Another of those games where you must escape from a labyrinth of dungeons and caves, fighting skeletons, orcs and ghosts, opening doors, collecting spells, and releasing some prisoners along the way if you have some release spells. The graphics are extremely well drawn and the music is so atmospheric and eerie! The only problem is that the game is too difficult, and it is made harder by only having one life; if you die, you have to start all over again.

More information on TACGR

8

Defcom
(Quicksilva, 1986)

By 2056, the Star Wars satellite defence systems were ready, with eight satellites orbiting Earth. There was total peace for many years, but now aliens have taken over the satellites and started attacking Earth. You are Captain Nick Diamond, and your mission is to destroy the satellites with the sole remaining spacecraft available - the fairly standard Eagle Class E751. Your spacecraft is equipped with a cosmogun, but as you destroy more aliens, you can use a fazalaza, a dyno ray, and a blaster - the only weapon that can destroy the satellites. However, you have to blast a lot of aliens to obtain the blaster, and this is so tedious and repetitive that it's not worth the effort. The graphics lack colour as well, although the music is excellent.

More information on TACGR

3

It's 1992, and there has been no conflict between the world's superpowers for many years - but there is now a serious threat to Earth, a threat so serious that the World Security Council has been put on DEFCOM 1 (er, surely it should be DEFCON 1?). Those aliens are up to no good again, and they've been detected in the Vesta-7 sector of Ceres. This is a shoot-'em-up in three parts, and you control a different vehicle in each part. You have to fly to the space shuttle launch site in a helicopter, then fly the shuttle through an asteroid belt, and then take on the aliens in a space fighter. In the first and third parts, you also have three smart bombs. This is a mediocre game, primarily because it's a Spectrum port, but there are also no power-ups, and the sound effects are very poor.

More information on TACGR

5

Defender of the Crown
(UBI Soft, 1989)

Travel back in time to England in 1149. The king has been assassinated, and the Saxons and the Normans are fighting it out to reclaim the throne. You play the part of one of four Saxon lords (hint: choose Sir Wolfric the Wild) and must fight the Norman lords (and the Saxon lords too if you want) and prevent them from gaining territory. The more territory you have, the more taxes you can collect from the peasants to build up your army - but all this fighting takes a heavy toll. You can also claim territory in jousting contests, and lay siege to your enemies' fortresses! This is a big game, and the graphics and animation have to be seen to be believed; they are simply breathtaking. Unfortunately, it's too difficult, as the Norman lords take control too quickly for you to do anything about them, and this is a real shame.

More information on TACGR

8

Defenders of the Earth
(Enigma Variations, 1990)

Ming the Merciless has kidnapped the Defenders' children and is holding them in the Fortress of Evil. You control Flash Gordon as he fights his way through three levels of the castle, shooting and jumping over monsters, and facing some pretty mean end-of-level guardians before encountering Ming himself. Your colleagues are also able to help you, by opening locked doors or creating bridges which will allow you to cross chasms. There are also a few energy icons which can be collected. The graphics are marvellous, but the music on the menu is unremarkable. However, the biggest problem is that the game is very tough indeed; completing the first level is a real feat, even with the four lives that you are given.

More information on TACGR

6

Every now and then, there's a game which is strikingly original, and this is one of them. By bouncing a laser beam off sets of mirrors, you must shoot all the balls on the screen before aiming it at a target. However, watch out for the gremlins who will adjust the mirrors when you're concentrating on something else! You must also avoid overloading the machine, which can happen if the laser bounces back on itself, or if the beam hits a mine. It's not easy to get the hang of it at first, and the colour schemes are mostly gruesome, but you may well like it, and there are 60 levels to tax your grey matter.

More information on TACGR

9

Deliverance
(Hewson, 1990)

Our hero is back to rescue some more fairies from hell and bring them to safety in heaven, but there are lots of lakes of fire and nasty, fire-breathing monsters to battle against. In fact, there are far too many monsters. If you thought Stormlord was tricky, then you clearly haven't played this game - it's impossible to get anywhere without a monster appearing from nowhere and making you lose a life. Getting Stormlord to jump properly is also a matter of luck. The graphics are as well-drawn as the first game, and the tune is good, too, but it really is far too difficult.

See also: Stormlord.

More information on TACGR

6

You fool! You've smashed four talismans belonging to Trodor the demon and now his evil minions have taken over the castle! Your only hope now is to find all the pieces - four for each talisman - and put them back together. They're scattered all over the castle, and all the rooms are guarded. You'll probably need to make a map, as it's easy to get lost in the castle. The graphics are nice and colourful and the game moves at quite a fast pace as you move from one room to the next, and the tune is also very good, and you'll be kept busy at finding the pieces of the talisman for some time.

More information on TACGR

7

La Dernière Mission
(MBC, 1988)

On the 6th of September 1999, aliens invaded Earth, and as the year 2000 began, humanity was threatened. A guerrilla organisation, Liberté, fought a war against the aliens, forcing them to retreat. By July 2001, the fighting was still going on. Liberté has sent you on The Last Mission - to go to the aliens' camp in the Arctic wastes of Canada and destroy it by planting bombs. This is a rather average text adventure with some rather nice pictures to accompany the locations. Unfortunately there is very little actual text; there are no descriptions of any of the rooms, and you are almost never told what objects of note are in the room. The parser is also poor, and why did the authors feel the need to include digitised pictures of women between the two parts of the game?

More information on TACGR

6

Can you travel along the Upward Path to attain the rank of Dervish using your magical powers, and in doing so, reveal the secret of the universe? Hmmm... There isn't much explanation of what you need to do, but what is obvious is that this is a Gauntlet clone, so there's lots of wandering around mazes and shooting monsters to be done. Things are made a bit more tricky in that there are several types of weapon, and working out which weapon is most suited to defeating particular types of monster is a process of trial and error. I quickly became bored with the game; the graphics are ugly and garish, the sound effects are abysmal, and the gameplay is totally uninspiring.

More information on TACGR

4