The final instalment of Infocom's Enchanter trilogy sees you as the master of the Circle of Enchanters, but now magic itself is failing, and spells just aren't working properly any more. The journey involves collecting white cubes that are central to the use of magic, and you'll soon find that they have some very special properties indeed... The author, Dave Lebling, said that it "was intended to be a nasty, vicious and cruel, hard game and it succeeded in that." You rely on spells a lot more than the previous two adventures, and many of the puzzles are extremely difficult. Infocom meant this to be their toughest ever adventure, and I can agree with that. However, it's probably too tough for most people, and I didn't like it as much as some of their other adventures.

See also: Enchanter, Sorcerer.

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Sphaira
(UBI Soft, 1989)

You are an archaeologist who is looking for a lost civilisation which lies underneath the Atlantic Ocean. After entering some magic caves in a remote part of Peru, you emerge somewhere else, and your quest begins... This is an adventure which uses icons to select actions, instead of requiring you to enter them. A lot of puzzles rely on you knowing a magic word; you will need to use them either as passwords or when casting spells (and if you want to know one, ask for help at the cottage and the big tree). The graphics are fairly good, but the game relies too much on magic words, and there are very few objects to pick up and make use of. The procedure used for casting spells is also annoying and unnecessarily complicated.

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Wuron the dwarf magician must guide the Starball – a sphere with magical powers – through the rooms of the castle of the evil dragon Mirgal. In each room, Wuron must construct a path to allow the sphere to reach the block marked 'IN', before the sphere starts rolling. Wuron is able to create blocks out of thin air, but watch out for the ghosts and sorcerers who will drain your energy! There are plenty of objects and power-ups to collect, although you'll have to work out what they all do, and use them wisely! The graphics are breathtaking, although there aren't many sound effects, but with dozens of levels to play and four opportunities in the game to restart a level, the thinkers among you will love this.

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Spike has been shipwrecked in Transylvania, along with several of his Viking mates, who are now locked up in the dungeons of the King's castle. Fortunately, Spike hasn't been captured, but he now has to rescue all of his comrades. This is an arcade adventure in which you must find the right objects to solve puzzles and progress further in the game, as well as dodging the guards, rats and bats who will drain your energy. It's all rather easy, though, and it shouldn't take you too long to complete the game. However, I still think the game is a good one while it lasts, despite the monochrome graphics. The music is fairly good as well, and so is the animated sequence when you lose all your lives!

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Winter is closing in, and Harold the hedgehog has to find food for him to last through his hibernation. Starting above the ground, you have to venture underground into a network of tunnels full of other wildlife, and you will lose a life if you touch any of them. Believe it or not, you get twenty lives, but you're going to need every one of them! Squeezing past many of the monsters requires the utmost precision, and it is very frustrating to lose several lives in this way. I don't mind the game too much – Harold is really cute – but most people will find it too difficult.

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Spindizzy
(Electric Dreams, 1986)

GERALD is on Hangworld, and he has to explore all 386 locations and collect more than 200 jewels in his mission. There are all sorts of puzzles to solve – you'll need to hunt for the right switches to open doors and cross chasms, for instance – and tricky terrain to negotiate, and you're battling against the clock, too! What makes this game so truly irresistible is that urge to explore a little more of Hangworld with each go. It's one of the all-time classics, and yes, I think it is the best game ever to appear on the CPC.

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The planet Fungii 7 contains lots of barrels of plutonium, and it's your job to guard them. However, the green alien Kermatoids are intent on getting their hands on it and have launched an invasion. You must shoot them and prevent them from stealing the barrels – once they've got them, it's too late! If all 27 barrels are stolen, then the game is over. There are three screens, and while you're guarding one screen, the Kermatoids are taking advantage on the other two, so it's quite difficult, although you have a radar to show you where the aliens are. Basically, it's a mediocre space shoot-'em-up which won't interest you for long, although the graphics are brilliant and the Kermatoids are quite cute!

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The greatest war the world has ever seen is about to commence. It's so great that even the Swiss are getting involved this time! This is a beat-'em-up based on the British TV show of the same name, which lets you match six of the world's leaders against each other – Maggie Thatcher, Ronnie Reagan, Michael Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Ayatollah Khomeini, and P. W. Botha. Of course, each of them has their own ways of fighting. You select an opponent and a champion, with you playing the opponent, and if you defeat the champion three times, it's on to another one. The graphics are brilliant and there are some jolly jingles to be heard, but it is after all a novelty game, and although it's funny at first, it'll wear off before long.

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Zippy the spider is stuck in a maze which is constantly scrolling within a section of the screen, and if he touches the edges of the screen, he loses one of his three lives, which can happen if you're trapped within the walls of the maze and there's no escape! It's probably not easy to understand this explanation, but it is an original idea, although the aptly named Zippy can be a little bit too fast, for you can sometimes run into the edges when you didn't mean to. The graphics are very basic and the colour scheme is garish, and there are no sound effects worth talking about, but it's still a fun game to play every now and then.

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This game was originally going to be called Splitting Images, but the name had to be changed. This is a variation of those sliding tile games, although in this game, the board is initially empty. The tiles are stored at the top left corner and you can release them as necessary. The aim on each of the ten levels is to recreate the face of a famous person shown elsewhere on the screen – but with a tight time limit and numerous hazards to face, it really isn't easy. Many famous faces of the 1980s are in the game – Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Neil Kinnock, Clive Sinclair (boo!) and Alan Sugar, to name a few. The caricatures are well-drawn and very colourful, and even though the constant white noise is irritating, it's still a thoroughly enjoyable game.

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