Bluemoon Software 1993
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

One of the most addictive games I have ever played, Skyroads is a unique blend of puzzle, action and racing. The game was written in 1993 by the Estonian company Bluemoon Software (currently Bluemoon Interactive), and enjoyed a moderate success as a shareware title. Bluemoon has built up a sizable distribution network with this game, and so the game was worth more than the money it earned: it opened the doors for later Bluemoon games and applications to be sold.

Epyx / US Gold 1990
Genre: Action, Simulation
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

This is one I spent a lot of time with back in the days. At first glance, it's a simple aerial shooter, but there's more to it than that. Even though it's far from being a realistic simulation, there's a certain feel to the controls and general gameplay that draws you in, and before you know it, you really ARE crack pilot Butch Slayer, codename Fifi.

Krisalis 1993
Genre: Action, Sport
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais, Italiano
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

It's 1994, the year of the world cup! All the teams of course want to win it. But there's also another creature who wants to own the cup: The evil alien 'Scab'! He's searching the galaxy for trophies to add to his collection. So he steals this one. But when he tries to beam it up to his ship, it collides with a rock and is smashed into five pieces which all fall back to earth but land on completely different continents! It would be a sad final without the ultimate trophy, so 'Soccer Kid' (What kind of name is that? His parents must have been high or something!) decides to find the missing pieces.

ASCii Corporation / Spectrum Holobyte 1984
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Sokoban was created by Hiroyuki Imabayashi in 1980, and won the first prize on a computer games contest. Two years later, Thinking Rabit, Mr. Imabayashi's company has released the first commercial version of Sokoban. The game has often been reproduced, and remains as addictive today as ever.

Rare 1990
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: NES

Aliens have captured your ship and it now lays in pieces all around the galaxy, so if you want to get it back you will have to travel from planet to planet, exploring inside a capsule. A tough work, as they are not the most manoeuvrable things, nor the best for fighting back.

BMB Compuscience 1984
Genre: Action
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Many great works were created by accident. Sopwith is one of them. Once upon a time, there was a Canadian software company, called BMP Compuscience. It was developing database and networking software. It was its network software, Imaginet, which is the direct reason why Sopwith was created: the game, which supported multiplayer over the Imaginet network, served as a demo to show the network's capability. Ironically, the game has built up a strong following. The networking software did not.

Apollo 1981
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: -
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari 2600

Space Cavern is the most complex Atari 2600 game I've ever seen, with a manual three times as thick as any other Atari 2600 game. There are countless different difficulty levels you can choose from when starting a game, selecting from options such as whether to have two or four enemies above you, whether or not to have any enemies from the sides, whether the enemies above are large (easy targets) or small, and whether the enemies above shoot straight or diagonally. All of these options are independant of one another, so you can mix and match.

ajf 1983
Genre: Action
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

When and where this game was made, I have no idea. The age is based on the file, as in "not modified since 16-1-1984". So, what's it all about? It's a...Space Invaders clone!!! Not terribly original, but then again, it's from 1984, so maybe, just maybe, it was then.

Sierra On-Line 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Released only a few months after Space Quest I, the sequel, named Vohaul's Revenge has brought little new. In fact, if I felt nasty and unthankful, I'd say that the game was one of the first cash cows in the history of PC gaming. By today's standards I'd be right - inept puzzles, the same graphics, lack of the same humor I remembered from the first part and a very short gameplay would automatically qualify a game as a rip-off. At least in my eyes; in fact such games seem to be very successful and highly regarded by certain gaming magazines. Back in the days, however, we were happy for the little we got and paid for it accordingly.

Sierra On-Line 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Back in the mid-1980s, computer games were created by their fans. It so happened that two guys, Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy decided that they would like to play King's Quest in a science fiction setting. After being initially rejected by Ken Williams who ran Sierra at the time, they created a small demo to show him they could pull it off. They got the job...