British Software 1986
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Plus/4

At dusk, somewhere in a dusty desert village, the work of Prospector Pete begins. As always, he descents to the dark tunnel, and as always, a colleague takes the ladder away after him to corral him. He knows the feeling of being jailed.

Graftgold / Hewson 1986
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: ZX Spectrum

Paradroid had been a huge hit on the C64, so ports were the logical step. For the Spectrum, Graftgold decided a straight port wouldn't be possible, as the game very much depends on the smooth scrolling into all directions. And while they were at it, they decided to change quite a few more things on the way.

Meisters 1986
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: C64

Tired of all these modern 'anti-terror' - games? Hunting evil guys of whom you have no idea what kind of evil they've done gets boring? You're fed up with working for an anonymous 'government' with more than questionable ideals? Then choose the other side: become a terrorist!

Bally Midway / Activision 1986
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

This is gonna be a short one, as there's not much to describe in terms of storyline and plot. Straightforward coin-op/arcade stuff here, which is a genre I usually won't rave about. Rampage has that little something that makes certain games so addictive, though.

Durell Software 1986
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: ZX Spectrum

Of all Spectrum games, Saboteur was one of the most unique and entertaining ones. Unlike most Spectrum games, it was neither pure action, nor a text adventure, and not even an arcade. The game was a blend of action and puzzle; quick thinking was more important than quick fingers, and keeping your cool was they key to success. Good memory or at least decent mapping skills were not useless, either.

Atari Games / Electric Dreams 1986
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

Finally - the classic when it comes to top-down racers. You'll find exactly the same elements as in the later imitations. Namely: Fast and simple racing round courses which stretch exactly across the screen and randomly appearing power-ups which can be picked up by driving over them. In this case, the latter consist of bonus points and wrenches. Wrenches can be used to tune your car (motor, tires, you name it) - another standard feature.

Silvertime 1986
Genre: Sport
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

First there was ping-pong. Then it got more 'official' and was called table tennis. Then nothing happened. And people waited for another evolution. But they really had to wait for a long time! Until the late 20th century to be exact. Then the messiah arrived: Pong! It took the basic ping- pong concept to whole new heights by adding an artificial opponent and making it all digital.

Argus Press Software 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

The name says it all. End of review. Ok, that would have been a little too unsatisfying. So here's the obvious: In 'The Detective Game', you take the role of a detective. This (very British) detective is called to the residence of millionaire Angus McFungus to investigate the murder of the owner himself. The body's still warm, and the murderer has to be amongst the people currently present. All the clues are scattered around the house, all you have to do is find them, put together the evidence and arrest the right person - and survive.

Magnetic Scrolls 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Europe's answer to Infocom wasn't in fact all that similar to its american counterpart. Apart from the obvious facts of being founded a lot later and surviving longer, Magnetic Scrolls developed their games for a completely different market. While Infocom was still stuck with the inferior 'typewriters' ruling the US market (to this day), Magnetic Scrolls wrote their games for 'home computers' - with the European market in mind, where these machines were immensely popular. The Pawn, their first game, was developed for the Sinclair QL, a then brand new computer which turned out to be a very bad flop. The game was ported to the other new 16 bit machines: the Atari ST and the Amiga. These versions first showed how fresh Magnetic Scrolls' approach to the genre was: they featured a set of graphics showing the settings in stunning quality! The later ports to the ever-popular 8 bit platforms (C64, Sinclair Spectrum) had to live without these graphics again.

Ariolasoft 1986
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Money = good. Long and hard work = bad. Quick illegal money = perfect solution! These equations sum up your motivation. But stealing a few wallets won't do any good. You want the real thing: become a criminal mastermind!