Superfront 4.0 (English) (Commodore 64)

A useful utility at a reasonable price.

White Noise And Graphics (Gilsoft) (Spectrum 16K/48K)

This sort of 'toolkit' program needs to be approached with care... More experienced users will often extract the parts they want, building them into their own formats.

Chargen And Demo (Rainbow Research) (BBC Model B)

There are better programs at lower costs than these.

Astron Assembler (Dk'tronics) (Spectrum 16K/48K)

Very tedious... you have to keep moving from CAPS to lower case, and keep STOPping to get into the next phase of the program.

Extended Character Definition (Stainless) (TI99/4A)

Well written... but missing the option to redefine.

Alien Oddessy Parts 1 And 2 (Bamby) (Dragon 32)

There are quite a few good adventures now available for the Dragon, and I wouldn't pay more than £4.50 for this one.

Cells And Serpents (ASP) (Spectrum 48K)

Neat coloured displays... The delays are just a trifle long, and the combat oversimplified.

Devil's Triangle (Abacus) (Dragon 32)

Might appeal to the under-tens, but for the rest of us will probably disappear into the Software Triangle, destiny of all unexceptional games.

Grail Quest (Stainless) (TI99/4A)

Frustrating... and heightened by the slow response of the keyboard/joystick.

Golden Apples Of The Sun (Bamby) (Dragon 32)

Logic does not appear to be part of this game and it is far, far too easy to be killed.

Terrible Tales (Ladybird-Longman) (BBC Model B)

Documentation provides a fund of ideas, but it is a real pity that the program has no graphics at all.

Sheepdog (Ladybird-Longman) (BBC Model B)

The game works well and is well error-trapped... but it is extremely repetitive.

Countries Of The World (Hewson) (Spectrum 16K)

Well written, and well presented.

Fun To Learn (Shards) (BBC Model B)

Not the most educational activity ever devised, but with some value and fun.

Language Tutor (Rainbow Research) (BBC Model B)

Sloppy... sloppy... sloppy programming. The program crashed out and... was littered with other loopholes and deficiencies.

Doodlebug (Soflow) (Atari 400/800)

Doodlebug does what it sets out to do, but in a bread and butter way.

Cloneit And Renumber (ASP) (Spectrum 16K)

Cloneit is a tape back-up system... Renumber is a fast line renumbering utility... Both work.

ZX Toolkit (Star Dreams) (Spectrum 48K/128K)

If only the trace slowed the program even more, the loading title used colours I could read when listing, and the well-written instructions were on something more durable.

Superdraw 16 (Video Software) (Spectrum 16K)

A lot of bugs.. The Pixel cursor is just visible, the current command is printed over your picture and text becomes corrupted by lines and colour change.

Grafvic (Mossoft) (Commodore Vic 20)

There appear to be one or two bugs involving multi-colour mode.

Super Cassette A And Super Cassette B (Melbourne House) (Dragon 32/64)

With so many good games (fifteen on cassette A) these tapes have to be a good buy and I recommend both of them.

Blaster, Smuggler's Cave, Hangman (Alton) (Dragon 32/64)

Compared with other compilations, this one seems to me overpriced for games which aren't particularly novel.

Rescuer, Rings Of Saturn And Space Trial (Alton) (Dragon 32/64)

Space Trial is best... Others are slow-moving, boring, no skill is needed and there's very little action in them.

Super Nine (Romik) (Sinclair ZX81)

Six of the nine programs are of the "shoot when you see the yellow of their eyes" type, aliens zapped and capowed in various unspeakable ways.