Athena (Ocean)

Graphically good and addictive, Athena is worthwhile for fans of the original and all hardened arcade players.

Bubble Bobble (Firebird)

Bubble Bobble is excellent, pretty, enjoyable, addictive, simple, exemplary and a strongly-recommended buy.

Dargon's Crypt (Venom Games)

Despite the presentation, the game as an adventure plays rather well - the layout is well-balanced and easily mapped.

Death Wish 3 (Gremlin Graphics)

Death Wish 3 is graphically attractive, but it won't appeal for long - especially as you can't turn off the irritating tune.

Draughts Genius (Rack-It)

Underneath all the fancy stuff, there's a first-class draughts game with useful skill levels... Even if you're no good at draughts you can use the cheats to win in Draughts Genius!

Evening Star (Hewson)

Dedicated train fans will love the feel of Evening Star, but you have to be an enthusiast to enjoy it.

Football Director (D&H Games)

Like the other football management games, Football Director is text-only and very boring.

Grand Prix Simualtor (Codemasters)

The game is fiddly to control and has little of the addictivity of good arcade racing games.

The Guest (Stephen Wadsworth)

A good theme and good playability, but the programming is perhaps just a little boring.

Heist 2012 (Firebird)

Boring and devoid of character. A horribly deformed sprite totters around a crudely-drawn screen, and there's a weak and grating 'tune'.

How To Be A Complete Bastard (Virgin)

Graphics are quite good, the text is usually quite funny, and though the jokes stop being funny after 10,000,000 goes, the game remains reasonably playable.

Hysteria (Software Projects)

Graphically superb and well-animated, with some beautifully detailed characters, Hysteria is an addictive and playable game.

I, Ball 2 (Firebird)

A really excellent game. The graphics are smooth and fast, though they're not very exciting, and the gameplay is challenging and fun.

The Labours Of Hercules (Terry Taylor)

A good theme with good problems - what more does an adventure need?

Mask 1 (Gremlin Graphics)

Though Mask 1 stands out from the others of its genre, mainly because of the graphics, it lacks the edge of appeal.

Mean Streak (Mirrorsoft)

The shoddy implementation results in inaccurate collision-detection, making the game unplayable for the most part.

Moonstrike (Mirrorsoft)

A competent variation on the traditional shoot-'em-up, and the peculiar aliens such as bomb-spitting flowers and killer light bulbs brighten up what could have been tedious.

Motos (Mastertronic Added Dimension)

Really fun... the sort of game that needs absolutely no instructions or story line to make it really enjoyable.

Ocean Conqueror (Rack-It)

Strategy is an integral part of doing well, and though the instrumentation appears daunting at first, once understood the game is pretty easy to play - not so easy to succeed in, though.

Pi-R Squared (Mind Games)

The concept is amazingly simple and straightforward, but each level is ridden with a fiendishly constructed array of wheels.

Rapid Fire (Mirrorsoft)

I doubt Rapid Fire will appeal to many; it certainly left me cold. The graphics are horribly flickery, with unconvincing animation of the main character - though the characters are nicely detailed.

Plexar (Mastertronic Added Dimension)

Very simple and instantly playable, and it's surprising such a simple game can be so addictive. The graphics are excellent too.

Roundheads (Lothlorien)

Roundheads isn't as bad as it looks; I enjoyed it up to a point, and see the potential of some of the things it tries to do. But there's a lack of detail, depth, atmosphere and - somehow - solidity.

Samurai Trilogy (Gremlin Graphics)

The graphical presentation is hopeless - it's obvious that more time has been spent on the character set than on designing the game.

Solomon's Key (US Gold)

The idea of dodging nasties and collecting keys may not seem too exciting but I assure you, you'll be addicted in a second.

Sun Star (CRL)

Very little content and is simply lots of trekking around a black screen: the graphics create absolutely no atmosphere and the sound is a disgrace.

Wizball (Ocean)

This is one hell of a game... The controls are perfect, though they're incredibly difficult to get to grips with...! The smooth-moving graphics are strikingly original, and the colour clash doesn't affect them too much.

Xecutor (ACE)

It's got great graphics with brilliant scrolling colour scenery and detailed superbaddies.