Scrap City Crossfire: Dália's shootout

About Scrap City Crossfire

The Executive's thugs took every corner of the scrap city — the warehouse, the junkyard, the toll highway and the dam catwalks — and Dália set out to take it back, one block at a time. The camera sits right behind her: she runs along the bottom of the screen following your crosshair and fires wherever it points, standing still only while she shoots. The thugs come at you four rows deep, and each type fights differently. The smelter and the agent close the distance row by row to hit you at arm's length, and the agent takes single shots on the way in. The shooter hangs back and fires three-round bursts. The shield alternates shotgun spreads with grenades. The biker rides clean across the screen and drops a molotov on his way past. Anyone behind cover shows only the part of him above it, and the cover changes with the stage: crates, barrels, tire stacks, wrecked cars, a container, road signs, sandbags, iron pipes, brick walls — each one good for 3 to 12 shots before it comes apart. The roll is your only dodge: 0.65 seconds covering 210 px, and you take no damage at all while you are rolling. It is what gets you out of a burst, a spread or a grenade, and out of reach of anyone charging in. The revolver holds 7 rounds and never runs out of ammo. The shotgun and the SMG drop off thugs and broken crates, and you pick one up by shooting it where it lies. Whatever you pick up stays in your arsenal and you switch between them freely; when a weapon's magazine and reserve both run dry, it leaves the arsenal and the revolver comes back. The medkit puts 5 points back on a HEALTH bar of 10 — a bullet takes 2, a grenade 4, a molotov 3, a close-range hit 3. Emptying the bar costs one of your 3 lives (5 maximum, one more every 25,000 points): Dália goes down, lies there a moment and gets back up at full health — with the same weapons and the same ammo she had. Each round asks for a thug quota that starts at 12 and grows by 3, and closing it pays 200 × the round plus your accuracy. Every fifth round brings a boss with a health bar — the Tamer, the Driver and the Executive take turns and get tougher each time around — and every third round changes the stage. The game comes in two layouts: on a computer the screen is landscape, with mouse, keyboard or gamepad; on a phone the game opens in portrait, with a stick to walk and your shots wherever you press the screen.

In Selminha's words

“The franchise already had Scrap Toss, Bruto Vale's stand-still aiming game. What was missing was a game where Dália moves and shoots for real — camera at her back, thugs coming at her on foot, and a dodge worth mastering.”

How to play Scrap City Crossfire, and tips for a higher score

1. On a computer, move the mouse to aim: Dália follows the crosshair along the bottom edge and fires where it points. Left button shoots (hold it down to keep firing), right button rolls. On the keyboard, WASD or the arrows move the crosshair, J or Enter shoots, K or Space rolls, L reloads. On a gamepad, the stick aims, X shoots, A rolls, B or RT reloads.
2. The roll is your only dodge: 0.65 seconds covering 210 px, with no damage taken from start to finish. Use it on bursts, shotgun spreads, grenades and molotovs, and to get out of reach of anyone charging in. On a phone she rolls away from whichever side of the screen she is on.
3. Three weapons. Revolver: 7 rounds, one shot per pull, a slow reload and ammo that never runs out. Shotgun: 8 shells, a 5-pellet spread, 24 in reserve. SMG: a 40-round magazine, fully automatic, 120 in reserve. The shotgun and the SMG drop off downed thugs (18%) and broken crates (30%), along with medkits and ammo boxes — shoot the item where it lies to pick it up; it disappears after 9 seconds.
4. What you pick up stays in your arsenal: switch with 1/2/3, Tab, the mouse wheel, LB/RB or by tapping the panel. When a weapon's magazine and reserve both hit zero, it leaves the arsenal and you are back on the revolver; picking the same weapon up again refills its reserve, and an ammo box refills every weapon you are carrying.
5. The HEALTH bar holds 10 points: a bullet takes 2, a burst 1 per shot, a spread 1 per pellet, a grenade 4, a molotov 3 and a close-range hit 3. A medkit puts 5 back. Emptying the bar costs one of your 3 lives (5 maximum, one more every 25,000 points); Dália goes down and gets back up at full health with the same weapons and ammo she had.
6. Each round asks for 12 + 3 × (round − 1) thugs; closing it pays 200 × the round plus 3 × your accuracy. Rounds 5, 10, 15 and so on bring a boss with a health bar, and every third round changes the stage: warehouse, yard, highway, dam. A thug is worth 100 (biker 120, shooter and shield 150), a boss 1,000, a broken crate 50, a grenade shot out of the air 200, and three hits in a row pay a 25-point bonus.
7. P or Esc pauses and opens the full instructions; M turns the sound on and off. At the end, put your name on the game's Top 5, kept on the server.

