La Secte Noire
(Lankhor, 1990)

Someone from the Black Sect (the English translation of the game's name) has entered the village of Issegeac, killed your grandfather, and stolen a book of spells which belonged to him. Can you retrieve the book and save Issegeac from another curse? This is a text adventure, but like many French text adventures, none of the rooms have descriptions, and you must rely on guessing what objects to perform actions on by looking at the pictures – and many of the responses are unhelpful. How long would it take someone to guess that you must press a branch to reveal a secret passage which doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere in the game? Thankfully, it gets better from that point onwards. Apparently this is regarded as one of Lankhor's classics, but I certainly don't agree.

See also: La Crypte des Maudits.

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This is an original game in which you use a seesaw to catapult bricks into the air, in order to knock out some insects which appear from two turrets of a castle. Erm... just play the game, OK? Another larger insect throws bricks on to the seesaw one at a time, and you must push them into the right position so that the next brick that lands on the seesaw will throw them into the air. You have to be careful that you aren't thrown into the air, and if a brick lands on you, it will hurt! The graphics are colourful, and it's a nice idea for a game, but it's too difficult to complete even the first level.

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You are an adventurer who has learnt of the mysterious treasure of Eldorado, hidden in the temple of Mozteca deep within the jungles of South America. You must travel across marshland, mountains and jungles to reach the temple, fending off attacks by piranhas, eagles and even fire-breathing dragon spirits! Once you've found the entrance, you must explore the heavily guarded temple and locate the treasure. Unfortunately, as with many Spanish games, the graphics are very colourful, but I found it too difficult to make progress. The various enemies you encounter drain your energy too quickly and some of them are seemingly impossible to avoid. To make things worse, if you lose a life, you are usually sent back several screens, which is often very annoying.

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The Sentinel
(Firebird, 1987)

This is one of the classic games, because there is no other game like it. You are placed on an artificial landscape which is guarded by the Sentinel, and you have to reach his position while avoiding his withering gaze as he rotates slowly around his plinth. However, you can't actually move; instead, you have to absorb the trees that are scattered around, and use them to create robots that you then transfer yourself to. You can also create boulders and place the robots on top of them to reach higher ground. Oh, and there are 10000 landscapes to master... This is a truly absorbing (pun intended) game with astonishing graphics, but it takes a lot of time to learn – you'll need a lot of patience and thought to get through it!

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Sepulcri
(Reaktör, 1986)

In 2075, the Strategic Defence Initiative has become reality, and the first satellite is being developed. The designers of the satellite need to test it, however, and they have built a very, very small robot which can explore inside the computer. You control this robot, which has to activate all the switches in the computer. It's an isometric exploration game which should instantly remind you of another, better known game. Most rooms contain hazards such as monsters to avoid, and spikes which you may need to jump over if you want to progress. The graphics are good, although some of the colour schemes are horrible, and the robot moves fast as well. Overall, it's a nice game which will keep fans of isometric games like this one happy.

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This is one of three arcade games starring Seymour, who has become a policeman. He's got an extendable arm which he uses to grab the bad guys and then throw at the nearest wall in order to kill them and grab the bonus that is left behind. On each screen there's a generator that creates the bad guys, and Seymour will need to remove all of them within the time limit to go to the next screen. Getting used to the controls is the most important part, and when you've mastered them, you'll really be able to enjoy the game. It's a simple game but great fun to play, although you only get three lives, and you really need more than that.

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

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Time to burn some rubber on a motorbike as you race against eight other riders. You have to finish each race in a certain place to qualify for the next race; if you don't manage this, you're out. The motorbike is quite powerful, but you're going to need to use some turbo to get past the other competitors, and on longer races, you'll also need to pit to fill up with fuel and to change the tyres. However, it's too easy to crash, and by the time you're back on your bike, you'll be too far behind to gain on them. The graphics are really blocky as well, and don't really give the impression of speed.

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720°
(US Gold, 1988)

Lots of skateboarding here as you attempt to earn medals and raise some money to buy tickets and equipment by showing off your miscellaneous skills at courses scattered throughout Skate City. There's a ramp, a couple of downhill tracks, and a slalom track too. If you don't do well enough, you won't get any more tickets to get into the courses, and the killer bees will come after you (honest)! The game is quite a lot of fun at first as you muck about on all the courses, but I lost interest after some time. And killer bees? Who on Earth decided to put killer bees in a skateboarding game?

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In Sewer Rat you play the role of a very hungry rodent. Thankfully, scattered around each screen are neatly sliced pieces of cheese for you to munch upon. Snakes, grey aliens and other nasties wander around and are deadly if touched. Each level carries a theme that introduces different hazards and obstacles, which improves the gameplay. Visually, everything looks rather drab and dated but this doesn't deter you from having just one more go. Sewer Rat is both addictive and challenging – which goes to prove that great graphics and sound do not make a game.

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Seymour is about to make his big break in a new film, but there is chaos, as the director has gone and left the scripts locked in a safe! Yes, Seymour has to come to the rescue. The game, which was released as Seymour Goes to Hollywood and is more commonly known by that name, features several classic films such as Grease, Flash Boredom, Sherlock Bones and The Wizard of Oz, but to see them (and solve the puzzles within them), you'll have to find the keys to each studio first. The puzzles are entertaining and the graphics are impressive, but two things let this game down – the frustrating maze of studios in which it is easy to get lost, and the size of the game; it's too much to sit through in one go. Amstrad Action also released a mini-game, Seymour: Take One on one of their covertapes, which is worth looking at.

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

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