Tetris (Mirrorsoft)

Simple to understand and nigh on impossible to beat. Lightning reaction game, very; very addictive. Superb.

Rolling Thunder (US Gold)

Great fun with this deceptively straightforward but stylishly programmed coin-op conversion.

California Games (Epyx)

One of the best sports-sims around. 4 great events and 2 iffy ones. Definitely worthwhile.

Compendium (Gremlin)

A rather bland collection of four well-known games. Computerising them seems to have added nothing to their already limited attraction.

Garfield: Big, Fat, Hairy Deal (The Edge)

Easily the best cartoon licence ever. Garfield looks, acts and plays right. Better than anyone could have imagined.

Basket Master (Imagine)

One of the more enjoyable recent sports simulations, combining neat graphics with skillful gameplay.

Sports Hero (Melbourne House)

An excellent sports sim package with its aim set on realism.

Jet Bike Simulator (Codemasters)

Difficult to decide whether this self-derivative game deserves a look at this price point. A lot of it, but it's a new 'budget' price.

Four Smash Hits (Hewson)

Four superb games for the price of one. Go get it.

Xen (Top Ten)

Boldly tries to go where only Lightforce has been before... and unfortunately fails miserably.

Sport Plus Three (Mastertronic)

All round, the idea is sound, the pricing good, but can we have some slightly better games next time?

SAS Operation Thunderflash (Top Ten)

Overpriced budget trash. Let it lie.

Enlightenment (Firebird)

Superior sequel. Good gameplay. Good graphics. Good heavens! Firebird is getting its act together.

Firetrap (Electric Dreams)

Graphically and aurally bland conversion of a little known arcade machine.

Phantom Club (Imagine)

Nice isometric arcade adventure with unusual designs. Good fun despite some awful screen colours.

Andy Capp (Mirrorsoft)

Looks very good, technically clever but I don't think the gameplay is going to retain your long term interest.

Psycho Soldier (Imagine)

Much like Athena, but without the graphic invention. Fails to set the pulse racing.

Rampage (Activision)

Promising coin-op loses much of its appeal on the way down the conversion lines. Mediocre.

The Colditz Story (Atlantis)

Utterly hopeless waste of money. An insult to everyone under the sun. Crass, unoriginal, uninteresting and untested.

Pro Golf 2 (Atlantis)

Budget golf-sim. 1-4 players. Reasonable effort at making the greatest/dullest game in the world economically Spectrumised.

Progen (Gensoft)

A good idea, poorly executed. This genealogy program could be called relatively disappointing.

Inside Outing (The Edge)

Astoundingly detailed 3D collect and explore game. The best 3D game since Head Over Heels.

Terramex (Grandslam)

A lot of logical thought is needed to get really deeply into the game as you fiddle what different items and try to figure out what their purpose is.

3D Double Bill (Go It Alone)

Two sub-standard filmation games, this game style has been done to death.

Play It Again Sam (Mastertronic)

Enjoyable cheapie with good story and vocabulary. A worthwhile investment.

Axe (Top Ten)

Unimpressive text/graphics adventure which comes complete with a completely appalling novel.

Murphy (Pirate)

Tedious bouncing game that might have looked good a few years ago. Then again, it might not.

Grid Iron (Top Ten)

Probably this is the world's first 'too easy' game and one definitely to leave on the shelf.

Progen (Gensoft)

Wordmaster (Cardex)

Well worth seeking out if you need a word processor with some graphics functions.

Pascal Compiler (Mira)

A good opportunity to explore an important programming language at a bargain price.

Blitzkrieg (Ariolasoft)

Achtung, Britischer sweinhund! Neat strategy game that lets you crush democracy... For once, you get to play the bad guy... Try it for Christmas!

Pegasus Bridge (PSS)

Well designed, no nonsense wargame covering an interesting part of the D-Day operations. A little unexciting though.

Knight Orc (Level 9/Rainbird)

Text-only adventure with informative descriptions, multitude of characters, large vocabulary and it's very, very funny.

Masters Of The Universe (Gremlin)

A very playable conversion that captures all the atmosphere of the movie but falls on being a little on the easy side.

Madballs (Ocean)

A multi-scrolling Bounder rip off with none of the charm. Though it's still a good game, it could have been better.

Warlock (The Edge)

In the ideas department, a step up from most filmation games but sadly; nearly everywhere else it's found wanting.

Dragonia (Astros)

Some lovely backgrounds and complex gameplay make Dragonia stand out.

The Realm/Boxing Manager (Willsoft)

Decent if simplistic adventure with a very basic sports strategy game on the flip side.

Space Station B1/The Legend Of The Lost Kingdom (Dan Neilsen)

Two adventures on one tape from Denmark. Some language difficulties, interesting nonetheless.