ACE II/Cascade (YS26, 5)    A dreary two player combat game with very limited potential, at a high flying price. ATF/Digital Integration (YS28, 8)    An interesting hybrid of blast 'em up strategy game masquerading as a flight simulation, with fine and fast graphics. Action Fighter/Firebird (YS47, 62)    Not a particularly good scrolly road game, but sort of alrightish in its own way. Adidas Championship Tie-Break/Ocean (YS59, 79)    A slightly strange but generally enjoyable tennis game (that scrolls). Afterburner/Activision (YS39, 7)    A technically brill conversion that can't quite make up for the original's shallowness. Austerlitz 1805/CCS (YS45, 82)    Dedicated wargamers will lap this one up, and others might do well to try it too. Boulderdash Construction Kit/Databyte (YS26, 8)    At last you can exercise your creative talent on this great game. Buggy Boy/Elite (YS31, 7)    Fast, rough but nothing startlingly new. Don't play it after a heavy meal! Cabal/Ocean (YS47, 93)    A truly maaaaarrvellous coin-op conversion which will be the source of immense pleasure to those with a bloodthirsty streak. A 'must'. Championship Run/Impulze (YS65, 68)    An ordinary (and slightly crap) driving game. Christmas Collection/Hewson (YS47, 93)    One of the best compilations floating around. Requires little in the way of brainpower, but on Boxing Day that's probably just as well. Continental Circus/Virgin (YS47, 60)    A car-racing game that looks broadly similar to every other car-racing game you've ever seen. Crete 1941/CCS (YS63, 79)    Um... a wargame, really. And quite a good one into the bargain. Dark Fusion/Gremlin (YS41, 81)    A superior shoot 'em up in the traditional mould. If you reckon you can handle yet another one, go for it. Devastating Blow/Beyond Belief (YS70, 70)    An ordinary but slick boxing game that's surprisingly good fun to play. Double Dragon/Melbourne House (YS38, 8)    Beat and slash like you've never done it before! And try the game too. It's a cracker! Dream Warrior/US Gold (YS33, 8)    The pros more than make up for the cons, and it's even vaguely original. Good stuff. Dynamic Duo/Firebird (YS40, 7)    A seriously weird but enjoyable clash with the powers of evil (or something). Dynasty Wars/US Gold (YS54, 80)    A brilliant scroller horse-wise, but slightly questionable in the old durability department. Earthlight/Firebird (YS31, 8)    A scroller that's a cut above the rest. Most stimulating, thank you! Echelon/US Gold (YS39, 8)    A brain-blendingly complicated space simulation with plenty of mileage in it. Final Assault/Epyx (YS38, 7)    If assaulting mountains appeals to you, you'll find this one pleasantly playable. Freddy Hardest/Imagine (YS25, 8)    An interesting blend of hack 'em up and arcade adventure, good value too. Fury, The/Martech (YS33, 8)    A nice blend of arcade and strategy, shaken not stirred. Gazza's Super Soccer/Empire (YS51, 64)    A fairly sound footie sim with the dubious benefit of Gazza's seal of approval. Grand Prix Circuit/Accolade (YS58, 73)    A perfectly respectable game. One to get if you like that sort of thing. GryZor/Ocean (YS27, 9)    Nothing new, but this is one coin-op conversion that really works on the Spectrum. Gunship/Microprose (YS25, 9)    The ultimate flight simulator. It'll take a lot of practice, but puts the rest to shame. Hercules: Slayer Of The Damned/Gremlin (YS32, 4)    A Herculean failure with about as much content as an empty bag. Heroes/Domark (YS57, 78)    Four really quite decent 'hero' games in one big box. Ever so slightly pricey, however. Hobgoblin/Atlantis (YS69, 59)    A distinctly tacky walk-along-shooting-things game that's okay(ish) underneath. Hot Rod/Activision (YS54, 55)    A pretty average driving game with a horrible flipping way of doing things. Hunt For Red October, The/Argus (YS28, 7)    Bet you never knew controlling a submarine could be so tricky. Check it out first. IK+/System 3 (YS27, 7)    Yes, it's another karate game, but with slicker programming and presentation it's well up to the standards of '88. Ikari Warriors/Elite (YS29, 8)    Pure, unadulterated destruction, all wrapped up in one hell of a good game. Just watch those pixels fly! Insector Hecti In The Interchange/Hi-Tec (YS69, 70)    An addictive puzzley maze game, in its own little way, with a useless plot. Intensity/Firebird (YS34, 9)    Intensity will have you hooked from the moment you get your finger round the joystick! Invasion Force/CCS (YS51, 77)    Not the most polished of wargames, but certainly flexible. Loads of scenarios give it a long life expectancy, and there are one or two innovative features too. Karate Ace/Star Games (YS34, 7)    Wide ranging in quality, but not in content. Could be interesting. Karnov/Electric Dreams (YS30, 9)    Superb conversion of the coin-op which proves that colour on the Speccy isn't a thing of the past. Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager/Cognito (YS44, 77)    The name says it all really. But generally pretty nifty, with nice graphics. Klax/Domark (YS53, 81)    If coloured blocks sound like your cup of tea, this could be for you (with two sugars). It's really quite good. Knight Force/Titus (YS53, 59)    A bland beat-'em-up with potentially serious technical problems. Lee Enfield Is Space Ace/Infogrames (YS30, 5)    Prohibition revisited - it's all too similar and not a fraction as stylish. Not recommended. Loopz/Audiogenic (YS64, 77)    A pleasantly approachable puzzle game, but nothing more. Match Day/Hit Squad (YS54, 84) Mazemania/Hewson (YS46, 70)    Punchy little maze game, but which might lose appeal due to its repetitive levels. Miami Chase/Codemasters (YS70, 61)    A boring driving/maze game. There's not a lot more you can say about it really. New York Warriors/Virgin (YS59, 62)    An okayish scrolling shooter that loses out by being a bit crap. Night Shift/US Gold (YS65, 89)    Seemingly impenetrable factory game that's actually jolly good indeed. OutRun/US Gold (YS27, 8)    Almost but not quite a brilliant conversion of the totally wonderful arcade machine. Pang/Ocean (YS62, 94)    A trouser-endangeringly addictive puzzley/shooty/cutesy game with lots of bubbles in. Paranoia Complex/Gremlin (YS43, 49)    A limp maze game with little going for it. I'd rather have my wisdom teeth out again. Phantom Club/Ocean (YS25, 6)    Graphically good, but otherwise bo-o-oring. Only superheroes need apply. Pink Panther/Gremlin (YS35, 5)    Original, but a bit of a berm to play if you ask me. Pipe Mania/Empire (YS54, 90)    An ultra-addictive puzzler. Conclusive proof that because a game looks square doesn't mean it is. Professional Footballer/Cult (YS69, 64)    A good footy game that takes the player's point of view. Project Stealth Fighter/Microprose (YS47, 91)    Seriously complicated and packed to the brim. A top dog flight sim and no mistake. Psycho Soldier/Imagine (YS27, 8)    Yet another scrolling shooting job, but so what? It's fun fun fun! (Have you got the scrolls...?) Quattro Power/Codemasters (YS57, 91) Rastan/Imagine (YS30, 9)    Swipe! Sclrupsch! A bit gory, but nonetheless a great game. Just watch out for flying limbs! Rick Dangerous II/MicroStyle (YS59, 90)    More explore-and-collect frolics, but a whole lot better than the original. Rock Star Ate My Hamster/Codemasters (YS42, 35)    Hilariously funny? Well perhaps, but not quite in the way they intended. Please don't make me load it again! Satan/Dinamic (YS58, 77)    Quite a good leaping game. A bit naff in places though. Shinobi/Virgin (YS47, 71)    Takes the scrolling beat-'em-up theme and does absolutely nothing whatsoever with it. A good conversion though. Shoot Out/Martech (YS39, 4)    Bog-standard shooting things with a cursor game. Very, very boring indeed. Sigma 7/Encore (YS47, 75) Silent Service/Kixx (YS81, 79) Skate Wars/Ubisoft (YS57, 69)    Footie on ice, with a fair smattering of violence. Quite good(ish). Spike In Transilvania/Codemasters (YS69, 85)    Another Dizzy-style exploranza, brimming with puzzles and everything else we've come to expect. Star Wars/Domark (YS26, 8)    An excellent conversion of the arcade machine. Darth Vader eat your heart out! Subbuteo/Electronic Zoo (YS59, 81)    A different but enjoyable appraoch to footie, and a funnier old game than most. Super Seymour/Codemasters (YS75, 86)    One you'll keep coming back to again and again (if you can tear yourself away in the first place, that is). TNT/Domark (YS58, 84)    Nothing alarmingly good, but a solid, dependable compilation all the same. Twin World/Ubisoft (YS58, 77)    A straightforward but extremely enjoyable little number which grows on you until it almost bursts. Ultimate Combat Mission/MAD (YS26, 7)    A fairly average scrolling shoot 'em up. Cheap and cheerful. Venom Strikes Back/Gremlin (YS31, 7)    Not a bad little blam 'em up, all things considered, but Exolon's four pee cheaper. Vindicator, The/Imagine (YS35, 8)    It's as original as a single by Kylie Minogue (who?) but I could play it over and over again (the game, not the record). Winter Olympiad '88/Tynesoft (YS26, 6)    Do we really need another of these Winter Olympics games? If your answer's yes, this one's for you. Rage Hard! (YS51)     Just as the SAM Coupe launches itself upon an anticipatory public, heralding a new dawn in Speccy development, so another innovation looks set to make its mark on our playing habits. Jonathan Davies reports on the CodeMasters' new CD Game Pack, a simple little system with encouraging potential. The YS Story (YS93)     YS. It's been here for ten (ten! Ten!) years (give or take a couple of years) and has inspired countless perfectly ordinary people to call themselves 'Spec-chums' and use phrases like 'wagga wagga' and 'or something' in everyday conversation. Ace investigative journalist Jonathan Davies leaves no jokes untold in this in-depth report revealing where YS came from, what happened in it, and whose fault it all was. YS Complete Guide To Driving Games, The (YS59) YS Complete Guide To Film And TV Licences, The (YS60) YS Complete Guide To Flight Sims, The (YS58) YS Complete Guide To Soccer Games, The (YS54)