Nintendo Entertainment SystemOverview
Crisis Force is a vertical shooter that takes place in a futuristic egyptian setting. Developed by Konami, this title features ship shifting as well as seven stages and boss battles at the end of each stage. Also featured is an energy system that allows the player's ship to take a hit without instantly exploding. Instead, the ship loses all of its accumulated energy and powerups, becoming vulnerable to any second projectile that can finish it off. The game can be played in single player or coop 2-player mode. As an 8-bit game developed during the transition to the 16-bit era of video games, it takes full advantage of the NES hardware.Gameplay
The gameplay is standard for the genre of vertical shooters, but it offers no score system. A ship starts with two lives and must make its way through a variety of levels without exploding by avoiding projectiles and shooting down enemies. Ship powerups, gun upgrades, bombs, and speed upgrades make an appearance in Crisis Force.Ship Shifting
By pressing the change key (B by default), a ship can assume a different form with different firing patterns that depend on certain sequences of powerups. With three forms to choose from, changing ship configurations during combat can be very useful in certain situations. For instance, an enemy may sweep behind you and it is helpful to be able to fire backwards.
In addition, collecting a certain powerup (Blue orb surrounded by gold/orange) increments a counter at the bottom-left side of the screen. Once this counter reaches 5, the ship is automatically transformed into a more powerful ship with huge firepower and the ability to take hits (at the cost of energy points that appear at the bottom-left at the screen). This ship will stay transformed until the energy meter reaches 0. This ship loses energy when it is hit, but it gains energy when receiving the same power up that enabled the transformation.
Powerups
Powerups can come from a variety of sources, but they are usually delivered via helpful drop-ships that you can shoot to release the power-up.
Blue Orb powerups help transform the ship into its ultimate form as seen above under Ship Shifting.
'S' powerups change ship speed. Collecting this powerup when it is blue speeds up your ship. Red has the opposite effect.
'P' powerups are bombs. Holding fire (A by default) while pressing the charge button will release a bomb.
Gun upgrades are blue or red surrounded by a greyish outline. These upgrades alternate colors as they are on the screen. Each color represents a gun path. By only selecting red gun upgrades, your ship will upgrade on the red path (R1 -> R2 -> R2). By selecting blue your ship will upgrade on the blue upgrade path (B1 -> B2 -> B3). If, say, your ship has three red upgrades and accidently you receive a blue upgrade, you will be switched to the level on the Blue path and must retrieve a red power up again to regain red gun upgrades.
HUD
The top left corner displays number of lives (beside red orb) and the number of bombs (B). The bottom left corner displays the count of powerups that are needed to change your ship to its most powerful form.
Lives
If your ship explodes, a life is taken from your lives counter. Extra lives sometimes appear in game. Be sure to grab them. It is game over if you run out of lives, though you get 3 continues that allow you continue from the latest level with 2 lives.
Stages
Stage 1: An entry scene as the ship enters a large city (assume Tokyo) that is under heavy laser fire and enemy occupation.Stage 2: Several insectoid creatures make their appearance. The boss is an alien creature.
Stage 3: A vast canyon level that features walls that must be dodged as well as enemies that scale the sides of the canyon that must be avoided.
Stage 4: A level filled to the brim with fire and volcanos.
Stage 5: A water level filled with egyptian ships with great firepower.
Stage 6: A futuristic Egyptian level chock full of lasers.
Stage 7: End Boss fight.
