Blood Brothers (Gremlin)

Everything a good game needs... Good graphics, good sound, great playability, a good few hours of addictive gameplay and all for under a tenner.

Buggy Boy (Elite)

Graphically excellent road race, slightly let down by gameplay which lacks excitement.

Soldier Of Light (Ace)

Reasonable, though disappointing conversion of what was an extremely convertible game. Mediocre

Desolator (US Gold)

Plenty to see and do then, just like Chessington Zoo, but, also like Chessington Zoo, if you've seen it once, you've seen it a thousand times.

Laser Tag (Go!)

Unexciting blasting game based on the popular light-gun package.

Masterfile Plus 3 (Campbell Systems)

Powerful database package exploiting the advantages of disc to the full.

Spy Vs. Spy Trilogy (Databyte)

A good value package, and one that will certainly please fans of the strip.

Werewolf Simulator (Top Ten)

Regular budget adventure codswallop with an unusually misleading title. For the casual adventurer only.

Target Renegade (Imagine)

Great to look at and better to play. Fast, exciting and terribly wince-making at points. Top-notch.

Sabotage (Zeppelin)

Playable upward scroller with some nice graphics. A worthwhile budget buy.

Cyberknights (CRL)

Clever concept, but the terrible execution puts this design-it-yourself combat game on dodgy ground.

Gothik (Firebird)

Complex and enjoyable shoot-shooty magic potion nonsense a la Gauntlet.

Crosswize (Firebird)

Quality follow up to a quality game. Roll on the next-wize.

Venom Strikes Back (Gremlin)

Apart from the odd silliness - water and clouds on the moon, for instance - Venom Strikes Back is jolly good fun.

Shanghai Karate (Players)

Decent budget chop-'em-up with better backgrounds than gameplay.

All Stars (The Edge)

Good selection of titles ranging from the average to the excellent. A wise choice for purchase.

Freedom Fighter (Powerhouse)

Dismal shoot-'em-up hardly enlivened by sampled speech. Avoid like eczema.

Dambusters (Powerhouse)

Poorly thought about re-release of a trashy licence. A clanger has been dropped.

Beyond The Ice Palace (Elite)

Not a classic in any sense, but certainly good enough to occupy you until the Next Big Thing comes along.

Data East's Arcade Alley (US Gold)

An arcadester's nightmare. Four no-hope conversions, and one that doesn't really make you sweat with excitement.

6-Pack Vol. 3 (Elite)

Excellent selection of blasts from the past with one obligatory stinker.

Frontline (Zeppelin Games)

Above average multi-scrolling mass rattity-tat adventure. Fine for three quid, but there are better games at the price.

Geebee Air Rally (Activision)

Race for the sky in one of the straightest conversions from a 16-bit machine I've seen yet on the Spectrum.

Prowler (Mastertronic)

Sophisticated budget hybrid of helicopter sim and shoot-'em-up.

Charlie Chaplin (US Gold)

Graphically engaging but ultimately disappointing movie spoof.

Bionic Commandos (Go)

Fast and furious, but feels unpolished and is graphically simplistic.

Vixen (Martech)

Well animated whipping game, although the gameplay is lacking. Still, worth a look.