Apocalypse (Infogrames)

It looks slightly old-fashioned, but it's well enough programmed. A good buy for those who are certain they'll have someone else to play it with.

The Big Sleaze (Piranha)

Fergus McNeill has excelled himself with this one while still providing the laughs (some rude) which have made his name.

Bride Of Frankenstein (39 Steps)

A game that's out of the ordinary, and definitely worth considering. Some of the backgrounds are very detailed and help the atmosphere tremendously.

Catch 23 (Martech)

Catch 23 has quite impressive graphics, but their appeal wears off after a few minutes.

Challenge Of The Gobots (Reaktor)

Unplayable for the most part... Don't be fooled by all the implied content. Gobots is not a surprise, but more of a disappointment as another tie-in fails to come off.

Championship Baseball (Activision/Gamestar)

I'll stick to playing tennis; it's better value for money and a lot more fun!

Convoy Raider (Gremlin)

The general idea is to blow everything out of the water with as much force as you can, although it's less of an arcade game and more likely to appeal to strategy fans.

Dark Empire (Lothlorien)

A slick piece of programming, but maybe it wasn't properly playtested. It's too much of a hybrid game - interesting and impressive in some respects, but ultimately too unwieldy to be entertaining.

Deadringer (Reaktor)

The concept is great - if only it had been successfully implemented. The graphics range from very mediocre backgrounds and track graphics to some superbly- drawn cars, but they're all badly animated.

Exolon (Hewson)

Hey! This is a really good game! The graphics are superb, with excellent use of colour, and there's so much to do that it's sure to last for ages.

The Fantasy (Mediandroid)

Only buy this one if you find poor quality adventures a novelty.

Flash Gordon (Mastertronic Added Dimension)

Because of its low playability and addictivity, I wouldn't recommend this... except to collectors of Flash Gordon memorabilia.

Inspector Flukeit (Top Ten)

A terribly slow program that might test the patience of some, but for those who persevere there's a super little detective story just waiting to be discovered.

Galletron (Bulldog)

After ploughing through the inspired inlay, I wasn't expecting such rubbish as this, with its boring colours and unimaginative graphics. And the gameplay is much too easy to offer any real challenge.

Hades Nebula (Nexus)

Fairly addictive, but all in all not worth the eye strain.

Killer Ring (Reaktor)

I liked the improvements over the old style Invaders, especially the music, and Killer Ring can be very addictive if you've got a worthy competitor to hi-score against.

Leviathan (English)

The best "Zaxxon-type" game on the Spectrum; the competition is very dated. If you can overcome the playability problems, there's an addictive game here.

The Living Daylights (Domark)

By itself, The Living Daylights lacks variation. However, there are some very smart touches; parallax scrolling, superb animation and a decent title tune.

Micronaut One (Nexus)

Pete Cooke has another hit on his hands, and no self-respecting games player should be without it.

Mountie Mick's Deathride (Reaktor)

The game is in total contrast to the title - it's simple and easily mastered, and has little lasting appeal. Still, the background graphics are very realistic and give a good feeling of depth.

Mutants (Ocean)

A good game let down by limited and repetitive gameplay.

The Mystery Of Arkham Manor (Melbourne House)

A flawed, but original idea. Personally, I decided Arkham Manor was best left to the zombies that roam its graveyard.

Ninja Hamster (CRL)

The game itself is a plain and straightforward beat-'em-up. No tactics are required, other than getting in as many hits as possible, so it gets quite boring on later levels.

Operation Berlin (Wrightchoice)

A fine game with a neat outlook.

Pneumatic Hammers (Firebird)

The graphics are bad, the screen display looks amateurish, and there are some nasty attribute problems and badly-animated characters.

Prohibition (Infogrames)

Though it's very easy to get into, there's no challenge or depth to Prohibition. It consists only of shooting and dodging.

Road Runner (US Gold)

If you're a fan of the arcade original then take a look, but I would say that it would be wise to play before buying.

Rubicon (Bug Byte)

A game to put you to sleep in less than a minute.

Slap Fight (Imagine)

Slap Fight is a disappointment, but fans of the Spectrum Xevious conversion might find it reasonable.

Spaced Out (Firebird)

This is easily the most original game I've seen for a while. The concept is very strange, but fiendishly simple.

Starfox (Reaktor)

A very good game if you put some effort into it. It has some innovative features, such as the 3D Holocube, which is useful for navigation if you know how the 3D coordinates work.

Super G-Man (Codemasters)

The idea is simple, and Super G-Man is an easy-to-play package - but it soon becomes dull.

Table Football (Budgie)

One of the worst I've seen in a long, long time. It's spoiled by terrible collision-detection, and it's impossible to judge angles properly; hitting the ball can send it absolutely anywhere.

Tai-Pan (Ocean)

With the astounding street-scene graphics and Oriental electro-bop tune, you've got one of the most enthralling arcade adventures of the year.

Trans-Atlantic Balloon Challenge (Virgin)

As if the event itself hadn't been overhyped to the point of internal collapse, then the game itself has. Is this what all the adverts are trying to sell? The graphics are poor, and the colour choices are appalling. Tedium sets in after about two minutes

Trio (Elite)

Airwolf II and Great Gurianos were disappointing. But - whadya know - 3DC is quite good!

Ultima Ratio (Firebird)

Ultima Ratio is awful. How can anyone expect a success from something as unplayable and unrewarding as this?

Voidrunner (Mastertronic Added Dimension)

At first sight, Voidrunner looks very drab. But playing it converted me! The speed is just right: verging on the impossible, but fast enough to encourage you to keep going.

Wonder Boy (Activision)

Fairly addictive, and the two-player option is competitive.

Wolfan (Bulldog)

There's nothing new or exciting about Wolfan, it's simply lots of old ideas bundled into a boring and unplayable package.