Crossfire (video game)
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Crossfire is a popular Apple II video game created by Jay Sullivan, first published by Sierra On-Line in 1981.
[edit] Gameplay
In Crossfire, you use the keyboard to move left, right, up and down among an array of blocks, avoiding incoming fire and dispatching enemies. The playing area consists of 42 blocks (7 rows by 6 columns), through which there are six vertical alleys, five horizontal alleys, and 30 intersections. You can move and fire in any direction, but can only stop in intersections.
Around the left, right and top sides of the playing area are pockets from which enemies will emerge. These enemies will move among the blocks, firing at you and attempting to collide with you. They come in four varieties, and each pocket holds one of each kind. (Once the first is destroyed, the next emerges, until it's empty.) The enemies differ only in appearance, not in power or behavior. The first is small, bluish, and diamond-shaped (worth 10 points); the second resembles a scarab (20 points); the third is orange with blue legs (40 points); the fourth is silver and diamond-shaped (80 points). Like you, they can move and fire in any direction, but aren't as fast. Unlike you, they never run out of ammunition.
Within four blocks near the middle of the playing area are four orange, spindle-shaped bonus items. Over the course of a level, each one will briefly emerge before going back into its block. Capturing them grants you 100, 200, 400 and 800 points.
You can fire only a limited number of shots before having to reload. In early rounds this number is around 30, but drops as the levels progress. When your ammunition runs low, a cluster of four pulsing white dots will appear (usually at the intersection farthest from you) marking where you need to go to reload.
You start with three ships and get an extra one for every 5,000 points you earn. The level ends when you've destroyed all the enemies.
[edit] Tips
- To stop in an intersection, press the space bar just before reaching it.
- It's possible to destroy all the enemies (and end the level) before all the bonus items have had a chance to emerge, so keep the last enemy alive and avoid it until you can collect the bonus.
