Novalogic 1993
Genre: Simulation, Action
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Normally, I don't like flight sims. They're usually overloaded with options to make it feel 'realistic'. So when I try one and I'm not able to take off without extensive study of the manual, I stop playing immediately. But Comanche is different! It's on the border to the action genre. The flight model is not too realistic, the controls have been reduced to the necessary things. I still consider it a simulation though, because it doesn't rely exclusively on fast reflexes, but finishing missions involves a lot of tactics.

Lucas Arts 1993
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 5/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Français, Castellano, Italiano
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Look, behind you, a three-headed monkey! Wrong game, wood-lover. Anyway, you know, in spite of Monkey Island, it was Maniac Mansion which catapulted Lucasfilm Games to fame. Fast forward a few years. The company is now called Lucas Arts, and the lead designer of Maniac Mansion (as well as Monkey Island) has left. Time for the long-awaited sequel.

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?

Icom Simulations / Viacom New Media 1993
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Ten years have passed since Dracula was killed. Alexander Morris, brother of Quincey Morris (a victim of the chase after the vampire), has come to London. His brother's connections make it easy for him to get into the society: he's invited into the illustrious Hades Club.

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

Sent to a fort in search of a mystical orb, you will kill all that moves while descending levels towards the lower depths of the dungeon. All of it seen in first person through the graphical engine of the Eye of the Beholder trilogy.

Software 2000 1993
Genre: Sport, Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Although Eishockey Manager is a game in its own it should be considered more a sideproduct of the successful Manager series by Software 2000. If you know Bundesliga Manager Professional then you'll be comfortable with this game at once because the menus are basically the same.

AnimaTek / Maxis 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 6/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

El-Fish is a fish breeding/creating and aquarium-building simulation that was released by the companies Maxis and AnimaTek in 1994 (Maxis is the creator of the successful Sim game series, while AnimaTek was a Russian company that invented the concept of El-Fish). The game was advanced for its time -- the photorealistic 3-D fish you can create look and move very realistically, and, through breeding, can be shaped into from 800 possible attributes into infinite numbers of unique fish. A fractal-based generator can also create unique decorative plants for your tank, and a rather intelligent random music generator can put together simple pieces of background music for your tank-display. Plus, just watching the fish you've made swimming in a tank you've designed is a very calming and rewarding experience.

elefanten Schuh GmbH / WWF 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 2/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

A well-known shoe company of the 80s teams up with a well-known environmental organization of the 80s to present you this economical simulation. Commercial advertisement mixed up with promotion for a 'good cause' - very, very questionable.

New World Computing 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Empire inspired a whole generation of programmers to do similar games. The concept is simple, yet addicting: Start with one city, build up an army and conquer the whole (unknown) world. That's it. Plain and simple. Maybe you've had this many times before, but certainly not often that well done!

Rauser / BWMi 1993
Genre: Strategy
Rating: 2/6
Language: Deutsch
Licence: Freeware
System: Amiga

Just a little more than ten years ago (in 1993), there was no 'Internet' of today's proportions. Computer magazines coming with CDs full of stuff were still uncommon, too. To be exact, the first 'one-shot issues' of this kind appeared in early 1994 in Germany. So, 1993 was still a year of game demos being spread on floppy disks, and those were available on quite a few magazine covers.