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.

Infocom 1982
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Industrialist Marshall Robner has been found dead in his library. The room had been locked from the inside, and an overdose of the anti-depressants he had been taking has been found in his blood. A clear case of suicide? The responsible inspector seems to think so. The deceased's lawyer provides you with an interesting piece of informaton: Only days earlier, Robner said he wanted to change his will. It never came to that. How does that fit into the suicide theory? You're asked to investigate once again to see if your colleague was right about what he found.

Legend Entertainment 1994
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

The Fantasy genre. Not exactly a haven for innovation. Ever since Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has been released in 1954, most authors have tried to imitate his style. Standards are set, the fans can't seem to get enough of these stereotype stories and characters.

Empire 1991
Genre: Action
Rating: 0/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

There are only so many ways to make a game belonging to the hack'n'slash genre interesting. Deathbringer actually tries to bring in some welcome innovation.

The player takes control of some muscle-heavy barbarian armed with an oversized sword cutting his way through hordes of ugly monsters (or, basically, everything in his path). So far, so non-innovative. The sword actually has a name, because it has a life of its own (actually, it's a wizard who has transformed himself into a sword, but let's not get further into this...). The catch: The sword demands to be 'fed' with blood. So you have to keep killing, because if the piece of metal remains dry for too long, it'll start feeding on the player's character, draining his own life away. Very good idea.

Cinemaware 1987
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Cinemaware was always known for producing very unique games, merging strategy, adventure and action. One of its first game, Defender of the Crown, has set this trend, which has proven to be the winning combination for years to come. The game was also the first designer work of Kellyn Beck, who while later designing such great games as S.D.I., Rocket Ranger and Centurion, will always be remembered for his best game, Defender of the Crown.

Icom Simulations 1989
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

This time, the player indeed gets a deja vu: This sequel is so similar to its predecessor that it's hard not to get some flashbacks. You're even going to visit some of the old locations and meet some of the old people again! That doesn't mean it's a useless game only to make profit off its 'good name', but without anything new. It is just a sequel in a very strict sense: it picks up right after the first part.

Icom Simulations 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Interactive Fiction made more accessable: add graphics, add a mouse-driven user interface and use the capabilities of a modern 'windowed' operating system. But in spite of that all: don't forget about your target audience!

Mediamond 2000
Genre: Sport
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

This is a neat little, yet highly addictive game, when you're into such kind of winter sports. In 'DSJ' you're a ski jumper trying to win the World Cup and beating all hill records.

Domark 1992
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Trivial Pursuit on the computer... always a tricky thing. The game lets you reveal the answer to the questions and asks if you made it correct. Basically completely nonsense to play alone and when playing with a friend the question remains why you don't play the "real" board game. I've always wondered who buys these games at all - but then again, obviously not too many as the game is out of sale (and I cannot remember having really seen it in the stores at all, might just be me, but I guess it wasn't exactly a bestseller and thus not many copies were in the shops). If you don't happen to own the board game this game makes for a somewhat decent replacement though. That weird turkeylike... person... asking the questions is a bit annoying - also he managed to annoy me very fast by endlessly demonstrating that the programmer was able to put my name into a variable and insert that into each and every statement after the question, success or not.

neo Software 1994
Genre: Strategy, Puzzle
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

Lured by the promise of quick money, Matt Stuvysunt arrives in London in early 1953. A meeting with his not very sympathetic, but nevertheless fascinating aquaintace Briggs provides him with a used car, some startup money and at least a faint idea where to start: a small kiosk somewhere out of town. Low gain, but also close to zero risk. Briggs himself is obviously up to something a lot bigger.