Xarq (Electric Dreams)

Quite original, certainly challenging. You'll find it either addictive or irritating. Not state-of-the-art, however.

Dark Sceptre (Firebird)

An astounding complex game that also features the largest, most highly detailed characters ever.

Johnny Reb II (Lothlorien)

A winner for the strategy gamers. Smoothly programmed and easy to get to grips with.

Psi Chess (The Edge)

A cracking good game of chess with wonderful graphics. Suitable for beginners and experts alike.

I.C.U.P.S. (Thor)

Two games in one. Incredibly unoriginal joystick-destroying stuff but quite addictive for all that.

Time Trax (Mind Games/Argus Press)

Well programmed, with a complex plot. The action tends to the predictable and repetitive though.

The Eidolon (Activision)

The best of the Fractals games, beautifully converted to the Spectrum, with some impressive original touches.

Rescue On Fractalus (Activision)

Programming limitations and lack of game plot restrict the appeal of this, the first of the Fractal titles.

Mindstone (The Edge)

Thoroughly entertaining strategy game with adventure elements. The animated graphics is icing.

Elite (Firebird)

A re-release of a stunning arcade simulation. The yardstick by which to measure other strategy games.

Iwo Jima (PSS)

A competent, if old fashioned, piece of programming, but the game just fails to excite.

The Trap Door (Piranha)

As original to play as it is to look at. The Trap Door may be one of the most imaginative games of the year.

Kung-Fu Master (US Gold)

-A routine conversion from the C64 on which little genuine thought or effort seems to have been expended.

Ghostbusters (Activision)

Sounds great, looks very average. Best seen as a demo of the 128's sound chip. As such it's expensive.

Ace (Cascade)

Fine flight simulator without too much fine detail to get in the way of what it's all about - blasting at speed.

Action Reflex (Mirrorsoft)

The sort of game that may still be worth playing this time next year.

Star Firebirds (Firebird)

A fair copy of the Galaxians arcade hit, but the minuscule graphics may well put you off.

Con-Quest (Mastertronic)

A tired variant of Atic Atac... Graphics, themes and playing style that should long ago have been laid to rest.

Stainless Steel (Mikro-Gen)

A good shoot 'em up. Not a major release but nicely presented and challenging to play.

Hunchback: The Adventure (Ocean)

Over 100K of adventure with interesting graphics let down by unsatisfying gameplay. Still great value though.

Master Of Magic (Mastertronic Added Dimension)

Another budget winner from Mastertronic. The adventure is quick, clean and pretty challenging.

Journey To The Centre Of Eddie Smith's Head (Players)

A derivative and dull adventure. Knock it on the head, Eddie - even as a budget release.

Mandragore (Infogrames)

Don't bother. Computer role-playing games need speed to work well - Mandragore is just a drag.

Esperanto (Lez Peranto)

Oliver's Music Box (Cosmic Pop)

Looks good with some sophisticated features. Spoilt by over-fussy input and correction procedures.

Lorigraph (Loriciels)

An unusual graphics program with many good points. Best for technical rather than artistic work.

Basically Speaking (Computer Publications)

ZX Big Shot (Buttercraft)

A limited-use print utility for those rare birds who have ZX Printers. Needs a dot matrix printer driver.

Bubble Sort (Keith Norton)

A dull but functional database. Record length is unnecessarily restricted. Very disappointing.

Mortville Manor (Lankhor)

Touch Typist (Sector)

Aquanaut 471 (Microdeal)

Pro Pascal (Prospero)

The Lost Pharaoh (Talent)