10 Great Games II/Gremlin (YS30, 9)    Best value compilation for yonks - with four megagames to boot! 19 - Boot Camp/Cascade (YS33, 7)    Well-hyped package that has its moments but lacks sparkle. At least you can switch off the music! 4 Soccer Simulators/Codemasters (YS38, 8)    Surprisingly adept footie sim from budgie house gone legit, with loads of variations and user friendly gameplay. A Question Of Scruples/Leisure Genius (YS25, 8)    Well thought-out conversion of YS's favourite board game of recent years. But do we really need it? AMC/Dinamic (YS55, 75)    Pretty, well programmed but desperately uninnovative Dinamic shoot-'em-up. Advanced Pinball Simulator/Codemasters (YS37, 7) Agent Orange/A'n'F (YS15, 7) Aliens/Electric Dreams (YS14, 9) Ancient Battles: Encyclopedia Of War/CCS (YS39, 9)    An excellent package: good game with added bonus of 'design your own battle' mode. Anfractuos/Players (YS17, 7) Arkanoid/Imagine (YS17, 9) Arkanoid II - Revenge Of Doh/Imagine (YS28, 9)    Immensely impressive and chronically addictive sequel that takes the Arkanoid format into previously uncharted areas of excellence. A classic. Artura/Gremlin (YS36, 6)    Very mediocre 'arcade/adventure' with no adventure to speak of and arcade features you've seen too many times before. Athena/Imagine (YS22, 9)    Cracking conversion of the coin-op from SNK - and it'll keep even the hardiest gamer battling for months! Auf Wiedersehen Monty/Gremlin (YS18, 9) Barbarian/Melbourne House (YS35, 7)    Fairly easy slash 'em up based on the 16-bit hit, and nowt to do with Maria Whittaker! More addictive than it looks, too. Barbarian II/Palace (YS37, 6)    Slobbery follow-up to everybody's fave slash 'n' drool game of '87. Fab poster, but the game's not up to much. Basil The Great Mouse Detective/Gremlin (YS25, 6)    Disappointing platformy runaround that pales beside Gremlin's own thoroughly skillo Jack The Nipper II. Batman: The Caped Crusader/Ocean (YS37, 9) Battleships/Elite (YS22, 9) Bionic Commando/Go! (YS31, 9)    Excellent conversion of the Capcom Coin-op (alliteration or what?), which out-Karnovs even Karnov. Colourful, fast, fab. Bob's Full House/TV Games (YS45, 80)    Surprisingly entertaining and challenging computer version of the TV quiz show. Not perhaps a long laster, but great fun in multi-player mode. Bobby Yazz Show/Destiny (YS35, 8)    Chortle-a-minute puzzle game with some neat touches and a very professional execution. Destiny's best game so far. Boulderdash/Prism (YS22, 8) Boulderdash II/Prism (YS22, 8) Boxing Manager II/D&H (YS52, 65)    Hardly the most accurate management sim, but with enough atmosphere and playability to keep you happy. Core/BugByte (YS22, 7) Crystal Castles/Kixx (YS48, 90) Cybernoid II/Hewson (YS36, 9)    Lovingly fashioned follow-up to classic shoot 'em up. If all games were this good, I'd be very surprised. DNA Warrior/Aartronic (YS41, 41)    Shoot 'em up with neat storyline sabotaged by relentlessly dreary and unoriginal gameplay. Simply not a full-price product. Deflektor/Gremlin (YS25, 9)    That rarest of specimens - an original game that's also chronically addictive. An instant classic, methinks. Dizzy Dice/Players (YS16, 7) Double Take/Ocean (YS15, 8) Eddie Kidd's Jump Challenge/Ricochet (YS22, 4) Emlyn Hughes International Soccer/Audiogenic (YS40, 5)    Well implemented (control systems aside) but ultimately derivative football game combining action and strategy to little effect. Enduro Racer/Activision (YS16, 9) Enduro Racer/Hit Squad (YS48, 86) Fists 'n' Throttles/Elite (YS38, 8)    Not bad compilation of recent hits with one real spanker - Enduro Racer - that's worth a tenner of anyone's money! Football Director/D&H (YS23, 8)    A definite Match Of The Day for football fans. Low on action, but high on strategy. You'll be over the moon with this one! Football Manager II/Addictive (YS33, 8)    Fine sequel to the hoary old classic with a relatively simple structure, but no less playable for that. Addictive? You betcha. Footballer Of The Year II/Gremlin (YS50, 88)    Hugely improved rejig of the first Footballer Of The Year. Don't expect the depth of strategy of, say, Football Director, but do expect to play and play and play... Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer/Gremlin (YS26, 6)    In the Footballer Of The Year mould, but not really original or playable enough for most footie sim fans. Geoff Capes Strongman/Ricochet (YS22, 6) Gilbert: Escape From Drill/Again Again (YS46, 78)    Gilbert hits the Speccy with a suitably snot-packed epic which will keep all but the most hardened gamesters satisfied. "Interesting... VERY interesting!" Grand Prix/D&H (YS52, 85)    A tad primitive to look at of course, but the management stuff is spot-on. Worth your readies. Gregory Loses His Clock/Mastertronic (YS50, 93) Gun Runner/Hewson (YS18, 8) Head Over Heels/Ocean (YS18, 9) Head Over Heels/Hit Squad (YS56, 98) Hydrofool/FTL (YS20, 8)    Watery frolics with Sweevo that'll