In its own quiet way, Alternative has been doing some good things for us - not least by ensuring that the Beeb name still appears on racks of budget tapes in software shops and garage forecourts nationwide. The resulting releases may not always have been of the highest quality (okay, at times not even of quality) but at least the company has kept the faith.
And now we have a ten game compilation - what could be better? Well, probably some better games. Not to put too fine a point on it, most of these are real stinkers.
Take Day At The Races, for example - please! What sounds like a bundle of fun - you can almost imagine running the Grand National for real on your micro - turns out to be a kind of magazine listing in which blobs (=horses) move at random across the screen (=skillful handling). In fact, the only good thing you can say about the game is that you still have nine more to try before you really regret spending money for the compilation.
Of the rest, some are acceptable, or more than acceptable in the case of the excellent pinball simulation Microball, but all too often the magazine listing genesis lets the games down, the unexpected 'two player games' remain unplayed and the lack of any real gameplay or excitement resign the games to the back of a drawer.
That's a pity, because the ten game compilation is excellent value - it's just a disappointing selection of games, that's all. Still, if you're starved of software you might get the compilation's back in low-key excitement.
1st July 1989
