Sim City (Infogrames)

This is so addictive, it's frightening. Even when you manage to tear yourself away from it, you crawl into bed dreaming about municipal budgets and road building schemes.

Dragon's Lair (Readysoft)

F-19 Stealth Fighter (Microprose)

Enough strategy and variation to create a longer-lasting impression than most other flight-sims... Proves that MicroProse can still keep ahead of the competition.

Projectyle (Electronic Arts)

One of the finest ST ball games ever.

Dynasty Wars (U. S. Gold)

This is a catastrophe. I mean, the arcade game was far from perfect - the action was repetitive, the movement of the horses distinctly unrealistic and the scrolling was slow. But Tiertex have made the graphics less exciting and the scrolling even slower.

Rotox (U. S. Gold)

A manic shoot-'em-up with puzzles to solve.

Cyberball (Domark)

Cyberball relies on fast-paced explosive action and the hard, robotic battering should appeal to macho Gridiron fans in particular.

Imperium (Electronic Arts)

The beauty of Imperium is its range of strategies. Similar games tend to take a linear approach that under close scrutiny reveals only a limited number of different ways to win. In Imperium the possibilities are limitless, with all manner of decisions leading to success - or failure.

Final Command (Ubisoft)

An involved and intriguing adventure that has the kind of decaying, doom-laden atmosphere that sci-fi buffs and ardent adventurers revel in.

Ghosts 'N Goblins (Elite)

This is a relic now. If it had been released 18 months ago it would have been praised; now it's too little much too late.

Starblade (Simarils/Palace)

Looks good, but the action is extremely limited. Starblade takes that all too-common route of trying to hide poor playability behind expert visuals.

Dan Dare III (Virgin/Mastertronic)

If you're a masochistic shoot-'em-up addict who zipped through Xenon II with one eye closed, Dan Dare III is going to be a challenge. But for the discerning player who wants quality effects and a slowly increasing difficulty level, there are many better games on the shelves.

Photon Storm (Arc)

The aliens come at you so fast you can hardly see them but there's no denying this is still a great challenge and lots of fun to play.

Bubble+ (Infogrames)

Bubble+ is far from being 16-bit state-of-the-art, but with amusing graphics and tricky levels it makes a welcome change from run-of-the-mill shoot-'em-ups.

The Toyottes (Infogrames)

As a cute platform game, The Toyottes is a fair effort. The pipe gives the game its addictive quality and proves that licences alone don't make old-style games good.

Chronoquest II (Psygnosis)

Chronoquest I was very successful and, with its detailed graphics, sampled sounds and intriguing plot there's no absolutely no reason why Chronoquest II shouldn't follow in its footsteps.

Dungeons, Amethysts, Alchemists And Everythin' (Atlantis)

Great fun to play.