Airstrike (English) (Atari 400/800)

The balance of this game is a lesson to others.

Skramble (Rabbit) (Commodore Vic 20)

I liked this game but it is rather flawed by the scoring system.

Annihilator (Rabbit) (Commodore Vic 20)

A very well-thought-out game, and one that should provide a great deal of pleasure.

Preppie II (Atari) (Atari 400/800)

Preppie II is completely new and once again has incredible music and colour, with a cartoon break between each of the five levels.

Invaders (Arcadia) (Oric 48K/Atmos)

On-screen instructions are good and unstuffy, the game is fully crash-proofed and well-presented.

Nightflight (Salamander) (Dragon 32)

There's no "plus side" here... Even the instructions weren't relevant to the game! Psion's flight simulation for the ZX81 is much better than this.

Night Flight (Stainless) (TI99/4A)

A very good TI game, let down by some minor irritations.

Winging It (Stainless) (TI99/4A)

An excellent program which should appeal to budding pilots of all ages.

Landfall (Virgin Games) (BBC Model B)

I never managed to land at all, and would have liked some sort of variable difficulty level or practice option.

Up Up And Away (Starcade) (Atari 400/800)

The graphics are among the best I've ever seen, and the five levels of difficulty will provide a long-lasting challenge.

Monitor (Jupiter Cantab) (Jupiter Ace)

Produces a rather untidy display and provides less information than the Remsoft toolkit with which it will inevitably be compared.

Ace-Atari Cassette Enhancer (English) (Atari 400/800)

All three parts contain useful options, although the machine-coder is perhaps the least useful of the three.

The Visual Processor (Gilsoft) (Spectrum 16K)

As a means of teaching a beginner how to handle machine code, it is like using a kiddie-car to train for world championship motor racing!

SYS 64 (Artic) (Spectrum 16K/48K)

For new Basic programs it gives a useful, added flexibility of presentation.

Psst (Ultimate) (Spectrum 16K)

An addictive game... Graphics are smooth-moving and colourful and the sound effects are tuneful rather than noisy.

Robon (Softek) (Spectrum 16K)

Rather superior graphics mark this game out, as does the quality of the sound.

3D Combat Zone (Artic) (Spectrum 48K)

A fairly easy-paced game... Sinclair or Kempston joysticks can also be used.

Megapede (Softek) (Spectrum 16K)

The sound could be improved, but I suspect that this is related to cramming the code into the smaller of the two Spectrums.

Cosmic Debris (Artic) (Spectrum 16K)

Debris is a very fast-moving game and was quite a challenge to play.

Catcha Snatcha (Imagine) (Commodore Vic 20)

Graphics and animation are good, but the game is beset by bugs.

Innovative Cassettes 1-3 (Melbourne House) (Commodore Vic 20)

The book is much better value for money than the cassettes.

Cyclons (Rabbit) (Commodore Vic 20)

You can select one of three options, or combine them to give the difficulty of your choice.

Cosmic Fire Birds (Solar) (Commodore Vic 20)

A good, but slightly over-priced, game.

Pakacuda (Rabbit) (Commodore Vic 20)

If you are looking for a Pacman lookalike, this one is about average.