Way back in the days before 3D graphics cards were even a twinkle in a hardware developer's eye, there were, strangely enough, some pretty good games around. Games that were squeezed onto one or two floppy disks, and which consumed just a couple of megabytes of hard drive space when installed. How things change... But for those who either yearn for days gone by, or who simply want to sample some intensely playable games for not a great number of beer tokens, Sold Out Software has re-packaged some of those bygone gems. Each one comes with the most recent patches, is supplied with a manual in Adobe Acrobat format (plus a copy of the Acrobat reader, of course), and costs just a fiver.

But what do you get for your cash? Well, as with any budget range, there are one or two titles that should really have been allowed to die. Pizza Tycoon is one that shows its age, as is the flight simulator Falcon 3.0, although both are distracting enough for short periods. But most of the games in this range still play well today. In particular, Beneath A Steel Sky is still fabulously atmospheric, while the puzzles in Lure of the Temptress have also stood the test of time.

But the pick of the bunch for this reviewer is Cannon Fodder (see screenshot), which could perhaps best be described as Lemmings with guns. It's an entertaining little game that has the player controlling a small army of troops against enemy defences in a variety of different terrains. As your soldiers progress from the cannon fodder of the title to a team of (hopefully) elite soldiers, they'll get to play with tanks, bazookas, grenades and helicopters, as well as good old-fashioned rifles. With a simple point-and-click interface, this is an easy game to get into, but rightly became an instant classic first time around.

Verdict
Some of these games are good, some are a little dull and some are quite outstanding. For £5 a throw, you can't really go wrong, especially as most of them date back to a time when playability was more important than appearance.

Company: Sold Out Software

Company: Sold Out Software

Company: Sold Out Software

Company: Sold Out Software

Tags: adobe acrobat pizza tycoon cannon fodder falcon (computer game series) video game games falcon 3.0 browser based