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Hijack is a novel new game that Electric Dreams describe as a 'combination of arcade, strategy and simulation'. In the game you play the part of the Head of the Pentagon's new Hijack Division. As the game begins you are faced with the problem of a group of terrorists who have hijacked a vehicle and its passengers, and it's up to you to coordinate the Pentagon Staff and deal with this crisis in whatever way you can.

You control an animated figure whom you can direct to move from room to room within the Pentagon, and as you move around you will encounter members of staff (most of whom will obey your instructions) and attempt to locate information that will help you deal with this crisis.

There are two main parts to the game. At first, whilst still based in the Pentagon, you have to amass either enough money, political, or military power to enable you to enter negotiations with the terrorists. Once you have convinced the President himself that you are in a strong enough position he will then send you off to the scene of the crime to tackle the terrorists.

Most of the screen display is given over to a representation of the current location, and of your figure's position in that room. As you walk across the room, any potentially useful items that you come across are highlighted in a small box at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and these can be examined or picked up and held for later use. Held objects are displayed in a second box on the bottom right-hand.

Along the top of the screen display is a row of faces representing the key members of staff that you will have to deal with, and whenever one of them enters the room that you are in a walking figure will be seen in the room and the appropriate face will light up, indicating the identity of that person. These personnel are a number of Political, Military and Financial advisors and their assistants, and there are also agents of the CIA and FBI who can be used to dig up information on the terrorists, and on possible security risks within the Pentagon itself.

For each member of staff you are able to 'pull down' a menu containing the different orders that you might want to give him/her. For instance, you could order the Military Advisor to go straight to the scene of the Hijack, or to stay in the Pentagon and try and find a solution through the intelligence network. You could even fire him if you want, though obviously he won't be any help to you if you do this (then again, if he turns out to be a security risk you're better off without him).

This is where the strategy element comes in. Each command that you can give will have different sets of results and consequences, and you've got to judge how best to balance these results in order to achieve the bargaining power that you'll need. This isn't always easy, since boosting your financial power could affect your military or political strength - for instance, getting your financial advisor to rush off and raise money from some of your political supporters can put a strain on their loyalty and weaken their support.

On top of all this, there's the President who is unduly concerned about his image and won't give you the help you need unless you mastermind his (expensive) PR campaign. The number of characters that you have to deal with, along with the problems of balancing all the military, political and financial factors make Hijack quite a challenge for those who enjoyed the old management simulations that had their day a couple of years ago, and of which this is a more modern derivative. The animation and window-menu system bring it up to date and increase the playability of the game, making it more visually attractive.

I doubt whether the arcade aspects of the game are strong enough to appeal to fans of death-dealing shoot-'em-ups, but for those who enjoy a challenge to their strategic abilities rather than their joystick, Hijack should provide something to sharpen your wits on.