Hostages


Title		Hostages
Company         Infogrames
Game Type	Combat simulation
Compatability	Not AGA
Players		1
Submission	Angus Manwaring Profiled Reviewer

Review
In Hostages you control a crack team of anti-terrorist Policemen. A building
has been seized, and it`s your task to take out the terrorists inside,
making sure the minimum of hostages are killed. Well, ideally none, but like
they say, you can`t cook an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Sorry, bad
joke. Now initially you must deploy your snipers in the surrounding
buildings. You start off with three, and there are three suitable places for
them to snipe from. This part of the game is played by moving your current
sniper across a sideways scrolling representation of the street, ducking
into doorways or jumping over walls whenever the terrorist`s searchlights
(phew, these guys are organised) come close to your position. Should you not
manage to dodge the light, you`ll be caught in a hail of gunfire which may
or may not prove fatal depending on your exposure.
After your snipers are deployed, you send in your assault team. Again there
are three of them, and  after being dropped on the roof by helicopter you
must control them as they absile down to a window through which they can
enter the building. Before doing this though, it as well to switch back to
your snipers and observe which rooms appear to be vacant. Now the good thing
about being a sniper is that you can influence this, by the simple expedient
of blowing away anybody you wish to remove. When you`re satisfied you can
switch back to one of your assault team and enter the building. This part of
the game must rank as one of the earliest versions of a doom-type game. The
3D is more of the Dungeon Master variety than the aforementioned Doom, but
you are basically moving through rooms and coridoors shooting any hostiles
you encounter with your rather useful submachine gun. You can actually aim
your gun, and when coming face to face with the enemy it`s probably best to
just fire and then move the joystick so that the bullet damage coincides
with your opponent. You can just about sign your initials on the walls in
bullet holes if you feel the need. When you find a hostage you can lead them
back to the sanctuary of a safe room in a quieter area of the house. Your
performance is basically determined by how many men you lost, and how many
hostages were killed, and this presented in the form of newspaper headlines
after your misson.
Well, this is not a game that will change your life but it is highly
entertaining and has been well implemented. If this genre appeals to you,
then it`s definitely worth investigating.




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