Fly your spaceship along a long corridor, shooting the obstacles and hazards in your way. Once you've reached the end of the corridor, you fly along another one. The corridor sections are viewed in isometric 3D reminiscent of the classic coin-op game Zaxxon. If you can complete both corridors, you then play a short section viewed through the cockpit of your spaceship, in which you must shoot aliens as they fly erratically towards you. The graphics are colourful, but there is a lot of flicker and the action is a bit slow, which makes the game too easy and repetitive, and therefore not much of a challenge.

More information on TACGR

5

Gonzzálezz is a Mexican who enjoys a siesta in the afternoons as many Mexicans do. However, this particular siesta has turned into a nightmare; he can hear an alarm clock ringing, but he cannot wake up! This game, like many Spanish games, is divided into two parts. The first part is a platform game in which you must guide Gonzzálezz through a surreal landscape to reach the alarm clock and finally silence it. In the second part, Gonzzálezz crosses the deserts of Mexico to find a nice hammock so that he can take his siesta in peace. The graphics are stunningly detailed and the animation of Gonzzálezz and all the enemies to be encountered is excellent. It's just a shame that the difficulty level is too high, particularly in the second part.

More information on TACGR

7

Goody is a thief who has set his eyes on the Bank of Spain, located in Madrid. You may help Goody in a humorous voyage across Madrid, collecting money to buy the necessary tools to do your job, while avoiding a bunch of funny characters ready to prevent him from achieving his goal. Unfortunately, Goody is far too difficult, with some screens that require skill, luck and loads of patience. Apart from that, it's quite a nice a game that's worth a few tries.

More information on TACGR

7

Compete in all sixteen races of the 1990 Formula 1 season and try to beat seven other drivers and ultimately win the World Championship. You can practice or race at an individual track or take part in an entire season of racing. Weather conditions will vary, so you will need to choose the correct tyres at the start of each race. First impressions aren't good; the game is a blatant Spectrum port and the controls are quite unresponsive - changing gears is particularly awkward. As for the race itself, the other drivers have an extremely annoying tendency to crash into your car, it's a miracle if you manage to get away from the starting grid unscathed! This is a very poor racing game indeed and isn't worthy of anyone's attention.

More information on TACGR

3

One of very few Formula 1 management games for the CPC, this offering sees you competing against other teams in the bid to win the driver's and constructor's titles. You start by selecting sponsors for your team and the engine that your cars will use, but you can't choose which drivers to sign, which is a rather silly omission. Before each race, both drivers have to complete two qualifying laps, and you must then decide what tyres to use and how much fuel to put in the tank for each car. What really lets this game down badly is the race highlights, which last well over 20 minutes and offer no sense of thrill or excitement at all. It will test anyone's patience to watch through one race, let alone an entire season.

2

Grand Prix Circuit
(Accolade, 1990)

Get in the seat of a Formula 1 car and race in the World Championship around eight tracks. You can choose to drive either a Ferrari, a Williams or a McLaren; the Ferrari is the least powerful but has the best handling, while the McLaren is the most powerful but is also the most difficult to steer. There are also five difficulty levels which determine how much damage your car can take, whether you use an automatic or manual gearbox, and whether your engine can blow up. Controlling your car is quite difficult, and you're constantly swerving, trying to centre the steering! The game is rather easy, and you can usually win races without any problems. The graphics are very good, but the scrolling is quite jerky and you don't really get an impression of driving fast.

More information on TACGR

7

You're racing in a Formula 1 car along a track, and you must overtake 30 cars within 10 minutes. This isn't a proper racing simulation at all, as the track is almost completely straight, and all the game consists of is dodging the oncoming cars. This is quite difficult, as you can't steer your car and decelerate at the same time. To make matters worse, your car handles more like a tank, and it's extremely difficult to avoid the oncoming cars. If that wasn't enough, the graphics are terrible (although the game was admittedly released in the very early days of the CPC), and the sound is awful. This is definitely a game you want to avoid at all costs!

More information on TACGR

0

Racing on twelve different circuits, you must prove that you're the best motorbike driver in the world. You can choose between championship or practice, and one or two players. But even in solo mode, the screen is split into two halves, making the action sometimes difficult to follow. The feeling of speed is well rendered, but it is hard to anticipate the bends because you can't see very far. The graphics are good, although the background is always the same. The crashing of your bike isn't very realistic either, and the sound of your engine is a bit strange. But what is more annoying is that your bike responds very slowly, which makes the races a bit hazardous.

See also: Grand Prix 500 2.

More information on TACGR

6

Get on a 500cc motorbike and race against five other riders on twelve circuits around the world in the championship. Of course, there are also options to take part in a single race or some training. The game is full of options, with three difficulty levels and the ability to save and load your championship position. You can even choose the colour of your bike. Two players can take part in a race simultaneously, which is great fun. Despite all of these options, the game retains an arcade feel to it, as opposed to being a realistic simulation of motorbike racing. The presentation and graphics are both excellent and there is a real sense of speed as you zoom around the tracks at well over 200mph.

See also: Grand Prix 500cc.

More information on TACGR

8

Not this! The tracks in this game are viewed from above, and you have to buzz your 'car' (which looks exactly like a box, by the way) around the track within the time limit to go to the next one. The trouble is that your car is impossible to control and the track must have black ice all over it, making it ridiculously difficult to progress - well, that's what I think. The pictures of the McLaren and Ferrari at the top are nice, but the rest of the graphics aren't as good. The tune and digitised speech ("three... two... one... go!") are both superb, though, but that doesn't make the game any better for it.

See also: Grand Prix Simulator 2.

More information on TACGR

4