An eerie mansion full of ghosts and other strange creatures... and you're inside it. As well as avoiding the nasty ghosts and skulls, you have to collect the insects that roam and fly about, and use them to cast spells. Each spell requires different insects – there's a book that'll reveal everything, but you'll need a spell to open it! Watch the hourglass at the corner of the screen – if it runs out too many times, you'll be hanged! Sadly, this is an awful Spectrum port with flickery, monochromatic sprites and hardly any sound, and the game itself is frustrating.

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King Michael's daughter, Princess Clare, has been kidnapped by evil ghosts and taken away to a castle, and as Gary, you must free her. The main hazards to watch out for are bats, fire and ghosts. Contact with bats depletes your energy, while touching fire or the ghost that wanders from right to left across the screen loses one of your lives instantly. You can collect vases to replenish your energy, and ankhs to give you extra lives. However, they reappear every time you enter a room, which makes the game rather easy to complete. The graphics aren't bad, but the castle is too small (it has fewer than 20 rooms) and once you've completed it, it's not something you'll want to play again.

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This quiz game is based on ITV's short-lived version of A Question of Sport. Three players choose an area of sport, and then they take it in turns to move around a triangular board, answering questions based on the three subjects that have been chosen, as well as the occasional question on general sport. The game consists of seven rounds, but apart from the last round, which is a quick-fire session, there is only one question in each round. This makes each game rather short. Many of the questions are now outdated, and unless you have a really good knowledge of many sports, you won't like this game. It does have a great rendition of the theme tune, though. (The answer to the question in the screenshot is "Renault", by the way.)

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There are some of us (but certainly not me) who like to take a gamble on a horse at the races. Now you and up to four other players can see how much money you can win. You can choose a total of 25, 50 or 75 horses, with seven horses competing in each race, and you can study the form cards for each horse for the last fifteen races. There are also four types of bet you can use on a horse. Once you've made your bet, you can watch the race and cheer on your horse. I suppose that if you're a fan of horse racing, you might like it, as it gives you the opportunity to try and beat the bookies in real life, but all you see at the end of every race is "You have lost £xxxx" and "You have won £xxxx". The thrill of winning just isn't there.

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See also: Action Fighter.

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Spy vs. Spy
(Beyond/First Star, 1985)

Two spies are in an embassy, and they have to collect four objects before making their escape in an aeroplane. The objects are all hidden underneath furniture and ornaments, so a lot of searching is needed – and you'll need to find the briefcase first. The amusement really begins when you plant booby-traps to catch your enemy unawares, and steal the objects off him – but try to remember where you planted them, or you may be caught out! It's got simple graphics and sound effects, but it is so addictive in the two-player option that you won't be able to resist it.

See also: Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper.

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Those two spies are at it again – this time they're stranded on a desert island and have to find three pieces of a missile and return it to a submarine. The traps are more inventive this time, and they include napalm bombs and nooses, and there's a gun lying somewhere too... Sadly, everything that made Spy vs. Spy such enormous fun (especially with two players) has gone. The scrolling is excruciatingly slow, the controls don't respond well, and the traps are too difficult to place. I'd stick with the original game.

See also: Spy vs. Spy.

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Both the British and the Russians have had some of their submarines stolen by Karl Stromberg. The British have sent out James Bond to recapture their sub, while the Russians have sent the attractive Anya Amasova. The last of the five James Bond games to be released on the CPC has five levels taking place on both land and sea, and all of them involve steering your car or boat and avoiding the scenery (you can try shooting the enemies, but it does little good). You have to collect tokens in the first three levels to buy the equipment to go to the next level. All the levels see you doing the same thing each time, and there's very little variety.

See also: Licence to Kill, Live and Let Die, The Living Daylights.

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You have been transported to the mysterious planet of Sram, where the high priest Cinomeh has imprisoned the King Egres IV. (If you wonder where these strange names come from, they're based on the names of the game's authors.) You must free him – but first, you will need to find the hermit, and all the ingredients for a special potion that he will make for you. This text adventure comes from France and is regarded as a classic there, although you can also play the game in English or German. Certainly the graphics are fairly impressive, but I found the parser to be lacking in some areas, and finding the exact combination of words to perform particular actions is frustrating. I suppose it was good for its time, but nowadays it isn't as good.

See also: Sram 2.

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Sram 2
(ERE, 1986)

Now that Egres IV is in power again, he repays your kindness by ruling through tyranny, oppressing his people and using sorcery. The only way to stop him is to kill him – but in a rather unusual way, by making what is known in France as 'la galette des rois', or 'the kings' cake' – a cake with a bean hidden inside it. You start in a crypt, where the only ways out are to open the tombs contained within it. I wasn't particularly satisfied with Sram, but this sequel is much better. The graphics are as good as, if not better than, the original game, and there are no problems finding the right combination of words to solve puzzles. On the other hand, it is slightly too easy, but that doesn't worry me too much.

See also: Sram.

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