Tradewest Inc. 1993
Genre: Action, Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

Meet Plok, a rather strange fellow. He has a flag fetish, hates fleas, can shoot off his arms and legs and absolutely hates fleas. Did I mention that he hates fleas? If not, then... well, you get the idea. Plok wakes up one sunny morning to find that his most prized possession, a big square flag, has been stolen. Our brave red-and-yellow hero decides to go flag hunting, and sees his flag hanging on an island just off the coast. When, after much adventure (a level or eight) he has finally recovered his flag, he returns to his island, only to find that it has been overrun with big, ugly fleas! Of course, our intrepid protagonist immediately vows to rid the island of fleas once and for all...

Sierra 1987
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

The shortest running of the common Sierra Adventures. Does that say anything about its quality? Come on, we're talking about Sierra! As if these sillyheads had ever cared about consumer wishes or producing quality products!

Bullfrog 1989
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Maybe one of the first true real-time-strategy games Populous quickly became one of the most famous games of its time and today is a deserved classic. As the god of your people your goal is to defeat another god with his respective people. To achieve this you can alter the landscape and send plagues upon your enemy.

Bullfrog 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Populous 2 is a brilliant successor to the first Populous game which evolves the innovative game concept even further. Again you're a god leading your people to victory by changing landscape and casting various spells but this time you're not just any god but rather a son/daughter of the Greek godfather Zeus. Your final goal is to beat him in the 1000-level (yup!) conquest game.

Klein & Ulrich 1994
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch, English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

'Ports of Call' is an early business simulation classic which especially on the Amiga found lots of fans. You're in control of a fleet of tramp ships which means that you don´t actually buy and sell goods yourself but rather look for charters to deliver.

Bullfrog 1990
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Bullfrog entered the market relatively late - their first own development was Populous in 1989, before, they had just done some conversions of existing games. Surprisingly enough, Peter Molyneux still managed to become a kind of 'cult-designer' even though the industrialization (and thus non-personification) of gaming was already dawning. Must have been because of the pure originality and quality of his design! Between the first two (and only worthy) parts of the famous first god-series, Molyneux designed a somewhat similar, but still again groundbreaking game: Powermonger.

Gremlin Graphics 1992
Genre: Sport, Strategy
Rating: 5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Released roughly at the same time as the first Championship Manager, Premier Manager was different enough to attract its own crowd of fans. This game has started a battle that, in a sense, rages until today: a battle between two styles of soccer management games. Where Championship Manager was heavy on different statistics and on putting together to optimal squad for each match, Premier Manager by Gremlin, and later its spiritual successors ? Premier League Manager and Total Club Manager series by EA ? took on a more user-friendly approach and mixed in the business and training aspects of managing a soccer team.

Gremlin 1993
Genre: Sport, Strategy
Rating: 4.5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Premier Manager 2 is a nice football manager game with many different features. Up to two players can select a team which is always starting in Englands lowest division, the Conference League. From here you have to battle your way up or you could also choose to coach another, higher placed team.

Gremlin 1995
Genre: Sport, Strategy
Rating: 4.5/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

The third part of this series is very much similar to the second part so I just want to point out the major differences. For a more thorough description of the game concept itself have a look at the review of Premier Manager 2 on this site.

Frames / Arc Software Publishing 1989
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 2/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Touted as a "wargame for people who don't usually play wargames", Prince is one of the many attempts to make the genre more appealing to a broader audience by adding attractive graphics, easy mouse controls and make the gameplay a little less complex (or more shallow, depending on your point of view). It is also one of the many in the long line of games to have tried this and failed.