California Dreams 1990
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

It's the early 60s. You're one of those 'cool rebels' who spend all day in their garage with your car. Tuning the motor, polishing it and in more intimate moments, probably even stroking it. However, what's the worth of a beautiful girlfriend which nobody else knows about? Exactly. That's why you're taking part in illegal road races.

Velocity 1996
Genre: Action, RPG
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Shooters have a tendency to lack story or at least a bit of depth, consisting in nothing more than pressing a button and moving forward. Yet a few like this one shine and reach a higher mark than the many which try only to be a copy of the famed game from where Strife takes its engine, Doom.

SSI 1993
Genre: Strategy, RPG
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Now this game truly deserves to be called 'Real-Time-Strategy'! But if I called it like that, most of you (the readers) would get a completely wrong idea of what it is like because this term is being completely misused in my opinion. Games like the Command & Conquer or Age of Empires series don't require much thinking. It's all about speed! And even if it was different, the word 'strategy' would still be wrong because it would mostly be tactics then!

Microstyle 1988
Genre: Sport, Simulation
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga, C64

Before he began to make "serious" racing sims like Formula 1 Grand Prix, Geoff Crammond created this Amiga classic. It is set in a fictional (or let's say I hope it is fictional) Stunt Car league. There are four divisions and the player of course starts in the fourth. In each division there are two courses on which all three drivers (of the division) have to race against each other in head-to-head duels. Points are awarded for the best lap and the winner. At the end of the season, the best driver of each division gets to the higher division, while the last one is relegated.

Disney 1992
Genre: Simulation, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Stunt Island is one of the most original games in existence! To write a comprehensive text about it would be completely impossible because of the sheer mass of features and the fact that they are all cross-linked. So I'll just describe the individual parts. Basically, you're working in the film business. Your main job is stunt pilot. Hollywood owns a complete island to shoot these scenes: Stunt Island. Here you can find different scenarios ranging from a farm to a metropolis and from desert to mountains. Even some sites like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz have been imitated! Depending on which surroundings are needed for the particular movie, the stunts are shot in another corner.

Mindscape 1990
Genre: Sport, Simulation
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

'Stunts' is a great and very action-packed racing simulation. You don't race against a bunch of other drivers but instead your main goal is to survive the numerous stunts each track has to offer, although you can still compete against a computer controlled car.

Konami 1993
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

Yeehaw, cowboy!

You are one of four bounty hunters in the old Wild West, hoping to earn a decent living by shootin' some bad guys. Well, you're going to get your chance...

This game is a conversion from an old arcade game re-done for the SNES. That more or less says everything about the good and bad sides:

Magnetic Fields / Gremlin Graphics 1990
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Racing games weren't always in pseudo 3D. For instance, there were Sprint and Super Sprint (which was never ported to the Amiga, but that's a story for another day). Super Cars is a home-computer-original variant of the same idea, and quite a good one.

Nintendo 1989
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Game Boy

Besides Tetris, Super Mario Land likely belonged to the basic repertoire of most Game Boy players. The main character is the trade mark of the Nintendo corporation, distinctively the "plumber" Mario, who is on a quest for the kidnapped princess Daisy in order to free her. Obviously, the designers rather concentrated on tradition than on innovation when they constructed this background story.