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A mini-movie sets the scene for Hostages: a car screeches to a halt outside an embassy and masked gunmen run into the building. A ticker-tape readout announces that terrorists have taken hostages and issued an ultimatum - the government isn't going to concede. The Special Intervention Group of the State Police Force is summoned, arriving in a van with sirens blaring.

Step forward Captain Cavendish, commander of the six-man squad of highly-trained commandos. Unless your men rescue the hostages before the terrorists' deadline expires, they will all be killed and another blow will have been struck against democracy and freedom.

Darkness falls. A cool head and razor-sharp reactions are called for if the mission is to succeed. The first stage of the operation involves stationing marksmen around the embassy - if the snipers can get into position, they can cover the building, and with luck, despatch a few terrorists foolish enough to show themselves against a lighted window.

Delta, Echo and Mike, your three marksmen, are lurking in the shadows, ready to make a run for one of the vantage points you've selected. You take direct control of a marksman, but the terrorists have anticipated your move - they've rigged up searchlights and play them over the darkened streets. The marksman runs, jumps, rolls, crawls, ducks into doorways and vaults over fences to avoid the moving pools of light. Allow him to be framed in the beam of a searchlight and the terrorists open fire - a few hits, and your man is fit only for the morgue.

Providing at least one marksman is put into position, the second phase of the game begins - after another short movie sequence which shows a helicopter flying against the dark cityscape. Hovering above the embassy roof, the chopper unloads the other three members of your team. and it's time to storm the embassy to clear its three floors of terrorists and rescue the innocent..

Select a man, move him around the rooftop to an appropriate point and let the abseiling begin! Careful timing is called for if the commando is to slide down the rope and get the right momentum to propel him, boots first, through a window. You can take one, two or three commandos inside the embassy, but looking after one member of the assault team is likely to prove more than enough until you've thoroughly got the hang of what's going on.

A pulsing beat accompanies the action as you cautiously explore the corridors and rooms of the embassy which has become a prison for the innocent hostages. The rules of hostage-rescuing are simple: watch your back, and shoot anything in green camo gear that moves, before it shoots you.

Gradually, with experience, the strategic elements of the game become apparent and you can devote a little time to keeping an eye on the readouts. Introduce a second or even a third commando into the building and start working as a team; make the most of your snipers - they can be used to reduce the odds if you trust yourself enough to leave the floor of the embassy and take a few shots at terrorists in the window. As the countdown gets low, there's no point in pussyfooting around - throw caution to the winds and go for it!

Practise your anti-terrorist skills! The number of terrorists and hostages increases with the skill of the commander and the difficulty of the mission - and the time limit gets shorter and the terrorists meaner, too...

Try to get all three in position. Don't be tempted to start blasting away at figures in the embassy windows until you've got at least one man inside - you can't tell whether a silhouette is a hostage or a terrorist.

When trying to put the snipers into position, don't forget the forward roll - it gets you through searchlight beams quickest of all.

Suicide is sometimes worth considering - you don't get to the second stage of the game unless you get at least one sniper in position. If two snipers are dead, sacrifice the third and try over.

Before sending the first man from the roof, take him to a side of the embassy covered by a sniper and use the sniper to check for an empty window. Then send your man in through that window double-quick.

As soon as you've got a man inside the building, look at the floor plan and identify any windows that have terrorists behind them. Then transfer control to your sniper(s) and take out as many terrorists as you can. Take the man inside the embassy to each floor in turn, switching back to the sniper(s) once windows occupied by terrorists have been identified.

Get a couple of men inside the building. Station one In the safe room, and keep an eye on the status panel light - when it flashes, it means a terrorist is trying to recapture hostages that you have led to safety. Transfer control to the commando in the safe room the moment his status light winks and you might be able to keep the hostages safe.

When entering a room that contains a terrorist, try and do so when the terrorist directly opposite the door. Barge in, wait a nanosecond so you can check that he is not using a hostage as a human shield, and then start firing. Charging into a room with machine gun blazing might be safe for you, but innocent people might die...

Sometimes the terrorists come looking for you. If you can get into a room with only one door, place your back against the wall opposite the door, put your finger on the trigger and wait for them to arrive.

You can only lead one hostage to safety at a time. Clear the third floor of terrorists if you can and stash all the hostages in the safe room before moving down a floor.

Infogrames have been building up quite a reputation for slick graphics and on-screen presentation with their 16-bit products.

Like Captain Blood and Stir Crazy, their last two releases, Hostages is a well-polished program. Gameplay, too, is involved and compelling - the insistent throbbing soundtrack complements the graphics and keeps up the pressure as you work against the deadline to achieve the mission objectives. The training mission, without hostages to worry about, allows you to get into the game quite quickly and once you've mastered the basic control techniques the real playing can begin.

With three skill levels and four complexities of mission to get to grips with, Hostages should prove a satisfying challenge for quite some time...

Hostages should be available by the time you read this - at present Infogrames are putting the finishing touches to this version, converting the French text into English in the process. So, all going well, you can expect to see an update and ratings in the next issue...

Obviously the PC version won't be as graphically accomplished as its ST or Amiga counterparts, and sound will certainly be on the weak side. But, aesthetics aside, the gameplay will be virtually identical, and thus just as captivating. Stay tuned for further details...