DEFINING GAMES

AVENGER

PUBLISHER COMMODORE

DEVELOPER UNKNOWN

HIGHEST SCORE 4/5 (COMMODORE USER)

■ Back in the Seventies and early Eighties, the first year of any new machine’s life was usually dependent on first-party software. Commodore had a track record of producing decent arcade conversions for the VIC-20 and having a solid Space Invaders clone still mattered in 1982. Which this was.

DEADLINE

PUBLISHER INFOCOM

DEVELOPER MARC BLANK

HIGHEST SCORE 93% (ZZAP!64)

■ Though largely a forgotten genre today, it’s hard to underestimate how important text adventures were to early home computing. Infocom produced some marvellous titles for the C64, including this intriguing murder mystery, which pioneered the inclusion of physical clues in the game box.

FORT APOCALYPSE

PUBLISHER SYNAPSE SOFTWARE

DEVELOPER JOE VIERRA

HIGHEST SCORE 5/5 (HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY)

■ Choplifter was great but we prefer our helicopter action to be claustrophobic and brutal. Entering the underground base and tackling its many obstacles and enemies was a supremely tense experience, requiring patience and forethought as well as firepower.

AXIS ASSASSIN

PUBLISHER: ELECTRONIC ARTS

DEVELOPER: JOHN FIELD

HIGHEST SCORE 70% (ZZAP!64)

■ The missing link between Tempest and Beamrider, this web-based shooter has you blasting creepy crawlies, clearing out the cobwebs and taking on the big mother spider across a series of increasingly challenging levels. Kudos if you can beat the invisible webs.

NIGHT MISSION PINBALL

PUBLISHER: SUBLOGIC

DEVELOPER: BRUCE A ARTWICK

HIGHEST SCORE 83% (TILT)

■ Videogame versions of pinball had been around for many years, but this cleverly designed table was a considerable step forward, offering believable ball physics, a tilt mechanic and the option to tweak various aspects of the