Interplay 1993
Genre: Action, Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

As I write this review/manual I assume you know nothing at all about the game. That's because anyone who has ever played The Lost Vikings will never forget it and won't need a manual or a review to get started again.

Infocom 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

It all started out as a completely normal day at G.U.E. Tech: Only one evening left to finish your assignment, and there's a snowstorm blazing outside. For the lack of an alternative, you defy the forces of nature and fight your way to the computer lab where you plan to finish the document you've already started writing. As usual, there's a lone hacker tapping away in a dark corner of the room. You open your document, but it's not quite what you expected - certainly not the draft of your paper. Even worse, no matter how hard you try, you can't even figure out what it is. Strange visions engulf you, and that's only the beginning of the horrifying adventure which will lead you into previously unknown caverns deep below the campus...

Magnetic Scrolls 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Europe's answer to Infocom wasn't in fact all that similar to its american counterpart. Apart from the obvious facts of being founded a lot later and surviving longer, Magnetic Scrolls developed their games for a completely different market. While Infocom was still stuck with the inferior 'typewriters' ruling the US market (to this day), Magnetic Scrolls wrote their games for 'home computers' - with the European market in mind, where these machines were immensely popular. The Pawn, their first game, was developed for the Sinclair QL, a then brand new computer which turned out to be a very bad flop. The game was ported to the other new 16 bit machines: the Atari ST and the Amiga. These versions first showed how fresh Magnetic Scrolls' approach to the genre was: they featured a set of graphics showing the settings in stunning quality! The later ports to the ever-popular 8 bit platforms (C64, Sinclair Spectrum) had to live without these graphics again.

White Wolf Productions 1991
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

The early 90s made the previously hardcore genre of hex-based wargames accessable to a much broader audience. The rules got simpler, the controls easier and the graphics less cryptic. The prime example of this trend is of course Battle Isle by Blue Byte. To a lesser extent, The Perfect General contributed there, too.

Softdisk 1985
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Before there was idSoft, there was Ideas from the Deep. And before there were 3D shooters, there were Pyramids of Egypt. True to idSoft's later games, this game is an arcade that requires quick thinking and some tactical-level decision-making.

Lucasfilm Games 1991
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 6/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

My name is Guybrush Threepwood. I want to be a pirate. What, you don't know what I'm talking about? Where have you been since 1990? The only excuse I will accept is this: searching treasure on a cut-off island with vegetarian cannibals, a hermit waiting to be rescued even though he has already built a boat and a giant monkey head!

Black Blade Design / Titan Computer 1998
Genre: Simulation, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: Italiano, English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Mobygames isn't omniscient. There. I've said it. Heresy? Then show me where they cover this game (ok, ok, I'm aware this might change, I'm refering to the time of writing, of course). Yet, it obviously exists.

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

My name is Bond - James Bond! This game is based on the movie starring Roger Moore. I suppose everyone has seen at least one James Bond movie, so I won't explain what that is...

Domark took the action parts of it and put them into levels which are only loosely connected with short text-based explanations about the story. Most levels are basically the same. You see your vehicle from top and have to reach the level's exit without being killed. These vehicles are either a Lotus Esprit (driving on the road or diving under water!) or a small motor boat. From time to time an enemy appears and you have to shoot him. If you don't have any missiles left, it doesn't matter too much - just let him drive in front of you and avoid his shots! Sometimes a big truck labelled 'Q' appears in front of you. Don't try to destroy or overtake it (like I did when I first played the game 10 years ago ;) - It's your friend 'Q' who 'sells' you equipment for the 'Q'-coins you've selected before!

Melbourne House 1985
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

After the success of Karate Champ, it was only a question of time until the first imitations would arrive. The Way of the Exploding Fist is one of these. Whatever your personal verdict about the game's quality (and imitations in general) is: It's certainly one of the games with the most creative names ever! Exploding Fist? Hard not to like it!

Bullfrog 1994
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Your rich aunt has just died and you are her heir! Overpowered by joy, you go out to tell off your boss. But then you notice a silly sidenote in the testament: You are only allowed to spend the money on building Theme Parks, and the profits can only be spent on additional parks. So you give in to your fate (you can't go back to your old job anyway after what you've done to your former boss) and start planning!