The Mad Professor is back, and he has set up an underground base on the Moon where he is developing a zit-ray that will cause all of Earth's population to suffer from acne – then he can sell acne cream and make a fortune. Don't you just love games with mad storylines? There are three parts which load separately. The first part is a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up which is easy to complete. The second part takes place in the Mad Professor's base and is a platform game in which you must collect the access codes in order to log in to the computers. The third and final part is a Breakout-style game which is a lot harder, but also rather boring. The graphics are colourful and the music is beautiful, but the gameplay just isn't of the same standard.

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Aliens have invaded the galaxy, and you must clear six sectors, each of which contains three waves of aliens. You have lasers at your disposal, and a cloaking device can be used, acting as a shield – but it uses fuel. After you've destroyed three waves, you have to dock with a spaceship to refuel. It's such a hard game, though, because of two things; when you've shot most of the aliens, the remaining ones move ridiculously fast, and they can also move off the top of the screen, reappearing at the bottom so that they crash straight into your ship. The graphics are poor as well.

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L'Aigle d'Or
(Loriciels, 1986)
Reviewed by Guillaume Chalard

An abandoned castle in the mountains of Westphalia, traps and gloomy dungeons... you must find the Golden Eagle (the English translation of the game's title), an artefact that brings power and wealth to its owner. This is a really good graphic adventure game, even if the graphics aren't really appealing. The animation is awful too, by the way, but you'll enjoy trying to find your way among those dusty rooms, collecting items and falling into dark pits (drawing a map will come in handy!). One of the very best games of 1986.

See also: L'Aigle d'Or: Le Retour.

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L'Aigle d'Or: Le Retour
(Loriciel, 1992)

The Golden Eagle has been stolen again, this time by Nahmur, the grand priest of a sinister cult. However, he does not know how to master its powers, so he has broken it into several pieces. Not surprisingly, your mission is to recover all the pieces of the Golden Eagle. This is an arcade adventure which is set in the future. You can access information kiosks which allow you to read e-mails and news, and there are also weapons stores where you can exchange your weapon. If you find any safes, you might be able to open them; just listen very carefully as you turn the dial! The graphics and animation are both stunning, especially if you have a Plus machine; contrary to what some might say, this was the first non-cartridge game to utilise the Plus' extra colours. It's an intriguing game which mixes action and adventure elements well.

See also: L'Aigle d'Or.

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You've got to rescue five hostages held in an underground base somewhere in the Arizona desert, and you have to destroy some defence boxes as well. However, you have to do all of this in a very expensive helicopter – no, I can't work that one out either. The graphics are nothing special and the only sound effects are the constant drone of your helicopter blades, although a good tune plays throughout. The game is far too difficult, though; I mean, how on Earth do you fly a helicopter through such tight confines?

See also: Airwolf II.

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The programmers surely wanted to do something very different from Airwolf. And indeed, they managed to do so. But the result is still far from amazing. This game is a shoot-'em-up (which curiously scrolls from left to right), looking like Salamander or R-Type. But it's much less fun, as the playing window is very small and the graphics are Spectrum-like. You just have to blast your way through a bunch of aliens, guns and blocks that stand in front of you. Well, that's an average game, which can be rather enjoyable for a (short) while.

See also: Airwolf.

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A wizard has trapped Aladdin in a network of caves, and he must find his way out again. This is a platform game consisting of 16 screens, and in most of them, there are one or more objects to be collected. If you collect all of the objects in a room, you may be able to gain new powers, allowing you to transform into other creatures, such as a monkey, a bird or a genie – but although it is necessary to use these powers to complete the game, you can only use them in certain screens! This is a rather old game, so the graphics and sound effects are rather basic. However, the music is absolutely awful, although thankfully, it can be turned off, leaving you with a simple but enjoyable platform game.

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You and a friend can see how you fare at pool with this game – there doesn't seem to be an option to play against the computer, which is unfortunate – but at least you'll save money by not playing pool down the pub. You take shots by aiming a cursor and then selecting the force and spin. It's quite a well implemented version of pool, and the game claims that it conforms to the rules of 8-ball pool, but the music on the title screen is rubbish!

See also: Alex Higgins World Snooker.

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Like Alex Higgins World Pool, you can't play snooker against the computer, which again is a bit of a shame, and you also take shots by aiming a cursor and selecting the force and spin. You can choose to play either 6-ball, 10-ball or 15-ball snooker if you want a shorter game. I like the score bar at the top of the screen; it's just like the real thing! However, actually putting the balls in the pockets is difficult and you're unlikely to score large breaks here – and once again, the music is awful!

See also: Alex Higgins World Pool.

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An alien is lurking somewhere within the spaceship Nostromo. The alien has hatched from the body of one of the seven crew members on board, but can the other six crew members kill it in time, before the ship returns to Earth or their oxygen supply runs out? This is a strategy game, and there is more than one way to complete the game. You can kill the alien using the weapons scattered throughout the ship, which is rather tricky; you can try to entice it to enter one of the airlocks and then hurl it into outer space; or you can rescue the ship's cat, Jones, set the auto-destruct sequence, get at least three crew members into the lifeboat, the Narcissus, and escape. The choice is yours. Thankfully, there's a short, easy scenario to let you learn the mechanics of the game. It's one of those games that takes time to learn, but the effort is worth it.

See also: Aliens, Aliens: US Version.

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