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Mission Elevator is one of the first games to come out of the thriving German Amstrad market, and it shows that they may well emulate the French with a similar software invasion. This isn't terribly original in concept but it's well implemented, looks good and features some testing gameplay.

The game takes place in a hotel in which a bomb has been planted on the 62nd floor. The aim is to get to the bomb by using the many elevators in the building, and then to defuse it. Naturally things are a good deal more complicated than that, and there are plenty of obstacles in your path.

The agent you control is called Trevor, and m order to defuse the bomb he needs to find 16 codes hidden in the building. The building itself is split into groups of eight floors, each group containing two keys and two codes. The first key is to be found at a reception desk, and allows you to open the hotel rooms in that group of floors. In one of these rooms is a porter with the key that takes Trev past an emergency door into the next group of eight floors.

Three floors are shown on screen at a time and each is only one screen wide, but all are packed with furniture and objects. Everything can be searched to find the pieces of code, which have to be remembered in the right order for use later when defusing the bomb. Popping out from the lifts and from behind curtains are the bad guys, who are your mam problem. They come after you and will shoot, costing you a life. You can jump or duck bullets, but the baddies can duck and shoot as well so you need to stay constantly alert. Trev can shoot back and kill, but they keep coming however many he wastes.

Opening hotel room doors can prove hazardous, as usually you won't find the porter but instead a bad guy who you'll have to shoot before he shoots you. This reflex action at a door cam prove unfortunate because sometimes a lady in a nightdress answers, and if you press the fire button all her clothes fall off and you lose 100 points. This last bit of rather tacky, sexist rubbish obviously must have amused the programmers because it serves no other purpose.

As you explore the hotel you discover various special features that can help or hinder your quest. Examining an armchair pauses the game while Trev sits down for a rest; while examining a small table gives you the chance to gamble on a dice roll that could enhance your financial position. Other nice features include a bar from which you can buy drinks in return for information from the barman, but causing you some problems with control; mains sockets that can prove very hazardous; fire extinguishers that put the lights out, and pot plants that put them back on.

If it weren't for the special features this would be a fairly ordinary game in which a lot of time is spent running, searching and shooting. However these features do give it that extra something and combine with the tough gameplay to make a good game. The graphics are colourful and detailed, although the scrolling between sections of three floors is jerky. A good effort from Germany with hopefully even better to come.

It's always nice to see the Amstrad market in Europe feeding software back into the UK, even if it isn't all exactly to the standard of Get Dexter. This German lift-'em-up (sorry!) has the fresh and unusual approach of recent French games, with nice touches galore. All that shooting, ducking and jumping can get a bit tiresome, but at least it's different.

Initially, I loved this game, and wasted several nights trying to get to floor 20; but interest waned when I realised that all the floors were basically the same - there's just an awful lot of them. Good graphics, good action and some nice touches - but is that really enough?

P. 62 floors is a lot to get through.
P. Colourful and detailed graphics.
P. Tough gameplay so you can't afford to relax.
P. Good features such as the bar, chairs and fire extinguishers.

N. Becomes repetitive.
N. Controls are a little awkward for searching.

Most of the time it's fine in green. Putting out the lights will cause visibility problems, but then it is supposed to.