Floor 13 is about secretly serving Her Majesty, but this is hardly the stuff of James Bond. In Floor 13, you take on the role of the head of a highly secretive British government agency that exists to protect the government and other powers that be from a wide variety of unpleasant crises. These can range anywhere from terrorist plots to pesky journalists to alien abductions. Many of the case stories sound like they could be lifted directly from the newspaper, but it is your job to see to it they do not get there.
Floor 13 is about secretly serving Her Majesty, but this is hardly the stuff of James Bond. In Floor 13, you take on the role of the head of a highly secretive British government agency that exists to protect the government and other powers that be from a wide variety of unpleasant crises. These can range anywhere from terrorist plots to pesky journalists to alien abductions. Many of the case stories sound like they could be lifted directly from the newspaper, but it is your job to see to it they do not get there.
The action of the game is related to the player almost entirely in the form of memos, e-mails, and surveillance reports. They provide you with the clues needed
to determine how to respond to each crisis. While this may not sound like the most exiting show in town, it does aid in creating a very suspenseful mood around some cases.
In order to assist you in your defense of the realm, you are assigned various covert assets that you can use as you see fit to deal with an impending crisis. There are “watchers” who will tail targets and then report back to you all their relevant activities. There are ELINT teams who will electronically spy on suspects. Or, for a much more brutal approach to Intel gathering, there are interrogation teams who will literally torture the truth out of the unlucky chap who gets targeted.
Once you have gathered the information you need, you can then peruse your bag of dirty tricks to dispose of the problem. You may decide to blackmail one troublemaker in order to silence him, but you may send an assassin after another. In cases where heavy firepower is in order, you may choose to send in a SWAT team or just tip off local law enforcement.
However you choose to proceed, the best outcome is generally the one that leaves the least evidence but gets the job done. A smear campaign against a powerful government official may just stir up unwanted trouble and attention. A SWAT team raiding the home of a peace activist may also a poor, noisy solution. However, the smear campaign may be just the thing needed to discredit and silence the activist, and the government official may just need to experience a convincing “accident” in order to stop troubling your bosses. This is the most frustrating element of Floor 13: there is generally only one right way to handle each crisis, and with all the options at your disposal, it can be difficult to nail the right approach. Trial and error is really the only way to succeed, but your mysterious bosses are not very forgiving, so get used to failure as manifested in an image of yourself unceremoniously “jumping” from your 13th floor window.
Floor 13 starts out with a very intriguing premise and some of the casework are quite entertaining. However, the rather static nature of the game, combined with the fact that there is only one combination of actions for each case that will lead to success, often makes it feel repetitive and frustrating. As a result, this game is great, exciting, interesting and the best! I recommend the game to anyone who enjoys intrigue and suspense and who is fairly patient, but if you enjoy more freeform interaction, you may want to skip this one. You’ll satisfied and impressed!
