Unlimited Software / Sega 1989
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Remember those old coin-ops where you sat in a cage that rocked with you as you raced a car? The first one I came across and was immediately fascinated with was called Outrun. You were racing a Ferrari Testarrossa through cities, along beaches and over mountains. The sound, video and chair movement were so realistic that even before I sat in a real car, I knew how to drive (or so I thought). Outrun for PC is the best Sega could do to convert the original game.

Ratt 1989
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

The genre of horizontal shooters had early been set with standards nobody dared to break anymore. Instead, the race for perfection was on - mainly in the arcades, but also on the computers and consoles of the time.

Bullfrog 1989
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Maybe one of the first true real-time-strategy games Populous quickly became one of the most famous games of its time and today is a deserved classic. As the god of your people your goal is to defeat another god with his respective people. To achieve this you can alter the landscape and send plagues upon your enemy.

Codemasters 1989
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Now here's a real test of important knowledge! Not sure what this has to do with pubs, though. Judging from the title screen, it might refer to some sort of quiz machine standing in a pub, but I've never seen one in real life. So, for me, this is a game about the things you might be talking about at a pub: TV, music, sports - you get the drift.

Microprose 1989
Genre: Simulation
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Red Storm Rising is based on a novel by Tom Clancy creating the background for this submarine simulation by the outbreak of a conflict during the last phase of the Cold War. The player as the commander of an US attack submarine has to fulfill various missions whose success may influence the outcome of the war.

Core Design 1989
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

The Indiana Jones action games by Lucasfilm aren't too popular for a reason: they're not very good. Real men are looking for alternatives - and a smart company provides one: Rick Dangerous.

Rainbow Arts 1989
Genre: Puzzle, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Time to clean up your mouse again, because a small speck of dust is lethal in Rock'n Roll. Without any try at a backstory or an explanation about the situation, you have to control a little ball trapped in a maze. Your only goal is to escape and by that reach the next level where everything starts again.

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:

Gryphon Software / Origin 1989
Genre: RPG, Simulation
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Space Rogue is an odd mix of a space shooter, adventure and role-playing. While many people tend to call this an RPG game, the fact is that it's got very little to do with the basics of role-playing - character development. More important than this ongoing debate, however, is the fact that Space Rogue is one of the first games that used vector graphics, took advantage of the superiority of IBM computers and offered countless hours of fun. The game is timeless; even today it will suck you right in.

Microstyle 1989
Genre: Sport
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

To be sincere, I was planning something else for this review. I was convinced I had the geOS disks in my C64 ROMs collection, but I couldn't find it (it gets harder and harder with a 2000+ disk collection).