Interplay 1994
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Blackthorne - the 2-D scrolling shooter that doesn't really scroll. That simple sentence is the most complete and accurate description I can come up with today. Looking back several years I can only ask myself: why did we love this game so much? Because we didn't know any better? Probably so. But then again, nothing can change the beautiful memories and give back the countless hours we spent in front of the small, low-quality 14" monitor playing what we thought was the greatest game ever made. Does this sound unfamiliar to you? Probably, if you have never experienced it.

Infocom 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Border Zone is another of Infocom's IF masterpieces. That means it uses the greatest parser ever made. But that alone doesn't make a great game!
There are other things that cause this. First the plot. It is a spy thriller. With microfilms, evil agents, an assassination and all the other cool features you know from these old movies. Only that YOU are involved this time!

Millenium 1994
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

In contrary to the potential expectations considering the name, Brutal Sports Football does not have very much in common with soccer or football (or even sports). Some elements have been adopted, though. Two teams try to put a ball into the enemy's goal while guarding their own.

Infocom 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Infocom's text adventures are known to be the best. Their game engine with its great parser was used for a large variety of masterpieces. Bureaucracy is one of those. What it makes superior to most of its "colleagues" is the hilarious plot. It was written by Steve Meretzky (Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Stationfall) and the well known author Douglas Adams. The two had collaborated before to convert Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy into a game.

Sierra 1991
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

If you want to become Dr Brain's new helper (and you want if you are playing this) you have to solve all the puzzles that wait on his castle, placed to test your skills resolving problems of all kinds.

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

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.

Human Entertainment / ASCII 1995
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: Japanese, English (Unofficial)
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

The Barrows family took to their mansion lost in the forest four young girls as adopted daughters. But quickly it is shown that something is not right, and one of them, Jeniffer, will have to find a way to somehow escape alive.

Microprose 1994
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Once upon a time, Sid Meier along with some other people created really innovative and fresh games. But then Civilization came! Even though it was (is!) a great game, it had one negative effect on the gaming industry: It made Sid Meier & company reusing the basic idea again and again.

Novalogic 1993
Genre: Simulation, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Normally, I don't like flight sims. They're usually overloaded with options to make it feel 'realistic'. So when I try one and I'm not able to take off without extensive study of the manual, I stop playing immediately. But Comanche is different! It's on the border to the action genre. The flight model is not too realistic, the controls have been reduced to the necessary things. I still consider it a simulation though, because it doesn't rely exclusively on fast reflexes, but finishing missions involves a lot of tactics.