Icom Simulations 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Interactive Fiction made more accessable: add graphics, add a mouse-driven user interface and use the capabilities of a modern 'windowed' operating system. But in spite of that all: don't forget about your target audience!

Mediamond 2000
Genre: Sport
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

This is a neat little, yet highly addictive game, when you're into such kind of winter sports. In 'DSJ' you're a ski jumper trying to win the World Cup and beating all hill records.

Domark 1992
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Trivial Pursuit on the computer... always a tricky thing. The game lets you reveal the answer to the questions and asks if you made it correct. Basically completely nonsense to play alone and when playing with a friend the question remains why you don't play the "real" board game. I've always wondered who buys these games at all - but then again, obviously not too many as the game is out of sale (and I cannot remember having really seen it in the stores at all, might just be me, but I guess it wasn't exactly a bestseller and thus not many copies were in the shops). If you don't happen to own the board game this game makes for a somewhat decent replacement though. That weird turkeylike... person... asking the questions is a bit annoying - also he managed to annoy me very fast by endlessly demonstrating that the programmer was able to put my name into a variable and insert that into each and every statement after the question, success or not.

Greenwood 1994
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

'Der Planer' is a somewhat different manager simulation because you don't build your company from scratch but you rather have to fulfill the requirements the managerial board imposed on you during a given period of time.

Electronic Arts / Gremlin 1992
Genre: Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

In Desert Strike you are the pilot of a chopper in the Middle East, your main objective being to take out a madman trying to take over the world. You accomplish this by achieving your mission goals, which are laid out prior to each mission and vary from destroying buildings and vehicles to capturing enemies to escorting other vehicles. Not only do you have to worry about being shot down, you can also lose ammo or run out of fuel, both of which can be corrected by collecting ammo crates and gas drums, respectively.

Psygnosis 1995
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

I thought long about which category to add this game to - either action or sport because it's a blending of these two: action-packed but also with reasonable competitive elements. So what is it all about?

DKTronics 1983
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

Since we were still talking about Saddam_Hussein_the_bad_dictator & George_Bush_the_good_pacifist & The_war_in_the_name_of_peace and all that, why don't we put up here a dictator sim. Yup, and a pretty darn addictive one.

Sunflowers 1996
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Money and political power are often closely related. The family referenced in the title is one of the best known historical examples of this phenomenon. The members of that family don't actually appear in the game, though. It takes place a few levels below that instead. On a regional level, i.e. a member state of the former 'Holy Roman Empire', the player tries to gain political influence - just like the big idols.

Blue Byte 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

British and American games usually keep their names when they're released in Germany - even if it's a translated version. That's good, makes international conversations about them easier. German companies on the other hand sometimes take really silly measures to increase their chance on the international market. Not that it has ever worked, but giving up would be silly, too. One of the effects is that German games have English names - even here. If you can't see anything strange about that, you're probably from the USA. What would you think if a game by an 'American' company would carry a title in Suaheli? To take it one step further: what would you think if a game by a German company was released in your country carrying a German title?

Blue Byte 1995
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Whenever something claims to be 'crazy' (meaning 'funny' or 'wacky') in the title, you should be careful. It usually means the product won't be crazy at all, but rather lame. Simple reason: They try too hard, it all gets too obvious. Die total verrückte Rallye (literal translation: the totally crazy rallye) fortunately only stumbles into this trap partly, keeping the lameness factor at a bearable minimum (if only there weren't this 'announcer' with his GDR / Berlin accent...).