This guide is written with the Amiga and MS-DOS versions in mind, with notes for changes made for the NES version; other releases may have minor differences from what is described here.
Ranks and missions[edit]
The game has three ranks (Lieutenant, Captain, Commander) which act as difficulty levels, making the searchlights and guns harder to avoid and the terrorists inside the building more deadly. Lieutenant is the easiest, with slow searchlights and the ability to take several hits before dying. Captain is the middle ground, with a good level of difficulty, faster searchlights, and stronger enemies. Commander is significantly harder: spotlights move rapidly, many enemies aren't shown on the mini-map, and there are lots more hostages to worry about accidentally shooting.
Once you have chosen a difficulty level you then choose a mission; despite what the name indicates these are all variations set in the same building. The street level and Embassy floor plan remain identical but the number of terrorists and hostages will change. There are five missions to choose from, each with its own time limit:
| Mission | Computers | NES |
|---|---|---|
| Training | 2:24 | 20:00 |
| Target | 1:09 | 16:00 |
| Ultimatum | 0:46 | 14:00 |
| Rescue (Trigger) | 0:36 | 12:00 |
| Assault (Jupiter) | 0:29 | 10:00 |
The timer only stops when you open the map or pause the game. The timer appears in the expected hours:minutes format, but in the computer versions it counts down much faster than in real life (in the Amiga version it takes about ten seconds). In the NES version the clock counts down in real time.