Crimsonland is an arcade computer game, released in April 22, 2003. The player, a lone trooper, must defend himself against thousands of aliens that surround him. This objective is accomplished using a variety of weapons, perks and bonuses.

This 2D game utilises a top down view with scrollable screen. The player moves around using the keyboard and aims with his mouse, similar to early PC arcade games such as Abuse.

Contents

1 Gameplay 1.1 Perks 1.2 Weapons 1.3 Bonuses 1.4 Modes 1.5 Enemies 2 Distribution 3 External Links

Gameplay

In Crimsonland, there are several aspects of gameplay.

Perks

As you kill more aliens, you get experience points. When you gain a certain amount, you gain a level, allowing you to get a perk. As you become a higher level, more exp. is needed to gain a level and get more perks.

Perks come in many forms. Some perks make you reload faster, while others make you invincible for 60 seconds, and when the time is up, you die. When you gain a level, only six or seven perks are randomly chosen to be made available for you. Some perks have prerequisites, such as gaining a different perk first.

More perks are unlocked as you complete levels in the normal difficulty Quest mode. As you complete more difficult levels, you unlock a better perks or weapons that can be used in the game.

Weapons

Crimsonland boasts a wide array of weapons in the game. There is a total of 25 weapons, along with a few secret ones. As you complete a level in normal difficulty Quest mode, you occasionaly unlock a weapon. The most basic weapon in the game is the pistol, which you start with in most levels of the Quest mode. Sometimes, enemies drop a weapon, which you can pick up and use. The chances of this happening is very high when you start the level, but decreases after you obtain a different weapon.

All weapons have a reload time, depending on how powerful they are. the pulse-gun, for example, has virtually no reload time, but isn't very effective against hordes of enemies.

Some weapons impact on your speed. If you obtain a "mean minigun", your character will move very slowly, but will have lots of firepower. Also, all weapons have a different amount of ammo in storage. A rocket launcher, for example, only has five rockets before it reloads, while an assault rifle has about 15 rounds.

Each weapon that is unlocked is shown in the "Weapons Database" inside of the game. All the weapons have a number with them. A strange occurence in this is that some weapons have skipped numbers in the game, and that two of these are the already discovered Blade Gun and Shrinkifier 3k.

Details about secret weapons:

• Splitter-Gun - Obtained by beating Quest in hardcore. It shoots a bullet, and when the bullet hits an enemy, it splits into two bullets, and continues this process until it gets out of the screen. The weapon can also hit you, even if you have a shield on.

• Shrinkifier 5k (3k or 2k in older versions) - Obtained by playing Survival mode, and avoiding enemies for 65 seconds, without shooting them. It shrinks an enemy if it hits one, until the enemy disappears. It does not appear on the Weapons Database if found.

• Blade Gun - Obtained by killing three enemies (not spiders) as you start in a triangle formation. Walk into the middle of the triangle, and wait untill you are nearly dead, then run out, and you will get it. Some reports also say that this works if you kill one enemy, then walk on it, and wait until you're nearly dead, then leave. This weapon is similar to the guass gun, but the blade it shoots is slower, and cleaves through enemies withought stopping. It does not appear on the Weapons Database if found.

A list of all weapons:

• Pistol (No. 1)
• Assault rifle (No. 2)
• Shotgun (No. 3)
• Sawed-off shotgun (No. 4)
• Sub-machine gun (No. 5)
• Guass-gun (No. 6)
• Mean minigun (No. 7)
• Flamethrower (No. 8)
• Plasma rifle (No. 9)
• Multi-plasma (No. 10)
• Plasma minigun (No. 11)
• Rocket launcher (No. 12)
• Seeker rockets (No. 13)
• Plasma shotgun (No. 14)
• Blow torch (No. 15)
• Mini-Rocket swarmers (No. 17)
• Rocket minigun (No. 18)
• Pulse gun (No. 19)
• Jackhammer (No. 20)
• Ion rifle (No. 21)
• Ion minigun (No. 22)
• Ion shotgun (No. 23)
• Plasma cannon (No. 28)
• Guass shotgun (No. 30)
• Ion shotgun (No. 31)
• Splitter-Gun (No. 32)

Bonuses

Throughout the game, the enemies will drop certain bonuses, such as a shield, or +500 points. There is a extremely rare secret bonus called 'Energize', that turns the enemies blue and makes them run away from you. You can also "eat" them while this bonus is active. It is said that this bonus is a tribute to pac-man.

Modes

Crimsonland features a wide array of modes for the single player and two player game.

• Quest- This is essentially the "campaign" mode of the game. Originally, the game had 4 episodes, with 10 levels in each one. In September 9, 2003, a free update was released that added more weapons, perks, and a new 5th episode to the game. Each episode has a different terrain type, such as grassy, or ice. If you beat the quest mode, a new "hardcore" mode is unlocked, along with a "Typing Shooter" mode. Hardcore mode is a much more difficult version of the levels. If hardcore is beaten, then a new "Splitter- Gun" is unlocked.

• Survival- In this mode, you have to stay alive to achieve the highest score possible. You start with a pistol, and aliens slowly start attacking. As the game progresses, different monster types, and more monsters come out faster. This mode has no end, and does allow gaining perks to aid you.

• Rush- This mode, like Survival, also has no end. You start with an assault rifle, and must hold off a stampeding horde of enemies as long as possible. Thhere are no perks, upgrades, or weapons that you can get, but your assault rifle has no reload. In this mode, the goal is to stay alive as long as possible.

• Tutorial- This mode teaches you how to play Crimsonland, use perks, fire weapons, move around, etc.

• Typ'o'Shooter- This is a secret mode, unlocked by beating the Quest mode on normal difficulty. You stand in one place, unable to move, and armed with a shotgun. Monsters will try to kill you, and all of them have words above their heads. If you type the word succesfully, you will fire and kill it. As the game goes on, the monsters will have a larger amount of words on their head. Also, perks are not available in this mode. This game never ends, and like rush mode, the goal is to stay alive as long as possible.

Enemies

In Crimsonland, there is a wide array of enemies. All of the enemies have a random color and size. Most of the time, the larger ones are harder to kill. Some enemies are also invisible, while others shoot at you. There are also "hives", that produce enemies. Here is a list of the enemies:

• Aliens - Normal Aliens
• Zombies - Zombie-Producing Zombies, Normal Zombies
• Lizards - Normal Lizards
• Spiders - Plasma-Shooting Spiders, Tiny Plasma-Shooting Spiders, Dividing Spiders, Normal Spiders
• Invisible Enemies - Normal Invisible Enemies

Distribution

• Developed by 10 Tons Entertainment
• Published by Reflexive Entertainment

External Links

• 10 Tons Website (http://www.10tons.org/)
• Reflexive Website (http://www.reflexive.net/)
• Crimsonland Official Website (http://crimsonland.reflexive.com/crimsonland)