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The background to Hostages is basic stuff. Some naughty terrorists have invaded an embassy and taken some hostages. As head of the anti-tactics annihilation squad, it is part of your mission to rescue them, but your main aim is to do a lot of destroying and killing.

The game is split over three levels. On the first you guide three men to different sniper positions in buildings opposite the embassy. This entails running along the pavement ducking and diving to avoid the beam of a searching spotlight. If it falls across your main he may briefly hear the crack of a rifle before discovering that he can' t hear anything else.

Niggle one: if I see him sprawl across the pavement it is clear that he's dead, and a long message to inform me of such is really tedious. Apart from that and the occasionally slow keyboard response, level one passes without fault.

Once in position, the snipers can shoot out all the windows in the embassy, and if a terrorist is in view shoot him at the same time - too bad if a hostage gets in the way. Stupid fool, I say. Extra men are airlifted onto the roof and then, with the protection of the marksmen, begin to abseil down the side of the building to swing through the windows.

Level two if my favourite, because a fair amount of skill is necessary to get all three men inside the building. Once inside, it's a case of shoot anything that moves.

Level three is okay apart from the very annoying keyboard response. Trying to manoeuvre round the maze of corridors with armed psychos lurking round every corner is tricky enough without the quarter second delay in rotating through 90 degrees.

I like the way the game is structured. Apart from there being three sub-games you must complete them all three times with increasing difficulty, thus catering for mixed ability players.

The graphics in Hostages are certainly adequate, though the sound is a bit hollow. But I found it enjoyable and addictive, and though it isn't as fantastic as the screenshots may suggest, I would buy it.

Sam Greenhill