Crossfire II
Brief OverviewA complex Shoot'em-Up game. Our first commercial game, only for technically better equipped Amigas.
The predecessor was a small Freeware game written in AMOS basic. After more than four years of development Crossfire II was ready to catapult the playability of its predecessor to a new dimension.
CFII offers three different game modes. The most important one is the story mode. In this story you play the role of Karsten, a young rebel pilot.
You have to play through a number of missions that couldn't be more manifold. Space battles alone or as part of a fleet, espionage and escort missions or hidden operations behind the enemy lines - no mission is like the other and even who's friend and who's the enemy is not always clear. Between and during the missions the story is told, important events are illustrated by short films.
The large number of different ships suits to this qualities. Fast fighters, heavy bombers and large capital ships with independent turrets atop battle each other in space or at the planet's surface. Somewhere inbetween transports try to get cover and stationary turrets defend important places. Here is where you can experience what it feels like being in a slow transport amidst a large battle. One time you will even drive a tank.
If you have some additional players at hand or if you just want to let the weapons speak unladen by a story and mission aims, the other two game modes of Crossfire II are for you. The survival mode offers entertaining battles to one to four players againt hordes of computer controlled enemies.
Although teamwork is top priority here the one dealing most damage will win the round. This offers room for plenty of dirty tricks. Some friendships already broke on "He shot the shield item right before my nose!"
The third game mode is the classic dogfight mode. Two to four ships enter the arena and the last player alive is the winner.
An unbelievable range of weapons, items and hazards like gravitonic mines, asteroids, black holes and much more make sure the game won't get boring for many hours. In addition nearly any aspect of the gameplay of both modes can be configured.
The frequency and kind of items, the preferences for the weapon shop or the number and intelligence of the enemies - everythings adjustable. In Crossfire II nobody has to live with something he doesn't like.
Crossfire II runs on anything Amiga compatible. Both under WinUAE and Amithlon it can be played, MorphOS users can enjoy it aswell.
The underlying engine is powerful enough to burn real fireworks even on 68k Amigas. Translucent explosions, smoke and sparks fill the screen in 8 or 16 Bit colour depth, at PPC-Amigas or emulated systems additional effects are available. Explosions thunder out of the speakers, in the story mode accompanied by situation dependent music.
The game works fully system friendly, supporting graphics boards, sound boards via AHI or optionally fast direct access to the Amiga's soundchip Paula. The fully configurable controls accept keyboard and up to four joysticks or gamepads via 4 player adapter.
The United Worlds are a big old state. A long time ago, during the interstellar expansion of mankind around the year 2050, it was just a plain chaos. Almost everybody who wanted to and was able to afford it could fly into the open space and could choose any system to settle.
And many groups of people went this way. In the beginning there were only little groups of scientists and researchers who constructed outposts using international earth funds, but with further development such journeys got cheaper and cheaper, so this possibility was open for other people, too.
The first companies relocated their production facilities to another planet, far from all environmental issues and taxation. Religious parties, who roamed the earth aimlessly for centuries, saw their last chance for finding peace in a new world. A group of oil tycoons expanded a planet for use as a resort which has been opened for normal tourists later.
Although there were many losses due to alien viruses, technical disasters and false plannings mankind slowly spread around the Sol system. During the spreading the interstellar traffic increased heavily so the old profession of the pirates raised again. The lack of laws and rules and the chaos of self made arrangements and different currencies was increasingly hindering for commerce, so, during the year 2087, the United Worlds were founded. To the founding systems belonged Crester, Nardel, Stoke, Foose and, of course, Sol.
Consisting of only some arrangements and a common currency in the beginning, this coalition slowly arose to a real state. Own courts, institutions and administrations were installed, a police of sorts began to fight the pirate's activities, from what the military of the United Worlds arose in the year 2108. The United Worlds were completely economy-oriented and had a similar legislation which, of course, caused much resistance primarily among religious groups, the social order of which was mainly individual-oriented. But also touristic planets joined in the resistance because they didn't want their worlds to be wasted just for money. And all these individuals that always lived a bit aside the norms felt consistent with this idea. All this finally led to the founding of the Outer Worlds around 2116. This coalition consisted of the systems New Hope, Eden, Liston, MyDay and Harask. The Outer Worlds got their name by the great distance to the Sol system and was already known under that name for quite some time. In spite of what the UW wanted to reach the Outer Worlds remained a lose connection of worlds kept together by a common currency and the Great Enemy they share.
As this coexistence went fine for a while the political tensions between both people got more and more. There were periodical acts of terrorism from extremists against the outer systems of the UW territory and on the other side there were a lot of companies which couldn't imagine that such a lucrative market as the Outer Worlds could still persist in it's independence. To make it short: The beginning of the war in 2143 was officially described as "big campaign against terrorism" where the well organized and well-appointed UW fleet took over Liston, wiping out the chaotic mix of private ships that defended the system, within 3 weeks. During the next 3 months several other campaigns followed, against the Outer Worlds and even against systems like Huddek and Kardijk which has been neutral until this time. The core of the Outer Worlds was pushed more and more away, finally ending at systems like Norsk and Gedhaer. Although new civilizations arose there, the Outer Worlds never got their semi-official state back which they had before the war.
The following years a lot of refugees arrived at these systems because lots of people who had formally lived at the Outer Worlds are now just 'criminal elements' at the worlds conquered by the UW or simply didn't want to adapt their lives to the economic-oriented society. All these people call their new home Outer Worlds again but in the media they are just called rebels. Now it's the year 2154. The rebels slowly get back their coherence and the attacks against the UW get better organized and more successful. The first production facilities for space ships arise and the ships constructed there get better and better. The most ships used in attacks are still privately owned, each individually prepared for use in attacks so getting spare parts and new technology is primarily done by raid missions again UW transports at the border of the United Worlds.
The military headquarter of the rebels is a space station in a asteroid belt within the wide space between Leeze and Gedhaer. In the beginning of the interstellar expansion of mankind this space station has been a research facility which has been canceled by the UW when it became unprofitable. The rebels reactivated this station and expanded it to the military center as it is now. For obvious reason it got the name Last Hope. In order to organize all the pilots who want to join the fight a special fund system has been invented: Every pilot gets credits for the damage he or she has inflicted upon determined targets. In the beginning only new weapons could be bought for these credits but soon it became something like a second currency, used for barters as well. Some arrangements and periodical controls ensure that everyone gets punished when he or she tries to cheat.
This system is dangerous, of course. A lot of pilots lost their lives, those who couldn't get enough and didn't want to share the credits as well as the danger getting them. Furthermore really nobody wants to do such unpopular jobs like patrol or transports anymore so soon a complex system of bonuses for damage, kills and unpopular jobs has been invented which is still in use presently.
You are Karsten, 25 years old and a habitant of the Outer Worlds in the second generation. Your father was a pilot who died during the defense of New Hope so your mother was forced to flee with you to Gedhaer. Karsten early showed those talents that killed his father. While his mother has found her peace on a agricultural colony, Karsten decided, against the vehement protest of his mother, to join the rebels at Last Hope.
Amiga Arena: "I can just recommend Crossfire II to all friend of shooter games."
Amiga Future: "Equal what you think of shooter games, Dreamworlds have done a good job and deserve respect for this game."
Amiga Plus: "At first the simple installation was noticed positive... crashes were also non-existent. Larger field for criticism can't really be found... Crossfire II, although technically only average, offers a great deal of fun to single and multiplayer gamers. If you always wanted to play a entertaining mix of Super Cars and Wing Commander, you should go for Crossfire II."
