All of the Scout troop's award shields have been stolen, and you have to find them all. Like a good Scout, you've also got to do some good turns – cleaning the windows of the pensioners' flats and gathering sealife for the nature class, and mushrooms for the Scouts' meals. There are only about a dozen screens, but clearing them all is a tricky task with all the nasty creatures about. The graphics and sound effects are fairly simple, although there's a catchy little tune on the starting screen that you can whistle to! It's worth a look, but don't expect much out of the game.

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6

Take on the might of 21st century fighter 'planes in your outdated World War II era 'plane. The odds don't sound great, but this vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up gives you five lives and five credits, which is extremely generous; I managed to reach the fifth level out of six on my first attempt. Unfortunately there are no power-ups apart from mini-'planes which act as smart bombs which attach to either side of your 'plane and can also be used as shields; the disadvantage is that your 'plane becomes wider and therefore easier for the enemy to hit. Graphically, the game looks very Spectrum-like, and the sound effects are mediocre as well, and although it plays well, it is a little on the slow side and not very challenging either.

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6

This is a clone of the arcade classic Q*Bert, where you jump around on the squares to change their colour. Here, you control a worm, and the monsters you have to avoid are black bugs. You have 60 seconds on each level to change the colour of all the squares. The difficulty increases as you progress – the bugs move faster and there are holes which restrict your movement, although the bugs can move over them! You also get an extra life when you complete each level. I've never liked this type of game because the controls always seem to be very awkward, and this game is no different. The graphics are mediocre and the sound effects are useless, but at least it's not that hard, despite the annoying controls.

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4

Your morals are tested in this computer version of the board game. The players take it in turns to ask someone else what they would do in certain situations, and they have to answer "yes", "no" or "depends". If their answer doesn't match the answer card that the player owns, that player gets a new question card. However, the other players can make a challenge if they thought the player answering the question was untruthful... The first player to get rid of all his/her question cards wins. It's not easy to explain the rules in such a short space, but you should get the hang of it after a few goes. Unfortunately, playing against the computer isn't as exciting as playing the actual board game with your friends.

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6

The Sea Lord has kidnapped your friends, the Scuba Kidz. Fortunately you're a good swimmer, so you decide to rescue them using your scuba diving gear. You must swim through eight reefs, shooting bubbles at fish to kill them (!) and ensuring that your supply of air does not run out, otherwise you will drown. Occasionally you may come across locked doors, but some of them lead to dead ends, and since keys are in short supply, you must learn which doors to open and which to leave alone. This is a dull game with little to see and do. Both the graphics and sound effects are primitive, and all the game really consists of is wandering around each of the reefs and trying to find the exit.

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4

SDAW
(Lankhor, 1990)

A nuclear explosion in 2194 wiped out the city of Chicago. 76% of its inhabitants were killed, while most of the rest became mutants, who took power and now plan to dominate the world and terrorise the few remaining survivors with a weapon of unimaginable power. Nearly fifty years later, one of the survivors creates an android called SDAW to travel through the sewers and locate and destroy the weapon, which you, as SDAW, must now do. This is an adventure with dozens of locations which generally look very similar to each other, but there are relatively few puzzles to solve, which is slightly disappointing. The graphics and presentation are both very good indeed, but there's a sense that the game relies more on style than substance.

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7

The United States and the Soviet Union have declared all-out nuclear war on each other, threatening the destruction of the entire world. As missiles hurtle through the atmosphere, you control a satellite belonging to America's Strategic Defence Initiative (which went under the nickname of 'Star Wars'). On each stage, you must destroy all of the missiles, fighters and enemy satellites as they fly across the screen. If you don't, you have to play another section where you must try to destroy even more missiles as they target the Earth's cities. This goes on for ever; there doesn't appear to be any ending to the game, and it soon becomes repetitive. There are very few sound effects, and despite an excellent loading screen, the game also suffers from being a Spectrum port.

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5

The reporter Ed Lines, stranded on the submarine Sea-Lion, has sent a distress signal which has been intercepted by enemy agents. A mysterious force draws the submarine towards Seabase Delta, and Ed must explore the deserted base and escape from it – but not before he finds a way to deactivate a nuclear missile whose target is the United Kingdom! This text adventure was created using The Quill and features graphics for most of the locations. The initial stage of the game, where you must travel along a railway line, is annoyingly tedious, but once you've reached the main section of the base, the game becomes much better. There is plenty of atmosphere, and there are many subtle hints included in the text – although this means that experienced adventurers shouldn't find it particularly challenging.

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8

You are the captain of the pirate vessel Banshee. Together with your band of seasoned cut-throats, you must scour the lands of the Inland Sea, searching for treasure. The game opens with you and the crew out at sea. As you sail around, you'll come up against other ships, or you may find land and hopefully a port to dock at. There are many ports to visit, each full of mystery and adventure with some well-drawn graphics depicting each location. This is an entertaining text adventure that's full of twists and turns to keep you busy and alert. Fans of the Fighting Fantasy book that this game is based upon will not be disappointed.

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8

I'm quite a fan of Adrian Mole but this game is rather disappointing. Much of the humour and content that was in the book is retained here, and some new events have been added to make things more interesting. You don't actually get to do much; all you do is read Adrian's short diary entries and make the occasional decision from a choice of three responses, which affects your score. You start at 40% and your score increases or decreases as you make the right or wrong decisions. The graphics are horrible and garish as well, and the game is really an 'adventure' in the loosest sense of the word.

See also: The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.

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5