Crossfire

IBM PCjr version of Crossfire

Crossfire is an action game first released for the Apple II in 1981 by Sierra On-Line with versions for other systems to follow. In the game, aliens have landed are are taking over the city! Players have the task of defending the city for as long as possible by shooting the myriad alien invaders.

Crossfire features a top down view of a city consisting of buildings in a 7 x 6; both the player and the invaders move in the spaces between the buildings and can only fire vertically or horizontally. Initially, the invaders start out on the perimeter of the playfield before entering the city and firing at or attempting to collide with the player. The player's ship is able to fire missiles (one at a time) to destroy the aliens; once all aliens have been destroyed, the game moves on to the next, more difficult round. Players begin the game begins with 3 ships with bonus ships being awarded every 5,000 points; The game ends when all ships have been destroyed by either being hit by alien fire or colliding with an alien.

Players begin each round with a limited amount of ammo; initially, 35 missiles are available and as the game progresses fewer and fewer missiles are provided at the start of the round. When a player has only 10 missiles remaining, a reloading station will appear; running over the station will replenish the player's missile supply. Each level also contains four alien defense points; these bonus items appear after the player fires 12 shots (either from the beginning of the level or since the previous item was collected) but will disappear again after another 5 shots are fired. If players collect them in time, they are worth 100, 200, 400, or 800 points.