Agatha's Folly (Zenobi)

An adventure in two, very different, parts... Two for the price of one, and you're the one who'll be committing the folly if you don't buy this one.

Army Moves (Summit)

People who are really good at the hardest shoot-'em-ups will find this right up their street. I, on the other hand, loathe and detest it.

The Biz (Ocean)

The best compilation I've seen for blimmin' eons. If you don't have any of these games then this is a "must"!

Black Tiger (US Gold)

To sum up, Black Tiger is a competent conversion - not quite up to the standard of US Gold's best Capcom conversions, but quite palatable nonetheless.

Buggy Boy (Encore)

The ingredients are there, but frustratingly Buggy Boy doesn't quite cut it. For race freaks only, I'm afraid.

Burning Rubber (CRL)

Um, "three accurate driving simulations"? I don't think so, I'm afraid! It's a compilation of three very old games - a bad management game, a reasonable management game, and one ancient lorry-driving sim.

Championship Baseball (Alternative)

Firstly, non-baseball fans should steer well clear. Secondly, games like this are notoriously hard to mark and I can't work out if it's been made for the general punter, or for the enthusiast.

Count Duckula (Alternative)

This is really my sort of game. The graphics are excellent, and although it's not that hard a game there's a definite learning curve which, surprise surprise, involves some map-making along the way.

Garfield: Winter's Tail (The Edge)

A rather crap follow-up to the first Garfield. Nice graphics, shame about the gameplay.

Gazza's Super Soccer (Empire)

I suppose on the whole, this game is good news for Gazza fans and tragically forgettable for the rest of us.

Invasion Force (Cases)

Not the most polished of wargames, but certainly flexible. Loads of scenarios give it a long life expectancy, and there are one or two innovative features too.

Joe Blade III (Players)

Joe Blade fans will know what to expect and will probably already have bought it. But others will enjoy it as well - it's clever, tricky and worth your attention.

Scramble Spirits (Grandslam)

A monochromatic vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up with the emphasis very firmly on, erm, aeroplanes. Quite good fun.

Snoopy (The Edge)

An excellent rendition of the comic strip, with one or two gameplay glitches but loads of good puzzles. Arcade adventurers will lap it up.

Sooty & Sweep (Alternative)

There's not a lot to this licence. The rooms are fairly limited, the challenge soon wears thin and, although there are Easy and Hard versions, the gameplay is so weak and repetitive that you couldn't really give a monkey's.

Space Harrier (Encore)

The glorious rushing colours of the coin-op are replaced by the Speccy's usual monochrome, although the chequered ground pattern, so effective in giving the illusion of speed, remains intact.

Space Harrier II (Grandslam)

The sequel to Space Harrier. Not awe-inspiring, but hardly disappointing either. It's frantic 3D shoot-'em-up action all the way.

Spitfire 40 (Alternative)

It's not bad value for three quid but such a wrinkly old game that not even a hastily applied bit of Oil of Ulay would make much difference - euthanasia would be infinitely kinder.

Street Hassle (Mastertronic)

The sprites are rather larger here than in that splendid old beat-'em-up Renegade, but overall the game hasn't the same subtlety, or indeed long term appeal.

World Championship Boxing Manager (Goliath Games)

Boxing Manager is terrific - even to me, hardly the greatest fan of boxing there is! Buy it, you'll love it. Despite appearances, a superb management game - versatile and very addictive.

X-Out (Rainbow Arts)

Hurrah! A smooth, large and well-implemented shoot-'em-up, with a great shop sequence and just enough originality to get by. Excellent!