Infocom 1983
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Los Angeles, February 1938. Freeman Linder has received what he believes to be death threats from a man called Stiles whom Mrs Linder had had an affair with before her suicide. Linder asks the police for their protection and he gets it. A detective (the player) is assigned to be present at the Linders' home on the evening Stiles' telegram to Linder talks about.

Sir-Tech 1984
Genre: RPG
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Once upon a time, the legendary world of Llylgamyn was ruled by an Overlord, appointed by the Council of Sages. When Trebor, the local hero, became the Overlord, he became obsessed with power. He found out about an artifact, a magical amulet of great power. He wasn't the only one looking for it: the evil wizard Werdna was only a step behind Trebor's efforts to find the artifact. Trebor found it first, however, only to have it stolen by Werdna almost immediately. Werdna didn't know how to handle the amulet properly, caused an earthquake beneath Trebor's castle, which creates several levels of mazes. To avoid looking like a complete idiot, Werdna announced that it was his intent to create the maze, so that he could move in at the lowest level. Trebor managed to clear out the first four levels of the maze, which he then pronounced to be his Proving Grounds for everybody interested to becoming a part of this private guard. You are one of these candidates...

Arbeitskreis Spielkultur 1999
Genre: Puzzle, Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch, English, Nederlands
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

If a game comes along with a producer like "Arbeitskreis Spielkultur" (sounds like some typically German dry official office), you should be careful. If the plot revolves around Norse mythology, the expectation of some completely non-understandable crap made by roleplaying geeks.

Enix 1994
Genre: Adventure, RPG
Rating: 4/6
Language: Japanse, English (unofficial)
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

Based on Pinocchio and with a simple AI as main character, Wonder Project J consists on raising Pino, a robot that looks like a kid, to make him become human like.

All is done with a controller different to the usual one in a console game, as you use a mouse, on of those add-ons that only one or two more games made use of. It moves around a fairy robot that can carry objects, to put them into your inventory or getting them out of it, order Pino to move or stop, and scold (and doing it again, hit) or praise him.

1001 Limited 1987
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Darts... ever heard of that? Those pointy thingies you throw at that round thingy hanging on the wall? Yeah right - that's it. This is Darts... 501 to be precise. The rules of it are simple - the points you score are subtracted from 501 till you reach 0. However you got to reach this by hitting a "double" field. Bit of mathematics involved here. ;) The player first reaching 0 wins (of course). Easy concept and great to be played in a pub. Well - and also on a computer. I found the game to be best playable with a joystick - it's a lot of fun then. If you want to try your luck with the keyboard go ahead. It's a lot more difficult, but still playable. The controls rely on a system I'd like to call 'system of the unsure hand troubled by gravity' - basically you give the hand holding the dart a push to one side and it always goes a little too far, which is by concept. After a while you get the hang of it though and learn to calculate those motions.

System Three Software / Epyx 1986
Genre: Action, Sport
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

A well-known classic from the arcade from 1986. Business as usual: Fight against your opponents who become more stronger from round to round and try to collect as many point as possible...

You start as Karateka with the white belt - you can choose Egypt or Australia. It does not matter at all because the starting location has no influence on the game itself. After 3 rounds of fighting you either go to New York or to Rio de Janeiro - and that already was the little excursion because after round no. 3 the background graphic does not change any more. At least as far as I could play...

Team17 1995
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Now, this is quite a famous game, and unlike some it’s popular with a reason. You get the lemmings, give them weapons (after changing the little suicidal rodents to worms) and you get an action game with plenty of explosions and collateral damage.

Ljn 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

WWF RAW - the reference to digital showfights. The ridiculous wrestling-scene is presented absolutely serious. And that's good for all who are amused by clearly missing but apparently very painful hooks and for those who still can't understand why two wrestlers are trying to kill each other in the ring, but having a nice barbecue together after the fight (are there any?).

Acclaim 1995
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

WWF Wrestlemania - The name says it all. The official license has both its advantages and disadvantages for the game designers. Much room for creativity concerning character design and playing modes does not remain, but these are of course advantages, either. Because well-known fighter "personalities" already exist to whom the followers of this "sport" connect different cliché attributes, the typically ridiculous plot of an average fighting game can fortunately not be found. Another point is that potential weaknesses of the playability will be easier looked over by the players because of the disciples' emotional link to their idols. The designers could therefore put all their efforts in a conversion as "realistic" as possible.

Capcom 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

The X-Men are Marvel's most successful team of superheros. And that is actually surprising if you know a bit about the history of this series. It was started back in the mid-60s, like so many others. But the X-Men never really made it, the sales couldn't compare to the Fantastic Four and all the others. So their story ended in 1970: the series was discontinued. No more stories of Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast and Iceman. Gone the threat of Magneto, the Juggernaut and the Sentinels.