Microprose 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

A real classic by the late designer legend Dani (formerly Dan) Bunten! The games's basic concept is quite simple: You start with a city (or in the scenarios with many) and have to conquer the earth (other preset or random maps do not exist). There is always exactly one enemy.

Microprose 1990
Genre: Action, Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Putting this game into a genre is impossible! It's a mixture of everythin you can think of. But it's this point that makes the game so special!
You are Max (or Maxine) Remington, agent at the CIA. Your boss calls you to his office to give you a mission. He introduces you to the basic problem and the available information. Then you're on your own! Well, not really. There are CIA-analysts who support you. They collect all the data and filter out the important stuff.

Origin 1996
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Surprisingly shortly after the the release of Crusader: No Remorse, this sequel came out. However, once one actually plays the game, the surprise is gone. No Regret looks the same, plays the same and feels the same as its predecessor. This review will just cover the few differences, for general information about the gameplay, please refer to the review of the first game.

Origin 1995
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

In the late 22nd century, the world has fallen into a dark age. Huge worldwide corporations are ruling with an iron fist. Personal freedom has been more or less abolished, order is kept by heavily armed military units roaming the streets. The protagonist is a member of an elite unit called 'Silencers'. After botching the assignment to kill a few unarmed civilians, they are ambushed a combat robot belonging to their own forces. Everybody but the protagonist is killed. Opening his eyes to the horrors of this regime, he joins the resistence.

Silmarils 1990
Genre: RPG
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Effectively Ishar 0, Crystals of Arborea introduces the player to the land of Arborea, which has later spawned three Ishar game. The evil god Morgoth has submerged most of the world, save for a small island, where he keeps the enslaved humans, elves, gnomes and others. Only you, the elven prince Jarel and your six companions were not influenced by Morgoth, and now have to defeat him. To do so, you will need to find four crystals and place them on the top of four towers. Morgoth takes you quite seriously, though, sending legions of his followers to stop you or find the crystals first. If everything else fails, he will meet you at the last tower to personally prevent you from placing the last crystal.

SSI 1992
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.

Mindscape 1991
Genre: Action, Puzzle
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

An urgent job sends you to GenCorp, where a man called Derrida urgently needs a parcel. But something has happened and the place is filled with bio-weapons and security systems through which you will have to find your way.

Novagen 1990
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

The 21st Century (hint: this is meant to be the future ;). Interplanetary travel has become normal. Many planets in the nearby solar systems have been colonized. Nations have grown to the size of whole planets.

Microprose 1992
Genre: RPG
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Darklands is partially an historic game, but also partially a fantasy game based on the medieval myths of the christianism, of witches and of goblins. With your party of four adventurers you go around the 15th century german empire in search of fame. You will travel around the country, being asked for tasks or asking for them in cities, scorting pilgrims, freeing villages from the pillages of raubritters (robber knights), getting rid of paganic dangers and goblins or even, if you want bigger tasks, looking for the places the sabbats are celebrated and giving an end to them.

Lucas Arts 1993
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Français, Castellano, Italiano
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Look, behind you, a three-headed monkey! Wrong game, wood-lover. Anyway, you know, in spite of Monkey Island, it was Maniac Mansion which catapulted Lucasfilm Games to fame. Fast forward a few years. The company is now called Lucas Arts, and the lead designer of Maniac Mansion (as well as Monkey Island) has left. Time for the long-awaited sequel.