236. CrossFire (Kyugo Boueki, Famicom, 1990)

After having a good time with game #231, Airwolf, despite its difficulty, I thought I would try the only other game the developer/publisher Kyugo Boueki on the Famicom, CrossFire. Unlike Airwolf, this is not an arcade port (though it was eventually ported to the Sega Mega Drive as Super Airwolf in Japan and then released in the rest of the world as CrossFire). The setup of each level of CrossFire is identical: a helicopter drops you behind enemy lines and you have to infiltrate the location, beat a boss, and then evacuate back to your helicopter. 

When you start, you can only punch enemies to defeat them, but you can take the guns of certain fallen enemies or find more in crates. Eventually you can upgrade to a spread shot, and then a spread rocket launcher. While the spread shot makes the game's high difficulty manageable, the spread rocket launcher feels like the "right" way to play, since then you can actually speed through levels with a certain amount of finesse, and going from only punching to being able to blow everything up (while still having to dodge) feels great. Picking up new guns also gives you life, so there is a fun dilemma of downgrading weapons versus gaining health.

CrossFire's first level boss is in the the middle of the level, which is I guess an interesting pacing choice for the time. The second level has two bosses, both submarines, but the second one has a couple extra small cannons to shoot at you. After you beat each level, you board a helicopter and are rewarded with a cutscene of the helicopter dropping bombs on the enemy vehicles. The second level is much easier that the first or third, which is a shame because the difficulty really brings the experience down.

3/5, a fast run & gun game with varying quality between levels