Infocom 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Finally. Finally I have the guts to put this up. My childhood love. My introduction to the Interactive Fiction world. Aah.
Based upon a world famous series of books by world renowned Science Fiction author Douglas Adams (who also wrote Starship Titanic, great game, it has the very best in sarcastic game humour you'll ever see), this game sets you as the loser Arthur Dent in one hell of a mess.

Starbyte 1995
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Well, who ever wasn't angry about watching a highly praised movie in the cinema which turned out to be quite bad? I guess everyone so with this game you have the chance to make movies with your own imagination. From the script up to the costumes you have all things in your hands.

Mattel / Epyx 1985
Genre: Simulation
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Back in the 90s, 'action toys' were the market. The leading company was Mattel with their action figures ('Barbie for boys'). And there were these toy cars. Completely unlike the car models which existed before and served only 'museum values', these little metal (or plastic if it had to be cheap) vehicles were actually designed for children playing with them! I, for example, held 'ramming contests': causing two cars to crash frontally and the one which falls upside down loses.

Thomas Wolf 1983
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: German
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Along with Kaiser, this game defined the 'ruler-genre' for years to come! The premise is simple: make your country strong and stable inwards to conquer your neighbours.

Fitting the name, Imperator is set in ancient Rome. Your main job is to distribute the budget amongst several groups of interest. Every year, they demand a certain sum and it's up to you whether to comply fully, partly or not at all. That influences this group's stance towards you. If you give your wife (!) only half the amount she wanted, she'll be more likely to start a rebellion. On the other hand, if you provide the merchants with even more money than they said, they'll love you!

Epyx 1984
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

"Another visitor... stay a while... stay forever!"

This is how Elvin Atombender welcomes you to his lair. Mr Atombender is the stereotype of a mad scientist. He's currently plotting to destroy the world (once again). You are a secret agent with the mission to stop him. You leave the elevator, enter a room and...

Trecision 1994
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: Italiano, English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Tom Scool, a former private investigator who doesn't mind taking less honourable jobs if the money is right, has been hired by Sam Svarowsky, an un-gentlemanly collector, to retrieve a precious gem for him. This gem is in the possession of the actress Diana Stevens who is currently residing in a cut-off chalet in the mountains. All the important members of her next film project are there as well: the screenwriter, the director (who is also her husband), some members of the cast. In addition, the novelist Eric Wells has been invited - he wrote the thriller which the film should be based on. Svarovsky kidnaps him before he arrives, so that Tom can take his place at the chalet. He's supposed to get the safe combination and with that, the gem. It doesn't work out as planned. Shortly after Tom's arrival, Diana Stevens is murdered. Due to a storm having cut off the regular connection to the outer world, the police might be a bit slowed, but they'll surely arrive sooner or later. Not much time left for Tom to get the jewel and escape unrecognized...

Lucasfilm Games 1990
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Français, Deutsch, Castellano, Italiano
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - the last of the movies (well, at least they said it then), and the first Indiana Jones movie to become an Adventure game (the second time Lucasfilm used its software branch to make an Adventure game of any movie). Huge expectations, because in an Adventure, storytelling has to be a little better than in a simple action game throwing a few snakes at a whip-wielding hero sprite.

System 3 1986
Genre: Sport
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Fighting games are all the same. As soon as you've found out how to activate the killer-special-mega-move of the character you've chosen, you're practically unbeatable. To still make the 'playability' last a bit, these special moves are usually either completely impossible to figure out (because they are undocumented on purpose) or impossible to activate (because they usually require the player to hit the 8 fire buttons in a certain combination and order along with movements of the joystick/joypad into certain directions - never less than 10 complicated steps). Usually both.

Pop Software 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Shareware
System: PC

Silmarils 1994
Genre: RPG
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Silmarils could not find a worse time to release Ishar III. 1994 was a year when highly anticipated sequels were battling surprise hits, and Ishar III was neither. On one side you've had games like Ultima VII, which was so massive that Origin split it in several parts, Dungeon Master II, one of the most anticipated RPGs of all times, Might and Magic: World of Xeen, arguably the best M&M game, and Wizardry VI, with a new graphics engine. On the other side, you've had several surprise hits, which became cult games by now: Lands of Lore: Throne of Chaos and System Shock. Somewhere in the middle, there were the underdogs: Ishar III and Realms of Arkania II. Both games were the sequels of rather obscure series, published by rather obscure companies. Silmarils is a French company, which had a moderate success in Europe, but is unknown in the US. Sir-Tech, while well known, based its Realms of Arkania series on the Das Schwarze Auge German role-playing series (editor's note: that series was made by Attic and only published by Sir-Tech in the USA -Mr Creosote). It comes like a surprise that among such an exquisite company, Ishar III is still alive. In fact, it is shining.