Virgin Interactive 1990
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

You're the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel because your predecessor has been assassinated. Your task is to help Israel survive amidst the Arab nations by means of diplomacy and military.

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.

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.

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.

Three Sixty 1990
Genre: Simulation
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Unlike the highly realistic 'Aces of the Deep' 'Das Boot' takes more emphasis on action elements then on tactical planning. This becomes obvious in several aspects which are discussed later. Graphics are quite ok for 1990 whereas the sound is minimalistic.

Virgin Mastertronic 1990
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Diplomacy is a '[board-] game of international intrigue' which was developed in the 1950s. It takes place in the Europe of 1901. Seven major military powers are locked in a deadly power struggle. Each one is trying to achieve world domination, but neither can do it on its own.

Technos 1990
Genre: Action
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Ah yeah, I remember the Double Dragon series from my Amiga. We played those games for hours. Now I digged up a PC version of one of those games and happily I started it up. Hm... now what's this? I guess my memory isn't that good anymore. Your fighting options are somewhat limited, kicking, punching and jumping - aaaalright. Let me tell you - forget about the other options, you get along best with only using your kickjump. Mysteriously your player takes off for one of those and then you can let it kick left and right without him landing - although that proved useful I have never EVER seen someone doing this in real life ;)

SSI 1990
Genre: Action, Simulation
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

On board of a dragon you will engage in aerial fights with your lance and your dragon's breath as weapons over three-dimensional, polygonal landscapes.

This, albeit its problems, is one of the few original D&D games, to this helps that there aren't statistics and tedious development levels that are the label's trademark. But, as usual, the main lack is the simplistic story. The game is based in the Dragonlance books, so you will be fighting along the good guys, called in a stroke of originality the good dragons army, against the bad guys, named, surprisingly, the evil dragons.

Ice Software / Tengen / Domark 1990
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

I never expected the job of a postman to be so exciting! A cool motor boat speeding down rivers and over the sea to deliver important packages (like for example the Britsh crown jewels) to their receipients. Avoiding terrorist ships, mines and floating logs, or blasting them if they are really in the way (I'm waiting for the day DHL starts doing that). All just to ensure speedy delivery (I'm waiting for the day DHL considers taking a go at that, too).

Electronic Arts 1990
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

So, what makes this game so 'dry'? Well, just look at the screenshots. Apart from the 3D starmap everything is white and gray. Furthermore there´s no sound. 'Why play this game then?', some of you might say. WAIT! You´re about to miss a great game...As I said, it´s a very complex and deep game, but luckily I've managed to find the manual for detailed information.