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Lies, murder, corruption, scandals - it's a wonder nobody ever did a Government simulation before!

Now this one really is unusual. For a start, your eyes aren't deceiving you - this is a black and white game. That's right, absolutely no colour at all. At first it seems a bizarre, almost completely loopy choice, and one that's bound to put quite a few people off. Don't let one of them be you though - beneath this unusual monotone surface lies an ambitious game set in a world where the line between good and evil is very blurred indeed.

This is, you see, one of the few - perhaps the first - political conspiracy thrillers available on the Amiga. Using a basic text-adventure-with-graphics structure, it tells a tale of political intrigue not a million miles from TV shows like House Of Cards or Edge Of Darkness or films like Defence Of The Realm or '60s classic The Ipcress File. In the wake of a General Election that featured in its fair share of smear campaigns and political skulduggery we should all be in the mood for it too.

So what's it all about? Well, on the surface, Floor 13 seems to put you in the role of a shadowy secret agent character, head of a mysterious organisation operating from behind the cover of a fictitious government ministry. Your mission is to popularise and keep in power a political party (fairly obviously the Conservatives, though they're not named as such in the game), the bulk of whose members are completely unaware of your existence. Not only do you get to run smear campaigns against the Opposition (and, indeed, any other opponents you may come up against), you get to kill them too. Indeed, there's no dirty tick you can't try and attempt to get your way. Intrigued? You will be...

At the game's start you've recently been made Director General of The Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries (the cover organisation) - but pay no attention to this, it doesn't really exist. Instead, your department consists of various assassins, spies and other operatives - your real role is to protect the government at all costs, with whatever means are at your disposal. Every twenty days (game time) a national political poll is taken, you see, and it's your job to keep the government ahead of the other main party at all times. The Prime Minister will call on your frequently to either criticise or praise your actions but, whatever you do, make sure your machinations are kept out of the public eye. Nothing must be traced to the government or your department. As long as your party are at least holding their own in the polls, the game continues.

Interesting stuff then, but wait! There's more. You see, the game really comes alive when an extra twist is brought into play. Unknown even to the Prime Minister, you're also a member of a cult secret organisation. 'The Secret Masters' - more important than keeping your political party in power, your primary aim is to serve them, undertaking the various taks they set you.

So how do you do this? Well... (a) for a start, you must remain in your current job - only then will you have the power to help your hidden masters. Indeed, furthering your political career will give you more power with which to help them, so that's a good thing too. The game opens on the first of January, and then plays through every day - much of it involves reading political reports given to you and dealing with them accordingly.

Leaving your office and going into your government department, you get to use official resources to put under surveillance, pursue, abduct, interrogate, search, assault, infiltrate, discredit through smear tactics or (phew) assassinate your enemies. Daily reports inform you of the success or failure of these actions, and by going to the poll you can see what effects they've had on government popularity.

(b) Secondly, you must do your best to execute any actions required of you by your secret society. The guy who contacts you is called 'The Secret Master', a masked Tutankhhamun-like character who gives you tasks and occasionally talks in riddles. Perhaps I'm just being thick, but still haven't worked out what the first request I got is all about, although his commands have tended to become more comprehensible as the game goes on.

And there you have it. Floor 13 doesn't really have an ending as such, but if you avoid getting sacked, get the PM to expand the size of your department, and manage to carry out all the more shadowy tasks given to you, well, you'll be doing okay. Get yourself admitted to the cabinet, says creator Eastman, and you're doing very well indeed.

Yes, yes, yes, you're probably saying at this point, but what do you make of it? Well, first you have to realise that there's very little to compare it to - indeed, programmer David Eastman's earlier release Conflict (a political adventure set in the Middle East) is closest in terms of structure.

Despite the fantasy elements, many of the sub-plots that crop up in the game are based on real political events or situations. Mucho research was involved, apparently, including attempts (sadly failed) to get real political characters (Edwina Currie was one) to contribute to the storyline (she declined unless money was given to a charity of her choice).

Indeed, where the game scores most heavily is in its feeling of realism. The lack of colour, though initially off-putting, helps create atmosphere nicely, while the realistic visual details and interesting plot twists - you really don't ever know what's going to happen next - help build things nicely. You really do get the feeling of sitting alone in cold dark government office, hidden away in one of the capital's many high rise blocks, planning people's fates. It's stark, chill and tense and it works.

Technically it's very easy to get into and play too - being devious can certainly be a lot of fun. (Forget your morals if you're going to do well at this game!)

I'm sure that there are quite a few people who're going to love Floor 13, then - it certainly has its strengths - but equally, be careful. It's going to leave a lot of you cold. No animation to speak of, no colour, little humour to lighten the mood a bit - we've certainly seen more immediately appealing games. And at over thirty quid, it sure isn't cheap.

Still, if the theme attracts you, you could do a lot worse than give Floor 13 a whirl. It's got a strong plot, reasonably friendly controls and bags of atmosphere - it certainly managed to intrigue, and then hook, me. It's a true original too. And if you haven't been put off by the fact that this page doesn't feature a single colour picture, well, you might just find it'll get a hold on you too.

Uppers: Despite the (resolutely unmoving) graphics - this is, at heart, very much a text adventure - Floor 13 has an awful lot going for it 'if you're into that sort of thing'.

Plenty of plot twists, bags of atmosphere, and enough skulduggery to leave a nasty taste in the mouth, this political thriller is a true original.

Downers: Drab, monochrome, graphics and initially unencouraging gameplay could well put a lot of people off. Play - basically a lot of looking at folders and acting on the information you learn - can get pretty dull too. It's definitely a specialist taste, let us say.

If you don't mind text-based adventures, this one - packed as it is with assassinations, bent politics, power-hungry characters, dirty tricks and double agents - could well be for you. If, on the other hand, you're really into cutesy platformers with bright, bold colours or lots of on-screen animated actions, don't apply. (Obvious really, isn't it?)