123 (Silverbird)

Nope, they just don't cut it. In the bin!

The Games: Summer Edition (Epyx)

A professional, but not spectacular, sports sim.

H.A.T.E. (Gremlin)

Nothing incredibly innovative, but what's there is excellently programmed and brilliantly executed.

Microprose Soccer (Microprose)

A good arcadey footie game with many novel new features. Especially good for 128K owners!

Mike Read's Pop Quiz (Elite)

Sloppy design, uninspiring graphics, plus badly thought out and ill-researched questions let this game down. One for pop fanatics and Mike Read fans only. If there are any.

Mission Omega (Bug-Byte)

A total waste of time, I'm afraid. Even after you have worked it all out by trial and error, you wander around a bit and find yourself asking, "Is that it?" before throwing the Speccy out of the window.

Navy Moves (Dinamic)

A corkendous follow up to Army Moves, for those who don't mind investing six squillion years in getting past level one (i.e. it's hard).

Pi-R Squared (Bug-Byte)

It's really only another collect-and-dodge multi-level arcade adventure in sheep's clothing - just substitute wheels and cogs for platforms and ladders. But it's a neat little brainteaser.

Premier II (E&J)

A definite improvement on E&J's earlier games, but just not different enough to work in its own right. A goal kick, I'd say.

The Real Ghostbusters (Activision)

Poor shoot-'em-up and that looks good in some places but plays bad in most. Oh, and the music is awful.

Rebelstar 2 (Silverbird)

You can play against the computer or a friend (the two-player games loads separately), and the whole is quite a laugh, if perhaps not as detailed as most full-price strategy games. A neat addition to the genre, though.

Repton Mania (Superior)

Two games in one: one a servicable Boulderdash clone (with giant sprites); the other a quantum leap ahead: the best multi-screen arcade adventure we've seen for ages.

Rock Star Ate My Hamster (Codemasters)

Hilariously funny? Well perhaps, but not quite in the way they intended. Please don't make me load it again!

The Running Man (Grandslam)

Frenetic and visually great kick and shoot-'em-up with the occasional need for quick logic under pressure. Sterling stuff!

Sanxion (Thalamus)

Sanxion on the Spectrum is slightly annoying but, on the whole, playable and fairly addictive if you persevere.

Soccer Q (Cult Games)

Simple and completely brilliant. Light relief at a reasonable price for Football Director fans everywhere.

Spy Hunter (Kixx)

It's good unpretentious fun, with one unforgiveable gub, once the game is over, you have to load up from scratch. Tut, tut, Kixx - get your act together.

Stormlord (Hewson)

Another stormer from Raffaelle Cecco. For once, I can't see a thing worth whingeing about. Just buy it.

Super Cycle (Kixx)

Some games survive, some don't, and at three quid this now looks overpriced.

Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper (Kixx)

While the backgrounds, aliens and particularly Trantor himself look fabbo, the gameplay seems ever so slightly tedious... Still, blast fanatics could do much worse.

Vigilante (US Gold)

Pretty standard beat-'em-up. You've probably seen it all before, so only buy if you're addicted to the genre and you've already got the better ones.

Vindicators (Tengen/Domark)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. There's no challenge, nothing to make you want to have just one more go. Nothing except a drab, utterly mundane game that wouldn't make a splash if you dropped it in a pond.

The Weaver Of Her Dreams (8th Day)

This might seem pricey but it does come with a small booklet and not a penny of the purchase price is wasted, believe me. If it wasn't for a few spelling mistakes (chimmney/chimney and draw/drawer) the game might have edged into the megagame bracket.