A difficult one to genre, this is one of Dizzy's "Arcade" games. This time, he's floating slowly down a river in a barrel. On his way, he will have to navigate rocks and avoid crocodiles, mosquitoes, and orc-like things. Collision with one will sap his energy and ultimately kill him. For protection, he is armed with a refillable supply of apples, which can be thrown at the nasties. As they take more than one apple to kill, this is a pain. And, being in a floating barrel, the controls are very sluggish.

Originally designed as a "bonus" Dizzy adventure to appear in a compilation pack, this is the smallest one of the lot. The princess has been captured, and the land is in a general state of messed up. Dizzy must play the part of the prince, solving puzzles with a fantasy bent. He must also collect all of the hidden cherries for Daisy to make into a pie. The puzzles were so intelligently simple that the game proved quite popular, much more so than the main attraction Spellbound Dizzy, and the game was eventually released standalone.

One day... No. Donkey Kong and Diddy... Hrm. Look, I can't really do the storyline bit to this, because it's so silly and pointless. The gist is that the Kongs want to become famous musicians and make enough money to buy lots of bananas. There.

So, on to the game proper. It's a rhythm game in which you have to hit the right notes at the right time to a variety of localised songs ranging from The Loco-Motion to Louie Louie to the Turkish March, plus a couple of Nintendo classics such as the Donkey Kong Country theme. Notes come scrolling across the screen to DK on the left, and hitting them fills up the Clear Bar. Fail to fill it by the end of the song, and you fail. Up to four players can join in, each playing different parts in an attempt to jam along together. The hook? Bongo controllers. Each note is either the left or right drum, both together, or a clap picked up via the built-in microphone.

A minor altercation with a superior officer has resulted in you being sent to Mars to work for the Union Aerospace Corporation. On the face of it, the UAC bases on the moons of Mars are merely radioactive waste disposal sites, but behind the scenes they have been working on top-secret experiments for the military. They have been working on inter-dimensional space travel between Phobos and Deimos, and they were moderately successful -- until they tried transporting humans. Those that made it came back insane, stricken with a homicidal terror that eventually resulted in death. It got worse. Monsters from another dimension started pouring out of the gate, and finally, Deimos simply disappeared.

And now, with your comrades dead or crazed, it is up to you to find out what happened. Three episodes of around eight levels each take your marine through Phobos, Deimos and Hell itself, rendered in texture-mapped first-person and populated with scores of hellspawn and mutated soldiers. Judicious use of shotguns and other heavy weaponry will help you wade through the dark corridors and dungeons of the corrupt bases, taking in the sights and sounds of tortured souls and unlocking doors with coloured keys.

A compliation pack for the serious collector, housing Ultimate Doom, Doom II and Final Doom in one box.

Earth. You're finally back home, after the (literal) Hell you faced on Mars. But something is wrong; your landing zone is a wreck and the sounds of terror fill your ears. Catching sight of a zombified human, you realise what has happened. Hell has followed you back to Earth, and it has taken over. The few surviving humans have formed a plan to leave the planet, but the evil horde are blocking the only spaceport.

Once again, it is all up to you. 30 levels of first-person action in festering, mazey corridors populated by hellspawn and heavy weaponry. The violence is further accentuated by the blood and gore that coats the planet after Hell's attack. The Doom formula is largely unchanged: run amok with high-calibre weaponry, gunning down and blowing up the screaming demons that get in your way, utilising power-ups to help you get between coloured key and locked door. Apart from slight modifications to the engine, the sequel brings with it a few new enemies and a tasty double-barreled shotgun.

Working on the principle of "little and often," DKBT:HOIYB is a collection of short mental tests designed to be played for a few minutes each day. Challenges include quick mental arithmetic, memorising words, and keeping count of moving objects. Results are recorded and graphed, and used to gauge the age of your brain. Also included is a (very good) collection of Sudoku puzzles to help fire up the grey matter.

The world is a tranquil fantasy land of harmony and love-- well, above ground, it is. The world beneath the surface is a land of evil, inhabited by hellish creatures and watched over by malicious overlords. Of which you are one.

Dungeon Keeper gives you the chance to play the bad guy, taking up the role as the keeper of an underworld lair. Beginning with only your Dungeon Heart and a handful of imps, you must dig out a network of tunnels and rooms to create a thriving dungeon. Your rooms will attract minions to do your bidding: studious warlocks will be enticed by libraries and will research new spells, manufacturers drawn to workshops, and leather-clad Mistresses excited by torture chambers. With the creatures housed, fed, trained and paid regularly, they can do battle with rival keepers or the goody-goody heroes sent from above. A creature can even be directly possessed by yourself, and the game switches to a first person view to give you full control. Enough evil influence will attract the Lord of the Realm, and his death will claim the land in the good name of bad.

The guardians of the kingdom of Harmonia have grown wise to your exploits in the original Dungeon Keeper, and have sealed off the underworld with a magical portal gem. The gem was shattered and distributed across the land to ensure that no keeper could ever restore it. Each piece of the gem is guarded by one of the Heroes of the Realm, with the final piece in possession of King Reginald the Just himself.

Dungeon Keeper 2 is much the same as the original, with each single player mission being to build a dungeon and kill the hero. The dungeon is still viewed from a rotatable overhead perspective, or first-person camera when possessing creatures, but are much improved. New rooms include the Guard Room, which can be patrolled by your minions, the Combat Pit, where creatures and prisoners can be forced to do battle, and the Casino, to increase morale and recoup money. Your dungeon can also accomodate the new Dark Elf archers and the fearsome Dark Angels.