''Hostages'' is a tactical shooter video game developed and published by Infogrames. It was released for the Acorn Electron,

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, Apple IIGS, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro,

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, DOS,

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

platforms in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. The game was released as ''Hostage: Rescue Mission'' in the United States and ''Operation Jupiter'' in France; the NES port is titled ''Rescue: The Embassy Mission''.

Plot

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

group have overrun an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The player takes control of a six-man

GIGN The GIGN ( ; ) is the elite police tactical unit of the National Gendarmerie of France. Among its missions are counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, critical site protection (suc ...

team on a mission to free the hostages.

Gameplay

The game is split into two or three (depending on platform) distinct sections: #In the first part of the game, the player must bring three men into position so they can

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/camouflaging plumage. The ''Gallinago'' snipes have a near ...

the building. While doing so, the men must avoid the

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

s by diving for cover in doorways, windows and behind fences as well as rolling, crawling and running. If the player is caught in a searchlight, the sniper is shot at and risks being gunned down. #The second part involves entering the building with the other three men. In some versions of the game, this section is linked to the first part. The player's men abseil down the side of the building to choose which room to enter from, while the snipers who were positioned earlier can be used to shoot the terrorists through the windows. #The building must then be searched, shooting the terrorists and finding the hostages in the process. In some versions of the game, hostages must be taken to a safe room.

Reception

''Hostages'' was well-received by critics. The game received 5 out of 5 stars in ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

''. ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' gave the PC version a positive review, noting poor joystick and keyboard response was a significant problem in an otherwise "great" game. '' Compute!'' called ''Hostages'' "one of the better Amiga combat games", noting that it did not involve aliens or swords.

Reviews

*''

Atari ST User ''Atari ST User'' was a British computer magazine aimed at users of the Atari ST range. It started life as a pull-out section in ''Atari User'' magazine. From March 1986 onwards it became a magazine in its own right, outliving its parent by a numb ...

'' (Jan, 1989) *'' Raze'' (Mar, 1991) *'' Compute's Amiga Resource'' (Aug, 1989) *''

Crash! ''Crash!'' is a 1977 film directed by Charles Band. It starred José Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson, Leslie Parrish, John Carradine and Reggie Nalder. Synopsis Jealous invalid husband (Ferrer) tries to kill sexy blond wife (Lyon), who uses occ ...

'' (Aug, 1990) *'' ST Format'' (Mar, 1993) *'' Raze'' (Jul, 1991) *''Your Amiga'' (Jun, 1989) *''

CU Amiga ''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''Vic ...

'' (Sep, 1991) *'' The One'' (Oct, 1988) *''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' is a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published ''CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', ''Amtix!'' and other magazines. History The magazine ran head to head with ...

'' (Apr, 1989) *''

ST/Amiga Format ''ST Amiga Format'' was a computer magazine that covered the Atari ST and Amiga computers. It was published by Future plc to cover the ever growing market for the, then-new, 16-bit home computers. Issues were equally balanced with coverage for bo ...

'' (Oct, 1988) *''

'' (Dec, 1988) *''

Tilt Tilt may refer to: Music * Tilt (American band), a punk rock group, formed in 1992 * Tilt (British band), an electronic music group, formed in 1993 * Tilt (Polish band), a rock band, formed in 1979 Albums * ''Tilt'' (Cozy Powell album), 1981 * ...

'' (Sep, 1990) *''

Joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

'' (French) (Apr, 1991) *''

'' (Oct, 1989) *''

Zzap! ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazine ...

'' (Sep, 1989) *''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

'' (Oct, 1990) *''

'' (Apr, 1989) *'' Info'' (May, 1989) *''Power Play'' (1989) *''Power Play'' (Nov, 1988) *''Zzap!'' (Italy) (Oct, 1989) *''

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) ''ACE'' (Advanced Computer Entertainment) was a multi-format computer and video game magazine first published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing and later acquired by EMAP. History ACE launched in October 1987, roughly the same time as ...

'' (May, 1989) *''

'' (Dec, 1988) *''

'' (Sep, 1990) *''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' (Mar, 1991) *''

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Origins In the late 1980s '' Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generation of 8-bit computers l ...

'' (Feb, 1991) *''Antic's Amiga Plus'' (Aug, 1989)

Legacy

A sequel to ''Hostages'', '' Alcatraz'', was released by Infogrames for the

, and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

in 1992.

References

External links

* *{{WoS game, id=0002354, name=Hostages 1988 video games Acorn Archimedes games Infogrames games Action video games Atari ST games Amiga games Apple IIGS games Amstrad CPC games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Commodore 64 games DOS games First-person shooters MSX games Nintendo Entertainment System games Stealth video games Superior Software games Tactical shooter video games Video games about police officers Video games about terrorism Video games scored by Alberto Jose González Video games developed in France ZX Spectrum games Video games set in Paris Sniper video games Piko Interactive games Hostage taking in fiction Single-player video games