19 Part 1: Boot Camp (Summit)

A bit of a mixed bag, with three out of its four sections well below standard.

Back To The Future Part II (Image Works)

Massive multiload film conversion, very faithful to the complicated film, and full of variety. It's a bit of a shame that you can't practice each level individually though.

Big Trouble in Little China (Alternative)

The balance of this game is all wrong. We've seen it all too often before, and seen it done thousands of times better.

Cecco Collection (Hewson)

Fat Cat Cecco and la creme de la creme - you won't see a better compilation than this all year.

The Cycles (Accolade)

A motorbike sim with such a wobbly steering system you'll probably feel sick after playing it! Stick to your Raleigh - at least you'll be able to go in a straight line!

Daley Thompson's Supertest (The Hit Squad)

A nifty and well-planned package. By now it does show its age, but it's also sold trillions of copies, and it's not entirely difficult to see why.

Head Over Heels (The Hit Squad)

An essential purchase. This, Tetris and Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo would be my Desert Island Games - it's a timeless classic, and not surprisingly it plays best of all on the humble ol' Spectrum.

Hijack (Summit)

The game's a little short on action, but it's certainly a knotty teaser, and in the end you have to react just as quickly as in a shoot-'em-up.

Howard The Duck (Alternative)

It is at least relatively easy to play - well, on the lowest of the four difficulty levels anyway - but the graphics are poor and there's no sense of atmosphere.

International 3D Tennis (Palace)

Nice 3D gameplay, shame about the sluggish speed. Well worth trying if Dan Maskell's your cuppa tea.

Italy 1990 (US Gold)

Probably the best of the current crop. Above average footie game with a strong World Cup flavour. I know what I'll be playing this year!

Midnight Resistance (Ocean)

Ocean come up trumps again I'm afraid. Colourful, varied, well-paced and tricky shoot-'em-up.

Pro Tennis Simulator (Codemasters)

A good solid bargain title - nothing more, nothing less.

Rad Ramp Racer (Mastertronic Plus)

It's cheap, it's cheerful and it's fun. What more could you ask for?

Sim City (Infogrames)

The most original, perfectly programmed game of the year. Ignore the graphics - it's a work of total genius!

Slap Fight (The Hit Squad)

It's starts hard and gets harder, and it's been so beautifully thought-out that anyone who knows their shoot-'em ups will find it hard to stay away.

Starship Quest (FSF Adventures)

There are both 48K and 128K versions of this three-parter, and it's good to see someone making full use of the extra memory of the bigger machine rather than producing the bog-standard 48K game and leaving it at that.

Stormlord II: Deliverance (Hewson)

An excellent arcade adventure, packed with variety and even harder than its predecessor.

Turrican (Rainbow Arts)

Massive and spectacular shoot-'em-up, though it does lack a bit of character. Still, buy it!