Who comes at you

Smelter

Closes row by row until he is near enough to swing, and takes 3 off the HEALTH bar when he lands it. The simplest one, and the most stubborn.

Agent

Runs in like the smelter but takes single shots on the way, 2 damage each. He has to be dealt with before he arrives.

Shooter

Stays at the back firing three-round bursts, 1 damage per shot. Worth 150, and the main reason to get good at the roll.

Shield

Takes two shots to put down and alternates a shotgun spread (1 per pellet) with a grenade (4, and a wide blast). Worth 150.

Biker

Rides the full width of the screen and drops a molotov on the way past, 3 damage. Worth 120, and gone fast: hit him or wait for the next pass.

Bosses

The Tamer, the Driver and the Executive take turns on rounds 5, 10, 15 and so on. Each has a health bar, mixes every attack, dashes from crate to crate and gains health each time around. Worth 1,000, plus 100 for every hit you land.

Cover

Crates, barrels, tires, cars, a container, road signs, sandbags, iron pipes and walls, depending on the stage. Each takes 3 to 12 shots, and anyone behind one can only be hit above it. Breaking it pays 50 and may drop an item.

Enemies come at you four rows deep and never float: every stage has its floor horizon lined up with the rows, so the ones farther back are smaller and harder to hit.

Controls on phone and computer

Computer

Mouse: move to aim, left button shoots (hold to keep firing), right button rolls, wheel switches weapons · WASD or the arrows move the crosshair · J or Enter shoots · K or Space rolls · L or I reloads · 1/2/3, Tab or H switches weapons · P or Esc pauses · M turns the sound on and off · gamepad: stick or d-pad aims, X shoots, A rolls, B or RT reloads, LB/RB switch weapons, Start pauses, Back turns the sound on and off

Touch

On a phone the game runs in portrait and full screen. The stick on the left moves Dália; press the screen wherever you want to shoot, and hold to keep firing. The ⇄ button switches weapons and ↷ rolls — she dives away from whichever side she is on. Tap the weapon panel to reload; pause and sound sit in the top-right corner.

Weapons, drops and rounds

Revolver

7 rounds, one shot per pull, a slow reload — and ammo that never runs out. It is the gun that always comes back when everything else is dry.

Shotgun

8 shells, a 5-pellet spread, 24 in reserve. Close in, it drops a thug outright; farther out the pellets scatter.

SMG

A 40-round magazine, fully automatic, 120 in reserve. It will clear a whole round, and it empties just as fast.

Arsenal

Anything you pick up is kept — even when you lose a life: switch with 1/2/3, Tab, the mouse wheel, LB/RB or by tapping the panel. When a weapon's magazine and reserve both hit zero, it leaves the arsenal; picking it up again refills the reserve, and an ammo box refills everything.

Drops

Medkit (+5 HEALTH), shotgun, SMG and ammo box fall off downed thugs (18%) and broken crates (30%). They lie there for 9 seconds and you collect one by shooting it.

Roll

0.65 seconds covering 210 px, with no damage taken from start to finish. The only dodge in the game.

Round

A quota of 12 + 3 × (round − 1) thugs. Closing it pays 200 × the round plus 3 × your accuracy. A boss every fifth round; a new stage every third.

Scoring

Thug 100, biker 120, shooter and shield 150, boss 1,000 (plus 100 per hit), broken crate 50, grenade shot out of the air 200, and a 25-point bonus for every three hits in a row.

The pressure builds round by round: more of them on screen at once, less time between arrivals and faster incoming fire. The quota grows, but it is accuracy that pays well when the round closes.