Shadow Company finally puts the plastic Airfix soldiers of childhood in their box. Out go make-believe battles accompanied by a nine-year-old's phlegmy rat-a-tat-tat and in comes on-screen, sneaking and shooting that even the biggest brother can't disrupt.
Trenton Webb

This point and click guerrilla simulator takes a team of up to 12 mercenaries on missions that would make the Dirty Dozen balk. Using a simple command-set, you get to sneak the little people around so they can knife unsuspecting enemies in the back or hit them head-on with assault shotguns.

Set in modern times, the plot tells of a small band of soldiers who are abandoned by their employer while on a mission in Angola. Under your careful eye - well, not so careful actually, thanks to the quick-save - the first mission's a fight for freedom. After your escape, a slimy Brussels Eurocrat slithers onto the videophone, picks up your contract and sends your group jetting around the world killing people for (your) fun and (his) profit. There's a vague notion of finding your previous boss and avenging the betrayal, but such high-minded nonsense isn't allowed to interfere with the shooting.

Each mission is taken straight from the movies and they're all improbable in the extreme, but great fun to battle through. It's Where Eagles Dare meets the Wild Geese on the set of the Dogs Of War. There are sneaky bits, sniper sessions, ambushes and straight out gunfights. Working with a traditional multi-skilled team, you've got use the right people at the right time to cut through wire, plant C4 charges and take photos of dangerous installations. It's dogged try, try and try again gameplay, but as the team forge deeper into enemy territory, it's absorbing stuff.