Legend Entertainment 1995
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Legend followed up their excellent Death Gate with a game which is quite similar on the surface. It uses the same game engine, graphics are similar and it is - again - based on a popular branch of fantasy novels: Shannara. The game isn't a direct 'port' of any book, but it takes place between the first two. Some evil warlock called Brona, whom the father of the game's protagonist Jak apparantely killed in the first book, is back. He can only be defeated with the 'Sword of Shannara' which in turn can only be used by offsprings of the Shannara family - namely you and your father.

Bantam 1985
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Whole generations have been entertained and thrilled by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most popular character by now. 221b Baker Street has been turned into the museum of a person which never lived there and even never existed! And only because of the random (?) choice of an author who had no idea what he had just created. In fact, the character Sherlock Holmes is so well known that many people actually believe he is a historical character!

Icom Simulations 1991
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

The game is afoot... Sherlock Holmes is back on the screen of your computer and he looks more realistic than ever.... because he was filmed. This is not only one of the first games to be released on CD at all, but also one of the first to actually use this medium (i.e. it isn't just a disk game copied on a CD). Quite a jump for Icom, who were known for text-based games (Deja Vu, Uninvited, Shadowgate and Deja Vu 2) before.

Icom Simulations 1992
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

In spite of its limited gameplay, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective sold reasonably well, considering its status as one of the first CD-ROM exclusive games. A sequel was only a matter of time - and it did appear quickly.

Icom Simulations 1992
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Icom's Sherlock Holmes series goes into its third (and final) round. Not much has happened in the one year since the first volume had been published; the gameplay is still exactly the same: Holmes investigates scenes of crime in London, questions suspects and witnesses and Dr Watson is of course immediately stuck in a rut.

Broderbund 1989
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

This is definitely one of the strangest games I've ever played! Not much action, not much thinking, not much change. But nevertheless not a bad game!
The point is merely to play a kind of airhockey in a pub. This 'sport' is a bit difficult to explain to those who've never seen it. But I'll try:

Mindcraft 1992
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Siege & Ambush At Sorinor & Walls Of Rome: A series of games very similar to each other. The screenshots look almost identical. And all the games are quite similar in fact They're all pioneers of the RTS genre. That means much action is in them. But in contrast to current titles, the strategy- component is stressed. This becomes clear when you discover that you can give orders to your army when the game is paused.

Microprose 1990
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

A very mature Amiga game. Looking at its theme, it's obviously not aimed at the same target audience as the endless flood of Jump'n'Runs, but on the other hand, it's also not some ultra-realistic simulation which would scare most people off.

Tecmo 1988
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Silkworm represents a pretty popular genre on the Amiga. There were tons of similar games in which you were either flying, driving, walking or whatever and simply shot everything that came into sight. And this is almost everything that needs to be said about this particular game! The enemies are well done.

Maxis / Infogrames 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

A game which needs no introduction, because every single person on this planet has already played it or at least one of the hundreds of sequels and offshoots it spawned. This is the original game which started the 'Sim' craze. Ironically, it actually isn't a simulation game, but virtually the epitome of the non-war strategy genre, but its influence can be seen even today when people call pure strategy games 'simulations'.