CROSSWIZE - FIREBIRD SOFTWARE LTD

LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

Spectrum 48K

Type LOAD "" and press ENTER. Insert the cassette on the game side and
press PLAY.

Spectrum 128K/+/+2/+3

Select 48K mode. Now type LOAD "" and press ENTER. Insert the cassette
on the game side and press PLAY.

THE MENU

1. KEYBOARD / START GAME
2. KEMPSTON / START GAME
3. 2 PLAYER (*)
4. SET KEYS

(*) On option 3, when one player mode is selected, the words 2 PLAYER
    will appear next to option 3. If option 3 is selected again, two
    player mode will be selected and the words 1 PLAYER will appear
    next to option 3.

KEYBOARD CONTROLS

Up       Q
Down     A
Left     N
Right    M
Fire     1

You may redefine the keys or use a Kempston joystick.

Weapons

Destroy the alien assault waves. As you progress through the game,
weaponry installation icons will appear on the screen. When you move
over these, a weapon-type icon will flash at the bottom of the screen
(player one's weapons on the left side and player two's weapons on the
right side). If you want to have the weapon fitted, you should press
fire. Once fitted a weapon will light up yellow if it is a weaker form
of that weapon. If it is white then it is stronger. As you use up the
weapon, it will run down and thus the weapon will turn from white,
down to yellow and then it will flash for a few seconds before it runs
out.

The weapons from left to right on your display are:

Laser-fire - This will always revert to high powered laser-fire
(white) after any weapon has run down;

Bullet-fire - In low-power this will fire a wall of three bullets
forward. In high-power this will fire a wall of five bullets forward;

Surround-fire - In low-power this will fire a spray of bullets
outwards from your man. In high-power this will fire a wider spray of
bullets outwards from your man;

Shield - Whenever you hold down fire, your man will flash and he will
be invulnerable. Use this device wisely before it runs out;

Smart Bomb - As soon as you press fire after picking this weapon up,
every creature on the screen will die!

As time goes on, your energy will run down - this is indicated by the
red/yellow bar just above your scoreline. Yellow indicates high
energy, red indicates low energy and finally, the bar will turn black
when your energy is critically low. As your energy runs down, you will
slow down. To keep your speed up you should collect energy pods (these
look like weaponry installations but they have a small E inscribed in
them).

Levels

Crosswize has three levels to play through. At the end of each level
you will have to defeat a large mother-alien. The last level is
fiendishly difficult and has fully-animated beautiful backgrounds as
well as the most stunning end-sequence alien ever seen.

At the end of each level, you will be asked to rewind the level side
of the cassette tape. You should now press a key and press PLAY on
tape. The next level will then load into the computer.

CREDITS

Programming by Steve Wetherill.
Graphics by Colin Grunes.
Published by Firebird Software (c) 1988.
