Crime Wave

Crime Wave is a side scrolling action game released by Access Software in 1990 for IBM, Amiga, and Atari ST computers. The game is very similar to the Williams Electronics arcade game Narc, although it is not officially a port of Narc. In Crime Wave players take on the role of a former NYPD detective with the goal of rescuing the president's daughter who has been kidnapped. The game uses digitized graphics of real actors and models, and all of the music and sound effects are digitized as well. The PC version of the game features Access Software's Realsound technology to play digitized sounds through the PC's internal speaker.

The game starts with the kidnapping of the U.S. president's daughter, Brittany Cole. The suspected terrorist behind the kidnapping is King Pin, the head of a ruthless crime syndicate. Throughout the game players control Lucas McCabe, a former NYPD detective who has been assigned the task of rescuing Brittany. As players progress through the game, cut scenes appear from time to time which both warn the player of impending dangers as well as continue the story.

Each level of the game takes place in various city locations including streets, subways, warehouses, and a drug factory. Moving from left to right, players need to reach the end of each section of the city safely in order continue to the next level. Numerous members of the crime syndicate are constantly appearing and attacking. Players are armed with an advanced weapon which is a combination of a machine gun and a rocket launcher; additional weapons can also be obtained throughout the game. Amunition for all of the weapons is limited; additional ammunition can be found on the ground, behind and underneath objects, or can it be left behind after defeating certain enemies. In some areas of the city bonus rooms can be found; the bonus rooms were devised by a mentally unstable scientist working for King Pin and contain lasers and other hazards to navigate around. The bonus rooms also contain many items including money worth bonus points, weapons, and energy replenishment.

Players can move both up and down as well as left and right in the screen; player can also crouch and jump to help avoid enemy attacks. Players begin the game with 5 lives with each life having a limited amount of energy; when energy is depleted, the life is lost and the game ends when no more lives are remaining.