I think it is safe to say that Contra is one of the most popular NES games of all time. Literally everyone I knew with an NES growing up had it, and even though everyone had already beaten the game it was still fun to do a quick coop session years after the fact. With that in mind it is surprising that there were not more run and gun action games for the system in that style. I would gladly have traded any of the generic platformers like Chubby Cherub for another Journey to Silius. Cross Fire never left Japan even though the localization was complete. While it isn’t on the level of Konami’s classic it is a pretty good game we missed out on.
Erase any thoughts of the goofy table top game with the overly dramatic commercial. Cross Fire has nothing to do with that. The name is probably due to the fact that you face foreground and background enemies simultaneously. Will you get caught in the cross fire? It’s cheesy but it fits. By default you can throw grenades in the background while punching enemies in the face. Once you procure a weapon it does the work of both. Until then the game does not make a strong first impression.
Initially you start with nothing but your fists and grenades. With every enemy packing heat having to get up close is awful. Even targeting enemies in the background with grenades is more frustrating than it should be. Luckily you can find a machine gun if you try and destroy every box you come across. It is an awful decision since you can easily miss it early on. Apparently the designers think so too; if you die the game gives you a gun automatically at which point it becomes the game it should have been from the start.
Weapon upgrades follow two paths. The regular machine gun can be upgraded to a spread gun, first with two shots and then up to three. Spread gun bullets are fast but weak. Or you can choose to go with missiles. Missiles are slower but incredibly strong and you can let off a series of shots that also mimic the spread gun. Even though this is a pure action title you have a life bar unlike Contra. Life restoring items are rare however picking up the same weapon type will restore a little health. To do that you will have to destroy crates and the game does its novel best to keep you on the move to avoid doing so.
The action in Cross Fire is constant. Soldiers, tanks, and turrets attack from all sides of the screen. Even though this is a run and gun action game the pace is slower than in similar titles. Each stage is densely packed with bullets flying everywhere. You’ll have to make progress slowly even though the game will try to nudge you by dropping random items from the sky. What keeps Cross Fire from the upper echelons of the genre on the NES are a few design issues. Enemy placement is incredibly suspect and frustrating. Bullets blend into the background constantly and on stages like the train lead to death without seeing the cause. And the game desperately needed a wider selection of weapons.
This is a worldwide journey as you’ll visit the jungles of Vietnam, a shipyard in Vladivo (Vladivostok, Russia), and a train in Colombia. The game plays it straight but does take an out of character detour in Afghanistan. There you fight through a mosque filled with bullet shooting Buddhist statues. If that weren’t enough the level ends in a fight against some kind of floating deity. It comes completely out of left field and the game doesn’t even try to put it in context. Not that it’s a bad level but it comes out of left field in a game about a lone soldier destroying WODs around the world.
Cross Fire presents an imposing challenge for a number of reasons. Even though they are effective your limited weapon options don’t help much. Bullets blend into the background constantly and lead to cheap hits. Restoring your life is tough as health power-ups and weapons aren’t plentiful. But the biggest challenge are the bosses. Dying to a boss is just as detrimental as in a shooter since you are sent to a checkpoint with no power-ups. If you are lucky maybe you’ll find one. But coming back from that can seem near impossible. It is certainly doable but will take time.
In Closing
Despite my problems with it Cross Fire would have been a cool addition to the NES lineup. It could have used some more polish but what is present is solid. This is an easy import for action game fans.
