The Story

In a daring raid, disreputable master criminal Crax Bloodfinger kidnapped six world leaders, demanding a thirty billion-dollar pay-off for their safe release. Unfortunately for Crax, Joe foiled his evil plans. During the rescue Joe Blade single handedly eradicated his private army of underworld henchmen, and in the process levelled Bloodfinger's fortified base.

After the wholesale demolition of his jungle fortress, Crax went into hiding, Under the bizarre alias of Quentin Bloodfinger he created Crax Industries as a front organization for his flourishing narcotics empire. Bloodfinger himself moved into the top floor penthouse suite of his recently constructed thirty storey high rise The Crax Plaza. Soon after the completion of the building Crax had his happy band of Libyan electricians install a myriad of electronic counter measures and state of the art security systems. The ground floor was fortified and most of the upper level windows replaced with two meters of reinforced concrete.

Once the Plaza's impenetrable defenses were complete. Crax put his most diabolical plan into operation. He knew that kidnapping officials would be futile, the governments concerned would never give in to terrorist demands.

A squad of Bloodfinger's most loyal men kidnapped six of the worlds best loved music and television celebrities and secured them within the massive concrete stronghold. Crax knew that the fans would give literally anything to see their heroes released. Within days of issuing a demand for 100 billion dollars, huge amounts of untraceable bank notes started flooding into Crax Industries Swiss bank accounts.

The Mission

The authorities are powerless to act, finding themselves in a no win situation, knowing that if any of the celebrities are harmed they'll face riots on a horrifying scale.

They have only one option left to them; they know what they have to do... Only one man is capable of bringing out the hostages alive. That man is... Joe Blade.

You, Joe Blade must complete three separate tasks for your mission to be a success. You must first locate and set free the six hostages. Secondly you must capture Crax Bloodfinger himself so that he can stand trial for his numerous crimes. Thirdly you must prime six explosive devices, which should destroy the building. To set an explosive you must first find a detonator, then simply walk over it to arm the device, once the first bomb has been armed, you will only have ten minutes to locate the other five charges, complete the other tasks, and make your way to the waiting helicopter situated on the plazas roof.

Access from one level to another is via a central lift shaft, however initially you will be denied access to levels above floor three.

To overcome the Crax plazas various security systems you may be required to solve three different sub games.

Sub Game 1

If you try to enter a security door without a security pass an alarm will sound and you will have only sixty seconds to crack the security code before you are caught. You must set one of the two rows of numbers to the sequence 1,2,3,4 by rotating the two rows with left and right and swapping the pair of numbers on the left using fire.

Sub Game 2

If you are carrying a computer disc, you may attempt to hack into one of the buildings many computer terminals. You should stand directly in front of the computer screen and press down. You will be presented with two rows of numbers, you must set one of the two rows to the sequence 1,2,3,4 by rotating the highlighted group of numbers either left or right. If you do not complete the sequence in sixty seconds access will be denied. If you are successful however, you will be provided with information concerning the location of certain useful objects.

Sub Game 3

You must complete sub game 3 to capture Crax Bloodfinger himself. Again there are two rows of numbers. You must set the top row to 1,2,3,4. You can rotate it left and right, and when you press fire the highlighted numbers are added together. If the result is greater than four then four is subtracted and the result placed in the top position. A new random number will be placed in the bottom position.

Some of the objects scattered around the game that you find useful are: - Grenades, these are used by jumping and then pressing fire Disguises, which makes Joe invincible Bulletproof vests, which protect Joe from enemy bullets Lift passes, which allow access to higher levels of the building (but beware, the guards who patrol the upper levels have a policy of shoot first, chew gum later)

Finally

Good luck, Joe. This will be your toughest mission yet.

Game Controls

All keys are redefinable. You may use a Kempston or Sinclair joystick if you prefer.

Note: Unlike Joe Blade I and II, to enter a door above or below you, you must press the down control.

ENTER - Toggle Pause, Q - Abort

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LOAD"" (ENTER)

128K users should rewind the tape to the beginning of side B and load the specific 128K version using Tape Loader.