Unlimited Software / Konami 1990
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Released for the PC three years after its NES appearance, Castlevania is the first of a long series of horror platformers. That is, the first to bear the name "Castlevania". The game is a sequel to Vampire Killer, which appeared in Japan in 1986 for the MSX2 Home Computer system. This fact was apparent immediately for everybody who played the original games, as most sprites were directly taken from Vampire Killer, and only the backgrounds and music were improved.

Dregenrocks 2001
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Catch the Kreis is a simple, yet fascinating arcade game. It resembles the huge coin-ups of the 70's and that where it draws its fascination from. You're an 'X' (controlled by the cursor keys) hunting a '0' on a board divided into squares. Very hectical - be sure to pump up enough adrenaline! But let's hear what the author has to say about the developement of the different versions (comments from Dregenrocks are in italics):

Bits of Magic / Electronic Arts 1990
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Centurion: Defender of Rome was one of those overly complex yet simplistic games that had their heyday in late 1980s and early 90s. Designed by Kellyn Beck, the mastermind behind Defender of the Crown, the game is built on the same principles, only set into a different time period.

Domark 1993
Genre: Sport, Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

After my last week's "dry" addition (Imperium) yet another game without noticeable sounds and graphics, but again it's well worth playing. CM 93 takes you into the English football divisions. Starting in Division 3 (the fourth highest league in England) you have to lead your club to the Premier League and European Stages. What makes CM-games different from most other football manager games is the fact that you're just the team manager which means that you don't have control over any finance-related sectors like advertisements or stadium improvements and that you're not always allowed to spend as much money on players as you want.

Bitmap Brothers 1993
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga, PC

Like in most games the story of "Chaos Engine" is not really original: A "Baron" invents a machine in his experiments that "although primitive" becomes more and more powerful and finally changes all creatures in its surroundings to evil monsters.

Bitmap Brothers 1996
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Chaos Engine. The epitome of an Amiga game. Made by the Amiga company. The immensely popular first part actually found its way to the PC more than a year later after the initial Amiga release. But then there was nothing.

Ocean 1989
Genre: Action, Sport
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Chase H.Q., which first got into the arcades in 1988, is a racing game with a twist. Instead of just using the basic 'driving faster than the opponents', it adds another goal: catching another vehicle. The simple background story tells us something about a 'futuristic' police department called 'Chase H.Q.'. The player sits around in his sports car all day until he gets a call from Nancy from the headquarters, telling him about an escaped criminal who has to be caught again.

Microprose 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 6/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Without any doubt, Civilization is the greatest and most addictive game that ever graced a computer screen. Designed by Sid Meier, who at that time was already a household name among gamers, the game introduced the world to a new level of empire management: from settling whole continents, through researching new technologies, to building military units, city improvements and even wonders of the world. The game has spawned several sequels and copies, out of which only a single one (Alpha Centauri) comes close in the terms of gameplay and overall fun. Civilization has never left my hard drive, and probably never will, remaining the main reason why I still keep MS-DOS on a separate partition.

Microprose 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

"Civilization" is definitely one of Sid Meier's masterpieces and surely one of the most famous games of all times. The game is far too complex to be reviewed in its entirety. For further explanations look into the very extensive help files and the Civilopedia which come with the game.