Another classic game for the Plus machines only, Frogger puts us in the position of a frog that must cross an avenue full of traffic and a dangerous river! This very enjoyable game is from the early 1980s era – a time when gameplay was the alpha and the omega of gaming. The graphics are colourful, and faithful to the original coin-op game, while the sound is equally good. One problem regarding the gameplay is that you cannot move Frogger diagonally, thus making progress through each level more difficult and sometimes frustrating. Nevertheless, this game provides strong grab factor and can give the player much entertainment.

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Guide the frogs across the busy road without being squished, then jump across the river using the turtles and logs and put five frogs in the holes on the other side of the river. Yes, it's Frogger time again. This version has colourful graphics and several merry little melodies which play in the background while you're guiding the frogs home. At first it's not too difficult, but the traffic becomes so heavy by the third level that crossing the road seems to be almost impossible and you won't really want to play any further.

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A squad of troops has been sent to infiltrate enemy bases. Each troop member takes it in turn to enter and explore each base, firing bullets from his automatic MK gun, and lobbing grenades at turrets, guns and soldiers in trenches. While you're doing all of this, your real aim is to find a bag containing sensitive documents which has been carelessly placed somewhere in the base, and then go to the laboratory to complete the level. Extra grenades and upgrades to your gun are readily available, and there is a bottle of elixir which restores your strength. The graphics are fairly good, although the sound effects could be better, and despite the game being slightly slow, it's still nice to play.

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The planet of Cosmia has been taken over by monsters, who are capturing and imprisoning the inhabitants, who are known as Kreezers. You play the part of a Kreezer called Hickey, who has just escaped from his cage and must venture through caverns filled with monsters and other hazards, rescuing five other Kreezers along the way. Hickey and the other Kreezers look and behave much like a slinky toy, and the controls take a lot of getting used to. It's very difficult to position yourself to jump or shoot at a monster when it's about to collide with you, and it can be frustrating to play at first as you lose life after life. However, if you stick with it, you will progress and hopefully find this game to be an enjoyable one, with the added bonus of colourful graphics.

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This is not one of the better fruit machine games, I can tell you! OK, there's the three reels that you find on any fruit machine, with badly drawn cherries, strawberries, lemons, bells, bar symbols and £1 signs; but the screen looks so bare while you're spinning the reels. Neither do the reels actually scroll properly as they do in real life; some coloured blobs appear instead. There are a few extras which allow you to gamble some cash, such as 'winner spinners', and nudges are also available, but I wouldn't bother playing this game.

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There aren't exactly many great fruit machine games about – after all, you can't win any money from them! Then again, you can't lose any, either... This one is crammed with extra games with enticing names such as 'Skill Climb' and 'Winning Streak', to win (or more likely, lose) some more money, and there's lots of digitised speech which you can actually make out. You can also decide to stop at any time if you think you've won enough money, which is nice. The graphics are a feast of colour and the music is seriously funky.

See also: Fruit Machine Simulator 2.

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There really is little difference between this game and its predecessor – it's just that the array of extra money-making features is so great as to be bewildering. However, there's something about the game that doesn't make it just as appealing. Perhaps it's the absence of any digitised speech, although some may consider that a good thing. Perhaps it's that the graphics aren't quite as colourful. Perhaps it's the tune, which is jolly but nowhere near as good as that in the original game. I don't know, but I prefer the original Fruit Machine Simulator to this sequel.

See also: Fruit Machine Simulator.

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Fruity Frank
(Kuma, 1984)

Although I never got to play this game when I was a kid, I remember reading stories in CPC magazines about how kids loved this game – and it's not hard to understand why. It's such a simple game and yet it's addictive. Frank has to collect all the fruit on each level, while avoiding the enemies that run around. You have to dig tunnels to reach the fruit, and you can also use apples as boulders to crush the enemies. With simple, colourful graphics and jolly tunes this is a game that almost anyone will enjoy, no matter what age they are!

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Pilot your F-16 along four missions, flying over desert, snow, the tropics and the ocean. In this offering from Mastertronic, you take on approaching aircraft, dodge tank fire and take out the helicopter bosses. The sparse scenery passes under you at a rapid rate, as do the enemies in the sky. Each stage plays pretty much the same as the last and soon becomes tedious. The graphics are decent for such a game, with sound effects to match.

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Fugitif
(Lankhor, 1991)

A man named Xocann plans to destroy the entire Akronn planetary system. You play Jack Bludfield, a former agent of the Foundation, half human and half machine, and you must stop Xocann from carrying out his plan. Your journey starts in New York, where one of his companions still lives. This is a graphic adventure with around 70 truly amazing pictures in full colour, yet using the CPC's higher resolution, four-colour mode; they really have to be seen to be appreciated. In fact, there are so many pictures that the game occupies two whole discs. Unfortunately, playing the game itself is not so amazing. You execute commands by selecting icons, but it's hard to know what to do most of the time, and the unhelpful responses when you use the wrong commands – "Impossible" or "There is nothing special" – make this a somewhat frustrating adventure to play.

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