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This "true-to-life game" was created by American Videogame and some guy who was "a Licensed Tax Consultant and former IRS Revenue Agent" - once again proving that the government should not stick their noses into gaming.

You get a game that looks like (if you go by the cover) a game about filling out your taxes and being a spy. The back of the box talks about earning a million dollars over the course of a year and keeping it by avoiding audits, taxes, red tape and bad investments ... boooooring.

What you really get is a game where you, John Q. (the overtaxed player), are on the run from - cue drum roll here - the Evil Tax Man™. According to the instructions, the Evil Tax Man™ is actually THREE people in one: Eggie (WTF?!?), the IRS Agent; Waggie (sounds like the name of a dog I had once), the CPA; and Toodles (Toodles?!?), the Investment Advisor... more on these three later. You run John Q. around two screens. The first screen you collect money signs and avoid "governmental red tape" signs while riding an elevator up and down ("This takes you to the various levels, slowly like normal governmental action.")

RUN!!! IT'S THE EVIL TAX MAN™, EGGIE!!!

The days count up through the year along with your cash - then at random points in the game, the screen changes and the Evil Tax Man™ comes out and tries to catch you - if he does he'll take your money and send you back to the first screen. You can climb up ladders and jump from block to block to avoid him - meanwhile he's following you like some kind of ghost.

Scattered throughout this screen are are abstract icons, aka "Tax Sheltered Investments". They're supposed to be (in no particular order) a Train Caboose, the Sun, an Oil Derrick and a Glass Flask, but they're so abstract that without the instructions to tell me what they were, I would have had no idea whatsoever. For chrissake, the "Train Caboose" looks like the damn Kool-Aid Man! If you pick up the right one, your cash increases and the Evil Tax Man™ is rendered helpless for a brief period (he becomes either Waggie [pink] or Toodles [green]). Touching him when he's either Waggie or Toodles causes different things to happen; I refuse to elaborate here, so if you really want to know what they do, click here. Pick up the wrong thing and your cash starts dropping, forcing you to run around until something good appears - of course, it might be something bad that drains your money even faster! Then there's the thing that just stops your money from moving altogether. Randomly you'll get sent back to the first screen. Then the cycle repeats until the clock hits December 31.

This game is ridiculously stupid. It's mind-numbingly stupid. It's boring, repetitive, sounds like shit, and has one of the dumbest plots for an action game ever. It is truly a game... FROM HELLLLLLLLLLL!