AnimaTek / Maxis 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

El-Fish is a fish breeding/creating and aquarium-building simulation that was released by the companies Maxis and AnimaTek in 1994 (Maxis is the creator of the successful Sim game series, while AnimaTek was a Russian company that invented the concept of El-Fish). The game was advanced for its time -- the photorealistic 3-D fish you can create look and move very realistically, and, through breeding, can be shaped into from 800 possible attributes into infinite numbers of unique fish. A fractal-based generator can also create unique decorative plants for your tank, and a rather intelligent random music generator can put together simple pieces of background music for your tank-display. Plus, just watching the fish you've made swimming in a tank you've designed is a very calming and rewarding experience.

elefanten Schuh GmbH / WWF 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 2/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

A well-known shoe company of the 80s teams up with a well-known environmental organization of the 80s to present you this economical simulation. Commercial advertisement mixed up with promotion for a 'good cause' - very, very questionable.

New World Computing 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Empire inspired a whole generation of programmers to do similar games. The concept is simple, yet addicting: Start with one city, build up an army and conquer the whole (unknown) world. That's it. Plain and simple. Maybe you've had this many times before, but certainly not often that well done!

Rauser / BWMi 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 2/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

Just a little more than ten years ago (in 1993), there was no 'Internet' of today's proportions. Computer magazines coming with CDs full of stuff were still uncommon, too. To be exact, the first 'one-shot issues' of this kind appeared in early 1994 in Germany. So, 1993 was still a year of game demos being spread on floppy disks, and those were available on quite a few magazine covers.

Legend Entertainment 1991
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

The story is not very original: As a idiotic knight on the king's court, you have to rescue the kidnapped princess. We had that several times before, as well as comedy.
Eric the Unready is more based on allusions to classics of film and gaming than on an intriguing plot. Serious things (Star Trek) are used as well as other satires are quoted (Monkey Island) or carried on (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) without envy. Of course, that is sometimes done better and sometimes worse. The recognition is high is any case. You will notice the most (and in my opinion best) humor only if you step aside from the normal solution. You can try every silly action you want, the game will recognize almost everything and comment it.

Infogrames 1992
Genre: Adventure, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: Francais, English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Planet Eternam, year 2815. You've been looking forward to this holiday for a very long time now. This huge fun park is famous for bringing past times alive as if it was real! And it's expensive enough. You've decided this should be the holiday of your lifetime. And it will be! Only in a slightly different way than you planned maybe...

Enix 1993
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

ENIX-Always a company that was willing to make games that were...well, non-standard. Not that that's a bad thing. Certainly not in this case. EVO is one of those one-of-a-kind games that are fun to play, hard to categorize. And yes, I may be biased because biologists generally like tinkering with animals :)

Activision 1989
Genre: Sport
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

'Face off!' is a great hockey game for its time but suffers quite a bit compared to EA's NHL series. Nevertheless is has a lot of things you can expect from a good hockey game. Exhibition and league games, several coaching options and nice extras like fights and a goalie cam.

Falcon 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: Swedish
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Yes folks - this is good ol' Tapper. The old game you might remember from your C64 - or maybe even from your old XT.
The concept is still the same - you're a barkeep' and have to serve beer to your customers who get angry and start moving towards you till they finally get their beloved beer. If they get it early enough they will just leave - if not they will slide their glass back and want more beer. Do not break any glasses or you are out!

SSI 1994
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Cyber- & Fantasy Empires: These two games are so similar that it's almost impossible to write separate reviews for them. In both games the objective is to conquer the whole world. Up to four opponents try to do the same. You command your army on a strategic map in a turn-based way. You can build fortresses in order to improve your defense and different kinds of 'factories' (in Fantasy Empires they're barracks) to produce more units. With those you conquer more territories and so on. Then there are some other options like simple diplomacy and spying.