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.

Spazz 2001
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: -
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

This picture shows Pudgy. Pudgy is neat blob-like creature which lives in a strange world. A very harsh and hostile world in fact. Hardly fitting for a peaceful creature like him! But well... his instinct to survive is strong enough to prevent that he gives up himself. So what should he do? He has to find a way out of this world.

Nick Sumner 1988
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: C64

Breakout with a unique twist: Instead of one, you're controlling four paddles at once. One on each side of the screen, so up and down move the ones on the left and right vertically, and left and right move the ones on top and bottom horizontally.

Electronics Arts 1992
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

As an adaptation from an arcade, Rampart is a simple game, a simple, fun and hard game in which you will build the castle walls inside which will be placed the cannons to fight back an invading float.

Technos 1992
Genre: Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

That's a game which doesn't require much talking about. The programmers intentionally left out an intro or a story as the subtitle says it all: 'The Sleeping Dragon has awoke.' Ah yes. In other words: 'The 1st part was quite successful so let's make more money.'

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.

Dynamix 1991
Genre: Adventure, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Rise of the Dragon takes you to one of these futures which are in fact historical periods. Sure, there is some sci-fi stuff floating around, like for example videophones and combined identity/credit cards. Some people are running around wearing strange body armour instead of normal clothing. But that's about it. Everything is reminiscent more of the 1930s than any kind of futuristic vision.

Dommelsch 1999
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Pinball games were the big hype for some time some years ago. It was all started by 21st Century Entertainment with their Pinball Dreams . In the following years, every company produced similar games in masses, most of them without any innovation as usual. But they were all commercial, sold for the 'normal' price of 50$ for one game including between merely one to up to four tables. The question how such a ridiculously high price can be justified was already valid back then.

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.

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.