Lankhor 1994
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 2/6
Language: Francais, English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

That's the way it happens sometimes: you're told by another gamer how great (or in this case at least good) a game is and how you should really try it. You do and get bored after a few minutes. You wonder if you just haven't found the good part so far, so you continue playing. But nothing happens! It just stays boring. Because that is what the game really is: boring.

Mindcraft 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
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.

Strategic Studies Group 1990
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

I must admit that Warlords I is my favorite game. Very simple, but still providing for countles hours of playing. The plot is very simple. Without any intro, you select a nation, set the toughness of other nations and start to play. You start with one castle which produces an army every once in a while and a hero. This hero can either lead an army, or simply wander around and search old ruins and libraries. In return, he is either slain, or finds special objects, gold, or mystical creatures as allies.

Strategic Studies Group 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

In this game, you are in charge of a nation (faction or whatever), and will try to take over the world. The other players will surrender when you conquer more than half of the castles. You can refuse this surrender, but after that the opponents unite and will try to wipe you out.

Steve Stancliff 1992
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Iceland, 2002 - the big showdown. The armies of King Elwood are invading from Greenland, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Dictator Ray has to admit defeat to the royal Blues Brother. Risk - the classic. Only ONE type of army - a very limited number of areas to conquer and gameplay based on the roll of the dice. It's simple - no big stats, no training and improving of units, no building, no nothing. And that's the fascination of Risk. You don't have to learn it - you can just play it and after a few rounds of this ingenious board game you're in it.

Starbyte 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 1/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Meanwhile, german game desginers have adapted to their foreign idols and they only produce 3D-Action and Real-Time-Strategy now. That is a pity, because some really innovative german concepts were lost. But the majority of "german" games was pure mass production. Only a few years ago there were games of which you could both graphically and from the content say that they come from Germany. A very typical example for this is "Winzer" which means wine-grower.

Infocom 1983
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Los Angeles, February 1938. Freeman Linder has received what he believes to be death threats from a man called Stiles whom Mrs Linder had had an affair with before her suicide. Linder asks the police for their protection and he gets it. A detective (the player) is assigned to be present at the Linders' home on the evening Stiles' telegram to Linder talks about.

Sir-Tech 1984
Genre: RPG
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Once upon a time, the legendary world of Llylgamyn was ruled by an Overlord, appointed by the Council of Sages. When Trebor, the local hero, became the Overlord, he became obsessed with power. He found out about an artifact, a magical amulet of great power. He wasn't the only one looking for it: the evil wizard Werdna was only a step behind Trebor's efforts to find the artifact. Trebor found it first, however, only to have it stolen by Werdna almost immediately. Werdna didn't know how to handle the amulet properly, caused an earthquake beneath Trebor's castle, which creates several levels of mazes. To avoid looking like a complete idiot, Werdna announced that it was his intent to create the maze, so that he could move in at the lowest level. Trebor managed to clear out the first four levels of the maze, which he then pronounced to be his Proving Grounds for everybody interested to becoming a part of this private guard. You are one of these candidates...

Arbeitskreis Spielkultur 1999
Genre: Puzzle, Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch, English, Nederlands
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

If a game comes along with a producer like "Arbeitskreis Spielkultur" (sounds like some typically German dry official office), you should be careful. If the plot revolves around Norse mythology, the expectation of some completely non-understandable crap made by roleplaying geeks.

1001 Limited 1987
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 3/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Darts... ever heard of that? Those pointy thingies you throw at that round thingy hanging on the wall? Yeah right - that's it. This is Darts... 501 to be precise. The rules of it are simple - the points you score are subtracted from 501 till you reach 0. However you got to reach this by hitting a "double" field. Bit of mathematics involved here. ;) The player first reaching 0 wins (of course). Easy concept and great to be played in a pub. Well - and also on a computer. I found the game to be best playable with a joystick - it's a lot of fun then. If you want to try your luck with the keyboard go ahead. It's a lot more difficult, but still playable. The controls rely on a system I'd like to call 'system of the unsure hand troubled by gravity' - basically you give the hand holding the dart a push to one side and it always goes a little too far, which is by concept. After a while you get the hang of it though and learn to calculate those motions.