Psygnosis 1995
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

I thought long about which category to add this game to - either action or sport because it's a blending of these two: action-packed but also with reasonable competitive elements. So what is it all about?

DKTronics 1983
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Since we were still talking about Saddam_Hussein_the_bad_dictator & George_Bush_the_good_pacifist & The_war_in_the_name_of_peace and all that, why don't we put up here a dictator sim. Yup, and a pretty darn addictive one.

Sunflowers 1996
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Money and political power are often closely related. The family referenced in the title is one of the best known historical examples of this phenomenon. The members of that family don't actually appear in the game, though. It takes place a few levels below that instead. On a regional level, i.e. a member state of the former 'Holy Roman Empire', the player tries to gain political influence - just like the big idols.

Blue Byte 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

British and American games usually keep their names when they're released in Germany - even if it's a translated version. That's good, makes international conversations about them easier. German companies on the other hand sometimes take really silly measures to increase their chance on the international market. Not that it has ever worked, but giving up would be silly, too. One of the effects is that German games have English names - even here. If you can't see anything strange about that, you're probably from the USA. What would you think if a game by an 'American' company would carry a title in Suaheli? To take it one step further: what would you think if a game by a German company was released in your country carrying a German title?

Blue Byte 1995
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Whenever something claims to be 'crazy' (meaning 'funny' or 'wacky') in the title, you should be careful. It usually means the product won't be crazy at all, but rather lame. Simple reason: They try too hard, it all gets too obvious. Die total verrückte Rallye (literal translation: the totally crazy rallye) fortunately only stumbles into this trap partly, keeping the lameness factor at a bearable minimum (if only there weren't this 'announcer' with his GDR / Berlin accent...).

PCSL 1991
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 1/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Dingsda was a popular quiz show on German television running from the mid-80s to the end of the last millenium (in fact, it was only popular until the mid-90s, but it ran for another five years after that). The basic premise: two teams of TV 'celebrities' would compete in guessing words which were explained by kindergarten children.

Avalon Hill 1984
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

This is a conversion of a tabletop. As one of 7 Powers in a Europe divided in regions on the dawn of the 20th century you try to conquer as much as possible with your allies' help.

The rules have been adopted completely. The main point of them is that nothing happens by accident but everything can be calculated logically before. That means that nobody can use the excuse of luck/bad luck. Instead of that the attacking armies are compared to the defending ones. The one who has more wins. But more than one unit per area is impossible. In order to build a front line neighbouring countries have to support others.

Virgin Mastertronic 1990
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Diplomacy is a '[board-] game of international intrigue' which was developed in the 1950s. It takes place in the Europe of 1901. Seven major military powers are locked in a deadly power struggle. Each one is trying to achieve world domination, but neither can do it on its own.

Impressions 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais, Castellano, Italiano
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Impressions never had the best reputation with the mainstream gamers. They mainly produced quite inaccessible (granted) strategy titles. Caesar and Cohort are maybe their widest known classic titles. The vast majority of their games completely disappeared though.

Elite 1989
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Steve Bak had already ported both Commando and Ikari Warriors to the Amiga for Elite, and apparantely building on that experience, he followed that up with his original creation Dogs of War. The use of 'original' in the previous sentence being limited to the meaning of 'not being a conversion', because Dogs follows Commando's footprints very closely, but it has become a minor classic on its own right.