40 Games for PCjr [Appeared in the June 1984 issue of "Computer Games"] Astrochase: In this first-rate shoot-'em-up-in-space, you can fly in one direction and fire your lasers in another to defend earth. Brilliant graphics, great animation. (First Star) Baseball: An all-new game designed specifically for the PCjr, Baseball features an aerial view when the ball is pitched and hit. It's a two-player game with full control over your individual team members. (Imagic) Boulder Dash: Dig your way through 16 action-packed caves in your search for treasure. Colorful scrolling screens and an intermission game make this a real contender. (First Star) Bristles: Our April "Game of the Month," Bristles offers arcade-type fun as you paint the rooms of eight houses--despite Brenda the Brat, bucket-chuckers and other obstacles. Music from the Nutcracker Suite makes this lively entertainment. (First Star) Bruce Lee: As the mighty kung-fu fighter, you must defeat the deadly Ninja and other enemies as you break into the Evil Wizard's fortress to ransack his fortune. Strategy as well as reflexes are necessary for victory. (Datasoft) Buck Rogers: A translation of the intense arcade shoot-'em-up. You pilot a ship as it zooms forward on a pylon-filled landscape. Stay within the pylons and kill the weird creatures that are buzzing around you. (Sega) Congo Bongo: Another arcade translation--Zaxxon meets Donkey Kong and Jungle King. Climb this three-dimensional cliff and avoid the rocks, monkeys, and crocodiles to humiliate a gorilla. (Sega) Crossfire : This shoot-'em-up takes place inside a maze that represents an aerial view of a city under alien attack. Mile-a-minute action's the reason it won our Golden Joystick Award as "Best Action Game of 1982." (Sierra On-line) Deadline: If you haven't heard of this one, you must be dead. It's an all-text adventure in which you play the role of detective to solve a murder. (Infocom) Demon Attack: Space Invaders to the max. Wave after wave of swooping aliens want nothing more than to drop something vile on you. In each round they are slightly different. (Imagic) Drelbs: No lasers here. Your Drelb builds up glowing squares, while the enemy tries to knock them down. If you're looking for something of the ordinary, give this one a shot. (Synapse) Enchanter: The first of a triIogy that's like a magical version of Zork. Explore an evil magician's castle, learn to use your spells and rid the land of black magic. All-text, all-fun. (Infocom) Facemaker: Kids from 3-8 will enjoy creating faces on the screen by selecting different features and moving them onto a blank face. Great for introducing youngsters things like menus, cursors and the keyboard. (Spinnaker) Flip & Flop: As in Q*Bert, you've got to jump on each block to move to the next round. But you've got to play that round upside-down! Gorgeous graphics and cute characters. (First Star) Football: Another new sports game, Faotball lets you act as coach and pick the play, then execute it as a player. Can be played against the computer or head-to-head. (Imagic) Genesis: A hi-res shoot-'em-up that has you playing the part of a deadly scorpion who's fighting it out with hordes of venomous spiders. (Datasoft) In The Chips: Be the boss of a Silicon Valley software firm, and learn how to run a real business while winning the game by wiping out the competition in this entertaining and educational simulation. (Creative) Infidel: An all-text adventure, Infidel drops you off in the desert to find and explore a mysterious pyramid of a lost Queen of the Nile. (Infocom) Jawbreaker: A maze game with moving walls. You're a set of teeth, devouring different kinds of candy. Sounds like kid stuff, but real strategy is required. (Sierra On-line) Juno First: An arcade classic that can be played by one or two. Lasers, aliens, and a space ship you can fly through time and space. (Datasoft) Lost Tomb: An adaptation of the arcade game, this animated adventure takes place in an ancient Egyptian tomb that's teaming with deadly mummies and other dangers. There are 91 chambers in the maze. (Datasoft) Math Maze: Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division become fun when worked into a maze game scenario. Nice animation and sound effect, and you can create your own mazes. (Designware) Microsurgeon: The screen is the inside of a human body, and you've got to kill cancers and save blood cells so the patient will get well. It's just like Fantastic Voyage, but without Raquel Welch. (Imagic) Mr. Cool: Like Q*Bert, Mr. Cool has to hop around changing the color of the "plates" he lands on. Similar pyramid, but the enemy flies past horizontally instead of chasing you. (Sierra On-line) Nibbler: Fast-moving action maze along the lines of Lady Bug, but as each second ticks away, the body of your snake gets longer. A translation of the little-known arcade game. (Datasoft) Oil's Well: A unique maze-type game in which you drill for oil with a long pipe that stretches to the bottom of the screen. As much fun and as addictive as Pac-Man. (Sierra) Picnic Paranoia: Swat the ants, spiders and wasps before they make off with your picnic. Sharp graphics and animation, five skill levels and solitaire/two-player versions make this a real value. (Synapse) Pipes : Arlo the plumber has to connect pipes from the water supply to a number of houses, but only has so much money to buy supplles. Animated action teaches skills involving relative distance and economics. (Creative) Planetfall: A laugh-a-minute robot named Floyd follows you everywhere in this all-text sci-fi adventure. If you've never played an Infocom game, Planetfall's the best introduction to their mini-universes--challenging and fun, but not as difficult and as the others. (Infocom) Puzzlemania: Logic, concentration, powers of observation, sound recognition and trial and error all play a part in solving the 50 video puzzles that make up this game. At the higher levels, you even have to figure out what the problems are. (Epyx) Save New York: Fly through NYC's skies to shoot down the alien spiders, then guide your little character underground so he can blast them in the subway tunnels--if he doesn't get run down by a train! (Creative) Seastalker: An all-text adventure designed for 8-13 year-olds, Seastalker puts you in charge of a mini-sub and challenges you to rescue an underwater research lab from denizens of the deep. (Infocom) Shamus: This incredibly fast-paced and frenetic shoot-'em-up-in-a-maze game won our "Golden Joystick" award as Best Computer Game of 1982. Spellakazam: Over 400 words from the widely used Silver Burdett spelling program are incorporated into an animated scenario for grades 2-8. It allows you to make up your own word lists. (Designware) Starcross: Explore an alien spaceship that's full of strange life forms from around the universe, then repair the ship before they--and you--die. (Infocom) Star Trek: An authentic conversion of the arcade game. Split-screens show long-range and close-up views of the Enterprise battling Klingon ships. (Sega) Suspended: The only all-text adventure in which you control the actions of a band of robots, manipulating them to put your underground cryogenic bunker back together before it's too late. (Infocom) Ultima II: An animated action-adventure full of strange characters and mythical beasts who seek to thwart your quest. (Sierra On-line) Witness: Set in 1938 Los Angeles,this Raymond Chandler-esque mystery defies you to solve a murder that takes place while you're talking to the victim. All-text, and not as difficult as Deadline. (Infocom) Zork I, II, III: The classic all-text adventure game, this trilogy is set in the subterranean world of Zork, inhabited by trolls, magicians and other fantastic creatures who make life tough as you attempt to collect various treasuures. (Infocom) [Scanned and edited by Dennis Brown, dgbrown (at) pixesthesia (dot) com]