Strap yourself into the seat of an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet and fly into the danger zone! Your aim on each mission is to destroy three enemy fighters in a straightforward dogfight. Initially, this is relatively easy, but on subsequent missions, the enemy fighters become more manoeuvrable and will use their missiles against you. The game is a mixture of a flight simulator and a shoot-'em-up, but it lacks some of the necessary elements of both genres. As a flight simulation, the vector graphics are impressive and fast, but that's because there's no scenery at all! As a shoot-'em-up, there's very little variety, as each mission has exactly the same aim as the previous ones. The two-player game may offer more long-term enjoyment, but the one-player game won't.

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It's 1930, and in two hours' time there will be a total eclipse, bringing about the effects of an ancient curse which will annihilate the Earth. You have to reach the top of a pyramid and destroy the statue there before the eclipse. This is one of the Freescape games and the 'true' 3D is quite impressive. Making a map of the pyramid is quite difficult, though! There isn't much sound – mainly gunshots and the constant beat of your heart – but it seems to make the tension that bit more realistic.

See also: Total Eclipse II: The Sphinx Jinx.

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Total Eclipse II: The Sphinx Jinx
(Incentive, 1989)

There's going to be another total eclipse soon! Twelve parts of the Sphinx have gone missing somewhere in the catacombs, and you have only one hour to find them. The gameplay, graphics and sound effects are all much the same as the original game, although there are a few new puzzles; try fathoming your way through the Jinx section, for instance! This game was originally only available as a bundle with Total Eclipse through the Home Computer Club, and it would be just as good as the original, but for one incredibly stupid room which contains an invisible maze, which is just impossible. You'll still have fun with the rest of the game, though.

See also: Total Eclipse.

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Total Recall
(Ocean, 1991)

Doug Quaid isn't sure who he really is, and after visiting a company called Rekall Incorporated which can implant memories into people, he goes to Mars to discover his true identity. The game consists of five levels which are based on the film of the same name. Three of them are platform games which also contain puzzles, where you must flick the correct switches to gain access to some areas. There are also some men (armed and unarmed) which you must kill. The other two levels are driving games with a shoot-'em-up element. The graphics are very good, particularly on the platform levels, and the two pieces of music are simply wonderful. However, the gameplay is rather difficult for my liking, particularly on the second level.

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There are a lot of snooker simulators for the CPC and this is one of the earlier ones, which was later re-released by Codemasters as Professional Snooker Simulator. The first thing you'll notice about it is that it's in four colours, which is a bit strange when you need at least eight. Even though it says which ball is which on the screen, it is still confusing, and not only that, the method of aiming is awkward; instead of pointing a cursor at your target ball, you must rotate the cue about the white ball, and the strange controls make this tricky to get right. From all of this, you'd think there wasn't much reason to rate this game – and you'd be absolutely right.

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Take part in a cycling race held over four stages, and try to amass the shortest time possible over all the stages. The first and last stages are viewed from the side and require a lot of joystick waggling to build up and maintain your speed, while the second and third stages are viewed from overhead, and don't require any joystick waggling. You have to finish within the top six to go to the next stage, although a training mode is also available. The graphics are brilliant and really colourful – I like the animation of the crowd cheering the cyclists – and there's a jolly tune to accompany all of the action if you have 128K of memory. You don't have to waggle the joystick really hard, though, and all in all, the game is good fun.

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Your country failed miserably in the World Cup, and having been appointed as the new manager, you must concentrate on the Nations Cup before preparing your team for the next World Cup. The game features all the players from over 50 countries, which is pretty good, although unless you play England, you're going to have to spend ages entering player details in. For some reason, a lot of people seemed to like this game. I don't; it's text only, for a start, and the match highlights go on for as long as ten minutes while a running commentary appears on the screen – not exciting stuff at all.

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Anyone who has ever been to London (or any other city in England, for that matter) will know how bad the traffic jams can be. You've been appointed the head traffic controller, and have to change the traffic lights manually so that the traffic flows smoothly. Inevitably, queues of cars build up and go off the screen, and if they become too large, the game ends. What is a novel concept for a game gives way to frustration after about a quarter of an hour. The graphics are awful with the cars represented as boxes, the sound effects are equally bad, and the game quickly becomes very monotonous.

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A colourful and exciting game in which you control a bouncing football and have to reach the other end of a course which is made up of coloured tiles – and lots of chasms, which of course you mustn't fall into. The tiles affect the ball in different ways depending on their colour. The course scrolls towards you so fast that you barely have time to look ahead, so remembering the layout of all fourteen courses is vital if you want to complete them. Fortunately, there's a practice mode which gives you lots of time to complete each course. The graphics are excellent and the scrolling is really fast and smooth, and the music only adds to the thrill and the tension – it's great stuff.

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An expedition of robots went to explore the planet Magellanx. Unfortunately, they left little Trakers behind, and now he's got to find 10,000 credits to get back to Earth. As soon as you play it, you'll realise that the game is based on the Dizzy series, where objects can be collected and used to solve puzzles. However, there are also lots of creatures to avoid, and some of them are far too tricky. The graphics are nice and cute and the sound effects are OK, but you'll be very frustrated at how quickly you lose your nine lives.

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