all about music before sitting down at the Spectrum, it doesn't help you get into the subject or the software, and then proceeds to present a new form of musical notation on the screen.

Confuzion (Incentive)

This will become a classic of its type - the puzzle/arcade game, and as such it is playable, though very hard, and certainly addictive.

Dragontorc (Hewson)

An excellent balance of incentive and difficulty.

Emerald Isle (Level 9 Computing)

This game brings a fresh friendliness to the scene as not only is the vocabulary helpful, the structure is most open and even a beginner will find progress easy, interesting and rewarding.

Fantastic Voyage (Quicksilva)

Although this is set inside the human body, it is very much a mapping game and the player will have to discover the various routes around the body, collecting the submarine parts as you go.

Firework Music And Water Music (Software Cottage)

All in, the help facilities are quite good and the graphical presentation was quite cheerful.

Flight Path (Anirog)

This game is worth about as much to me as the price of a blank cassette. After trying for an hour I never even managed to get an inch off the ground!

Grand National (Elite)

The best horse racing simulation for the Spectrum. I thought Grand National was quite easy to win. For instance, I achieved first placing on the first time I played the game.

Jumpy Snake Blues And Honky Tonk (Software Cottage)

These programs are n interesting way to teach the basics of music, and I liked the way they coped with leger lines on both the Bass and Treble Clefs.

Learning To Read Music (Rose)

This is quite worthless. The "logic" is all out of order and the four programs in the package, taken separately, don't follow through under the title of 'Read Music'.

Learning With Leeper (Software Projects)

The package actually comes with a colour-coded key-in card to discourage copying, but frankly, having tried out the four games, I would not want to bother.

Light Magic (New Generation)

Several new graphic utilities are about to appear and it will be interesting to see how this will compare with the competition.

The Mighty Magus (Quicksilva)

l enjoyed playing The Mighty Magus as there was a lot of variation in play.

Music Maker (Bellflower)

A worthy piece of programming which scores plus points for printing a couple of tunes on the inlay for the user to try out.

Music Typewriter (Romantic Robot)

A very respectable program; visually attractive, simple to use and bound to appeal to any musician.

Musicmaster (Sinclair/Incognito)

A realistic way of converting a Spectrum into a music processor and keyboard. It presented no problems whatsoever in use.

Nato Alert (Cases)

Although Cases' games are improving, some of Nato Alert's responses are very, very slow... When you are moving the cursor to where you wish to attack, it seems to take about ten seconds per square.

Pete 'N Barry (Impact)

Although the rooms are well designed graphically, the actual moving characters are flickery and unsteady... You soon realise that there isn't a lot to playing the game either.

Play, Type And Transpose (Hilton)

When it was first written several years ago it would have been state of the art, but the art has advanced by leaps since, and left it far behind.

Serpent From Hell (Scorpio Gamesworld)

A very cheap adventure from Scorpio. The response is reasonably fast and the input routine solid with an accompanying bleep.

Snaffle (Longman)

The input system and the graphics worked well but there's nothing flash or clever about either.

Spectune (Xorsoft)

Would appeal to both the total musical novice and the competent musician equally - it's just a pity that the Spectrum isn't polyphonic!

Spy Hunter (US Gold)

I think it's moderately addictive because the increasing difficulty is built into the game and the screens are variable enough to add interest. But, most of all, it's a good zapping game.

Star Gazer (Eclipse)

The learning and quiz mode should prove to be both fun and useful in an educational environment.

Starion (Melbourne House)

This is a fun-packed, all-action, thinking game where the player requires a little more skill than just fast responses to progress throughout the game.

Super Chess v3.5 (Deep Thought/CP Software)

The graphics are very well done so the board layout is clear and intelligible.

System 15000 (AVS)

Since the real thing is of course illegal, and becoming more difficult as computer fraud loopholes tighten, this may soon be your only chance to play at being a computer hack.

Talisman (Games Workshop)

As with all involved strategy games it will take a while to get into it, but I think the time would be well spent as this game has a lot going for it.

Thermo Nuclear War (Zircon)

A game entirely in BASIC, and with two spelling mistakes on the loading screen. One of the messages in the game says "Leave play depressed". Too right, Mikhail!

Timezone (Atlantis)

This isn't bad for a few minutes play, but you certainly wouldn't stay up all night playing it.

World Series Baseball (Imagine)

An excellent game, especially if you like sports simulations.