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As usual, the unthinkable has happened. Yet again an embassy has been seized. Once more, hostages are involved, and guess who is in charge of the team of anti-terrorist agents sent to recue the poor souls incarcerated behind that fine old Georgian facade? Yep, you got the job. £2.50 an hour, start on Monday.

Your team of six - a Direct Intervention Combat Team - has three jobs to do. Firstly, three of them must deploy as snipers around the embassy. A map can be called up which displays the position of each man, and where he should be. The terrorists continually sweep the surrounding buildings with spotlights, and you must keep your men out of the glare as they creep - or forward-roll - their way along. If they are spotted whilst getting to their positions, the rascals inside open fire and your man must move fast. If he doesn't, he's dead.

Once your team (or the survivors) have reached their hides and primed their rifles, part two of the rescue operation can commence. Your men fix their sights on the windows of the embassy. Occasionally, the silhouettes of the terrorists appear. You must loose off a round, ideally at the silhouette's head. For the most part, though, you play a waiting game, searching from window to window with your 'scope. Time is ticking by, as a clock on screen indicates, so don't spend too long blasting out windows. However, the more undesirables you eliminate through the windows now, the fewer you'll have do deal with later on.

The third phase of the siege is the assault. A helicopter lands three more DICT men on the roof of the embassy. One by one they must abseil down the side until they reach a window. They then bounce on it until it breaks and tumble inside. The view changes to a 3D perspective, with the DICT man able to look and move in the compass-point directions. A cunning game of hide-and-seek has begun. Your man has only his line of sight to help him survive. Oh, he also has a map of the floor he is on, with the positions of any other souls pin-pointed on it. You must then creep up on them, bursting in through the door and firing rapidly and accurately to liquidate them. You have an automatic weapon with; limitless ammo, so spraying is often the best way to clear the rooms.

To add to the excitement, the terrorists move round the embassy at will, and react to the sound of your gunfire. They hide behind the doors of the rooms you are clearing, thus forcing you to spin round 180 degrees after bursting in. This can take valuable milliseconds, and the terrorists might be able to snap off a shot at you.

The reaction speed of the terrorists is dependant upon the level you set at the beginning of the game. On the easiest level, the ruthless subversives dither around, giving you time to pump several hundred rounds into them. On higher levels, they are faster than Clint Eastwood. The hostages also feature on the higher levels, and those sneaky terrorist types often hide behind them. A careful aim is needed to avoid hitting the innocent guys.

To succeed, you must eliminate all the terrorists and group together all the hostages on the third floor. If you killed any during the fire-fight, you haven't succeeded 100%. Tough, but life goes on.

Whether the ethics of Hostages are acceptable is up to the individual, but Infogrames has produced a varied game with good graphics. The gameplay is limited in both the deploying of the marksmen and their subsequent sniping, but the third section inside the embassy is nicely done and addictive. It is very satisfying to suddenly face two armed terrorists on the stairs, and to gun both down before they can react.

Sound is rudimentary but effective; it's the graphics that are the strong point. Ultimately the game rests on the embassy assault section. It's the sort of game you will return to with a vengeance after the twentieth showing of Who Dares Wins (the film), but you'll need a rest between embassy-storming sessions.

First Day Target Score

Rescue two hostages.

The Verdict

Graphics 82%
P. Slick, workable views.
P. The embassy is nicely furnished!

Sonics 68%
P. Tense little tune fits in well.
P. Ah! The sound of gunfire!

Grab Factor 60%
N. First two stages soon get tedious.

Staying Power 74%
P. Last stage is a real challenge.
N. One eventually tires of the killing.

Overall 76%
Now the SAS can be fun too!

James Leach