delight anyone who enjoyed the original. But underneath it's not that much different. Hyperbowl/Mastertronic (YS15, 7) Impossaball/Hewson (YS15, 9) Indoor Sports/Advance (YS18, 8) Into The Eagle's Nest/Pandora (YS17, 9) Jack The Nipper/Kixx (YS45, 82) Jack The Nipper II - Coconut Capers/Gremlin (YS24, 9)    Nippy little number that'll give plattie fans heavy jungle fever. You'd have to be coconuts not to like it! Krakout/Gremlin (YS18, 7) Leaderboard/US Gold (YS16, 9) Leaderboard Tournament/US Gold (YS20, 8)    Lethally hard follow-up for Leader Board addicts. Beginners beware, but Speccy Severianos should love it. Legend Of Kage/Imagine (YS14, 7) Licence To Kill/Domark (YS45, 79)    Surprisingly playable and addictive Bond tie-in with six separate gamelets, all in a Vindicatorish shoot 'em up mould. Hopelessly unoriginal, of course, but neatly put together. Living Daylights, The/Domark (YS21, 6)    You're unlikely to be shaken or stirred by this bit of Bondage - even Roger Moore would raise an eyebrow! Match Day II/Ocean (YS26, 9)    Spectacularly clever and playable sequel to Match Day that's sure to have the same lasting impact on Speccy gaming. Megabucks/Firebird (YS15, 8) Mercenary - The Second City/Novagen (YS34, 8)    Excellent extension to Mercenary which will keep fans going for yonks. Now where's Damocles, eh, Novagen? Mercenary/Novagen (YS23, 9) Monty On The Run/Kixx (YS48, 81) Motorbike Madness/Mastertronic (YS38, 8) Nick Faldo Plays The Open/BugByte (YS22, 6) Nihilist/Electric Dreams (YS25, 7)    Well implemented arcade adventure (with distinctly zappy elements) in the style of Paradroid and virtually everything else! Pacland/Grandslam (YS41, 58)    Dull (and very late) sequel to Pacman which turns that brilliant original into just another chase and grab game. Good conversion of a bad game. Power Pyramids/Grandslam (YS37, 7)    Bouncy platform game with problem solving to the fore. Doesn't look up to much, but curiously addictive and challenging. Professional Soccer/CRL (YS40, 8)    Football Director gone legit - a game that'll appeal to the growing ranks of 'dry' footie sim fans. Rana Rama/Hewson (YS16, 9) Rasterscan/Mastertronic (YS18, 8) Rentakill Rita/Mastertronic (YS26, 8)    Chronically derivative but highly enjoyable Head Over Heels clone that'll keep addicts happy for many a long night. Repton Mania/Superior (YS42, 88)    Two games in one: one a serviceable Boulderdash clone (with giant sprites), the other a quantum leap ahead, the best multi-screen arcade adventure we've seen for ages.Triffo. River Raid/Firebird (YS22, 4) Robocop/Ocean (YS39, 8)    Playable, efficient but uninspired shooty thing based on everyone's favourite gorefeast. Not really up to the standards of Batman II or Oppy Wolf. Roy Of The Rovers/Gremlin (YS37, 7)    Neat variation on the football game which really captures the atmosphere of the comic strip. Only the actual football bit lets it down! Saint And Greavsie/Grandslam (YS48, 54)    Little attempt to reproduce the banter of our two footie heros. Just questions, questions and more questions. But if that's your cuppa tea... Samurai/CRL (YS14, 7) Sceptre Of Bagdad/Atlantis (YS17, 8) Shadow Skimmer/The Edge (YS16, 8) Six-Pak Vol 2/Hit Pak (YS23, 9) Snoopy/The Edge (YS51, 88)    Excellent rendition of the comic strip, with one or two gameplay glitches but loads of good puzzles. Arcade adventures will lap it up. Sophistry/CRL (YS30, 9)    Brillo multi-screen adventure, that proves that there's still life in the old 3-D dog yet (woof howl). Star Runner/Codemasters (YS18, 8) Super Soccer/Imagine (YS15, 8) Supreme Challenge/Beau Jolly (YS35, 9)    One of the best compilations of recent months, with some of the best games of recent years. If you don't have these - buy buy buy! Survivor/US Gold (YS22, 6) Terra Cresta/Imagine (YS15, 7) Terramex/Grandslam (YS27, 9)    Cracking arcade adventure fresh from the kreative keyboards of Those Who Made Monty. An auspicious start for Grand Slam. Total Eclipse/Incentive (YS37, 9)    Yet another Freescape game from Incentive. These people just seem streets ahead of the competition. Trap/Alligata (YS16, 8) Trivial Pursuit - Young Players Edition/Domark (YS14, 7) Trivial Pursuit Baby Boomer Edition/Domark (YS18, 6) Vindicators/Domark (YS42, 38)    Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear. In fact let's make that six. Oh dear. Wolfan/Bulldog (YS21, 8)    Entertaining and user-friendly Fairlight clone that should keep the wolf from Bulldog's door. World Games/US Gold (YS17, 9) Xevious/US Gold (YS14, 8) Yes Prime Minister/Mosaic (YS24, 9)    Addictive and faithful translation of Dr B's favourite sitcom to the Speccy. Now who's going to do Black Adder...? Zenji/Firebird (YS22, 3) Zub/Mastertronic (YS14, 7) What Will You Be Playing This Christmas? (YS21)     Sega? Nintendo? Or a Nissan Cherry? It could be an expensive Christmas this year. Marcus Berkmann compares the games consoles with Amstrad's glistening new Spectrum +3.