The Armageddon Man (Martech)

Beautifully programmed and reasonably original in conception. However, this game isn't likely to give long-term satisfaction.

Autochef (Cases)

Bulk purchase of food and wine, advertising costs, wages, fixtures and fittings... all these have to be taken into account, and all the time you need to keep the shareholders happy or they'll force you to resign!

Battle Axe (Scott Johnston)

This is a fast, simple, no-nonsense game put together with the sort of care which professional software houses should exercise.

Batty (Hit Pak)

One of the most unoriginal games I've ever played - but there are some neat touches here.

Championship Basketball (Gamestar)

The gameplay is at first quite enjoyable, but frustration and boredom soon set in.

GFL Championship Football (Gamestar)

Play is great fun and very addictive but the slow menu system makes it very awkward to play fluently.

Count With Oliver (Mirrorsoft)

A simple but attractive educational program.

Custerd's Quest (The Power House)

Exceptionally well-written in an engagingly chatty, witty style. Super stuff.

Dawnssley (Top Ten)

A waste of time. For once I'm lost for derogatory words.

Decimals (Key Software)

This very useful little program can be used to reinforce understanding of decimal fractions and place-value series.

The Fifth Quadrant (Bubble Bus)

Easy to get into, but the lack of serious action soon makes it dull.

Flunky (Piranha)

Hmmm, Don Priestly's masking technique must be nearing the end of its usefulness - but it still makes games look attractive.

Fractions 2 (Key Software)

Overall, an excellent package, and the teaching sequences make very good use of graphics.

Game Over (Imagine)

Game Over is very much the typical Dinamic (Army Moves) programming style, i.e. dodgy collision-detection, attribute problems, detailed graphics and double loading. All these things add up to a very poor imitation of Green Beret.

Homicide Hotel (Wallsoft)

There's a competence about this game which immediately brings it up to professional standards.

Hotline Quiz (Chalksoft)

If children are allowed to research and word the questions and answers themselves, they'll be involved in a very effective learning process.

Hybrid (Starlight)

A very playable shoot-'em-up game. Graphically it's good, with the parts of the dismembered Hybrid zipping round the screen.

Destructo (Bulldog)

The controls are simple and easy to master, and though Destructo is repetitive it's quite fun to play for a while. Still, I doubt its lastability.

Joe Blade (Players)

Graphically Joe Blade is a bit iffy; cardboard-cutout sprites wobble around a nicely detailed background. It's quickly addictive, but I doubt its long-term playability.

Last Mission (US Gold)

It's all a bit simple and slow. The turning speed and the actual flying speed aren't well matched: the plane responds quickly to rotate commands, but actually flies forward too slowly.

Look Sharp (Mirrorsoft)

The graphics are very nice indeed and the fast, but single-key commands make it ideal for very young children.

Masters Of The Universe (Adventuresoft)

The usual bright white background, scruffy presentation and the very start where the question 'Do you want to restore a saved game?' remains on the screen for the first location. All very confusing and untidy.

Mayhem (The Power House)

Has the graphical presentation of a successful game, but it's spoiled by boring gameplay and storyline.

Mercenary (Novagen)

A triumph of programming and aspires to new heights in Spectrum gaming.

Mission Jupiter (Codemasters)

The gameplay is very simple - it doesn't take long to get the hang of things, it doesn't take much skill to amass points, and Mission Jupiter isn't at all addictive.

Myself And Us (Key Software)

It's all very fast, with clear screen instructions. And the block, line and solid graphs are all clearly shown, with effective colour.

Oriental Hero (Firebird)

Oriental Hero is totally unplayable; the graphics are very badly animated, with uninvolving backgrounds. Firebird should know better.

Photosynthesis (AVP Computing)

Photosynthesis is a wide and complex topic, so this program doesn't attempt to cover every facet - but it's a very useful aid for O level.

Quick Thinking (Mirrorsoft)

Responsive, with simple control keys and graphics that are very attractive to children, with clear bright colours.

Read Right Away (Highlight)

Very nicely presented and fun to play while providing practice in useful skills.

Rebel (Virgin Games)

Rebel's only redeeming feature is the graphics - nice characters, a well-detailed playing area and speedy scrolling. On the whole, though, I wouldn't go for this.

Renegade (Ocean)

Not to be missed. This just has to be the beat-'em-up to end them all, with its outstandingly detailed and colourful graphics, incredible playability and racy tune.

Rockman (Alligata)

A game that's way above average and will appeal to most people - and at this price, it's a must for my collection.

Satcom (Atlantis)

If it were speeded up a little, and the process of finding telephone numbers were made a bit less dull after the first go, then Satcom might have some potential as a young child's logic game. But it's too slow as it stands.

Sets (Alphaplus Educational)

This attractive package includes an extremely comprehensive and well-produced 47-page manual with examples and problems to solve.

Side Wize (Firebird)

Side Wize is very repetitive and boring - a great disappointment. Colour is very badly used, and the screen soon becomes a strain on the eyes.

Slingshot (The Power House)

A dull, simple and unoriginal shoot- 'em-up.

Soft And Cuddly (The Power House)

The programmer needs intensive psychiatric help. The smooth, slick graphics show heads getting pierced by forks and four babies joined at the waist.

Star Wreck (Alternative)

Not the best-constructed game I've seen, but it does deal with one of the most interesting TV programs ever - and some of the jokes are still funny, despite the mass of TV and radio humour directed at the series over the years.

Stifflip And Co. (Novagen)

Though Stifflip & Co. is extremely hard to crack, the presentation is clear and simple enough to make it permanently addictive.

Streaker (Bulldog)

There's a massive number of objects lying around but only a few pockets to put them in, which means going backwards and forwards all over the maze trying different objects in the same place. All this can get tedious and boring very quickly.

Survivor (US Gold)

At first this didn't appeal to me, but after exploring for a while and mastering the controls I'm addicted.

Ten-Pin Challenge (Atlantis)

The programmer of Ten-Pin Challenge has chosen a completely wrong approach to the subject. There 's no atmosphere, no creative graphics and little playability. In fact, there's very little here to merit a look.

The Tube (Quicksilva)

Nice graphics, shame about the game... Not that it's especially poor. It's just not interesting for long.

Words And Pictures (Chalksoft)

A nice feature for classroom use: you can store a list of names and scores, and the computer will call each child to the program when it's his turn. The booklet is good, too.

Z (Rino)

Z is pathetically simple. All it boils down to is a graphically neat, sonically awful scrolling shoot-'em-up, of which there are many. Still, it's quite playable for a while.

Conflicts 2 (PSS)

After I spent a frustrating morning trying to get something out of Battle For Midway, Iwo Jima had me absorbed, in a simplistic sort of way, for an afternoon.