Here's a football game in which you play the role of a player instead of a manager. You're a young 18-year-old footballer starting in a 4th Division team, with ambitions to play for one of the top teams in the 1st Division, and even represent your country. Your progress is entirely based on your ability to score goals. Provided you're picked for a match, there will be several opportunities for you to aim the ball at the goalmouth. You have to judge what angle to shoot the ball at, and press a key at the right moment. With practice, you'll become more adept at this and help your team to be promoted. There isn't a lot else to the game, but I actually enjoyed it for a while. At least it makes a change from all of Cult's football management games.

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7

This game caused a sensation when it was released, as it was the first non-cartridge game in the UK to utilise the extra colours offered by the Plus machines. Unfortunately, only a few other such games were released, which is a shame. Anyway, as Striker, you are out to destroy the evil Trogan and his minions, and you must also collect sixteen parchments along the way. It's quite a good platform game and is a great challenge. The sound effects are OK but it is the graphics which will knock your socks off (if you're running it on a Plus, that is) - a beautiful skyline ablaze with colour, with eerie silhouetted scenery! The graphics are still very good on a normal CPC, though.

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8

Cult released lots of football management games in their time. Most of them are awful, so it comes as a surprise to discover that this one is actually good! Unlike most football management games, you don't have the option of choosing any team you like - you must choose between two 4th Division teams who want to offer you a contract. Match highlights pass quite quickly, and when a player attempts to score a goal, the screen switches to a nice view of the goalmouth. Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of tactics, and you can't choose where your players will be positioned on the pitch, but if you don't want a complex game, then this is a good one. It's very well presented, too.

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7

Wlamir the wizard and Olaf the dwarf are on a mission to slay the evil demon Morvelinh. There are 25 levels (or chapters, as the game calls them), where Wlamir and/or Olaf (you can play on your own or with a friend) collect treasure chests and potions, and destroy the hordes of monsters that are constantly in their way. Each level has four screens, and you must find the silver key and then the golden key, which unlock the door to the next level. The potions can be used to destroy the generators which create the monsters, and if you're playing Wlamir, the monsters will also be destroyed. Yes, this is a Gauntlet clone, and it's very nice indeed. The graphics and the loading screen are stunning and the action is fast. It's slightly easy, but that's not a big concern, and the in-game music is simply gorgeous.

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8

Chad Adams wants to be the world's best motorbike stuntman, and to prove it, he must complete five events. These include dropping from a hang-glider on to his motorbike, riding over logs, jumping through rings of fire, driving on to the back of a moving lorry, and jumping on to a helicopter - don't try these things at home! You get three attempts to perform each stunt correctly, and if you fail, you must start again from the beginning. Apart from the last stunt, they're all easy once you work out the correct method. The graphics are fairly simple, and the hang-glider, lorry and helicopter are so blocky that it looks like they're made from bricks, and strangely, there are no sound effects or music at all. This is a dull game that is best avoided.

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Stunt Car Racer
(Micro Style, 1990)

Race a stunt car around eight tracks and against eleven other competitors in a league consisting of four divisions. You can practice on all of the tracks, and you'll certainly need it if you want to stand any chance of completing the required three laps of each race. You are also supplied with turbo boost in each race, but you should use it carefully, as the track takes its toll on your car, and if you land on the track at too high a speed, you will damage your car permanently. What sets this game apart is the graphics; the track is viewed in true 3D and the frame rate is quite fast - well, for a CPC. The sound effects are pretty good, too, and racing around the tracks is great fun - but you will need a lot of practice to master the toughest tracks!

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9

Oh no! Corrupt movie moguls have stolen your latest film scripts! You play as international superstar Seymour and must jump around various film sets, shooting and throwing bombs at the baddies, and find your way to the end of each stage, to do battle with the big boss and retrieve your scripts. Why Codemasters created Seymour when they had good old Dizzy is a mystery to me, but, that said, he's managed to star in a few decent games. Stuntman Seymour, though, is merely average. The graphics are bland and blocky, the game is flickery, jerky and slow beyond belief and each level has the same end boss! However, it has some pretty addictive music, is not too difficult, and despite its flaws, it's quite fun, with each well designed level based on a different movie genre.

See also: Sergeant Seymour Robotcop, Seymour at the Movies, Super Seymour Saves the Planet, Wild West Seymour.

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5

Subbuteo
(Electronic Zoo/Goliath, 1990)

Many football fans will remember growing up with Subbuteo, the table football game where you flick the players using your finger. It's been around since 1947, and this is obviously a computer adaptation of the game - and surprisingly, the concept works rather well. Each player takes it in turn to fire the ball using one of their players; if a player doesn't hit the ball or fouls another player, play passes to the other team. There are also opportunities for 'defensive flicks' and 'positional flicks' which allow you to adjust the positions of your players. The graphics are crude, but that's not a big problem. What is a problem is that even on the novice level, the computer is rather good, and aiming your players correctly is very tricky.

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6

Travel through five levels of a subterranean cave system in your spaceship, rescuing the miners who have been kidnapped by the aliens. Each level contains eight men, several aliens that must be shot, and a lot of other hazards. It's a bit like Defender in that the game is horizontally scrolling and there's a scanner at the top of the screen showing a map of the level and the positions of both the men and the aliens. However, the cave passages are very narrow, and there are often moving hazards that block and unblock them, so some very precise positioning and timing is required. The poor collision detection and occasionally flickery graphics spoil the game even more.

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5

The London Underground is a dangerous place in this scenario; the stations are filled with muggers and thugs. It's up to you to clear the stations and make them safe for London's citizens. From the very start, you are heavily outnumbered as skinheaded, bare-chested fighters close in on you, approaching you from both sides, and beat you up mercilessly. It's difficult enough to kill the required number of enemies to go to the next level, but to make things worse, when you lose energy, you have to start the level all over again! It's not a good game anyway, as movement is sluggish and the graphics have been converted straight from the Spectrum. The music is the only positive thing that's worth mentioning about this poor game.

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