How to play
You fly, the main gun fires by itself, and you decide when to launch rockets and when to call in the bombing run. This is all you need for your first mission.
Controls
Computer (keyboard only)
- Move in 8 directions
- WASDor the arrows
- Main weapon
- Automatic, always
- Rockets
- SpaceorJ
- Bombing run
- Left ShiftorK
- Quick messages (online)
- 1to8
- Pause or menu
- EscorP
Android (touch)
- Move
- Drag with a finger on the left half: the plane follows you with an offset
- Main weapon
- Continuous fire, automatic
- Rockets
- Big button at the bottom right
- Bombing run
- Button on the right, above the rockets one
- Quick messages (online)
- Radio button and phrase wheel
- Pause
- Pause button at the top
You can remap the controls in Options, and on Android set vibration from 0 to 100 %.
Goal
Each mission is a side-scrolling level with enemy waves, mini-bosses and a final boss. You take off, advance dodging and shooting, pick up power-ups, survive the last wave, take down the boss, see your results and visit the shop before taking off again.
You win by beating the mission boss. You lose when no plane is left in the air and nobody has lives. When that happens you retry the level with the money and gear you started it with.
Your hitbox is much smaller than the plane: what looks like a graze on your wing does not always hit you. Do not take that as an invitation.
Weapons
Main
.50 machine guns
They fire on their own in a straight burst of tracers. Weapon power-ups widen the spread from one to three and five guns.
Secondary
HVAR rockets
A pair of rockets with slight homing on ground targets and area damage. They take a moment to reload. Upgraded, they launch more pairs and end up homing on air targets too.
Special
Bombing run
You call in a pass of allied bombers that sweeps the screen and breaks buildings. You carry two charges per life, so keep them for when things get tight.
Power-ups
A marked enemy that glows, or a whole formation, drops them. They float to the left and you collect them by touching them.
Speed
A faster plane for a few seconds.
Weapons
Opens the main weapon spread one level more until you lose a life.
Shield
Absorbs three hits or lasts a few seconds, whichever comes first.
Repair
Rare. Gives back part of your health.
Upgrade shop
Between levels, and also before retrying the mission, you visit the shop with the money you earned shooting enemies down. The money is yours: each kill pays the pilot who makes it.
Upgrades in five levels each: engine, armour, main weapon, secondary weapon and special weapon.
Your progress, money and upgrades are stored on your device. There are no paid coins and no cosmetics.
Game modes
- Mission
- The campaign. Solo, in a private game, friends only or public. One or two pilots, and you can drop in mid-game.
- Practice
- A solo tutorial outside the campaign and the records: invincible with infinite ammo. Every enemy parades one by one with its name and a tip, then the bosses in a short version.
- Expert
- Unlocked by beating the mission: tougher enemies, only two lives and no repairs.
- Spectator
- You can watch a public game or a friend’s, up to two spectators per game, without taking part.
Online co-op
- A game takes two pilots: the host and the guest. You connect directly to each other, with no game server.
- Create a private room (invitation only), a friends room (any friend walks in) or a public one (people ask to join and the host approves). Quick match looks for a public room with a free seat or creates one for you.
- If a pilot is missing, Wing 2, an AI wingman, flies with you. If a human joins, they take the seat, and if they leave the AI takes it back.
- There is no friendly fire, but the environment does hurt: a depot explosion does not care whose plane it is.
- To talk you have eight quick radio messages and, only between friends, text messages with a filter, reporting and blocking.
- There is no sign-up: your pilot is created on your device with a callsign and a tag (Halcón#4821). To move it to another device, export the backup code in Options.
Difficulty
| Difficulty | Enemy health | Enemy fire rate | Damage you take | Lives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recruit | ×0.75 | ×0.7 | ×0.6 | 4 |
| Veteran | ×1 | ×1 | ×1 | 3 |
| Ace | ×1.3 | ×1.25 | ×1.4 | 2 |
| Expert | ×1.4 | ×1.3 | ×1.5 | 2 |
With two pilots, enemies have 50 % more health and bosses 70 % more. These are starting values and may be tuned before release.
Tips from the base
- Enemy projectiles are big, slow red or orange spheres: they read on any background. Learn the pattern and it stops being a surprise.
- A streak of kills without taking damage raises the multiplier up to ×3. One hit and it is gone.
- Convoy trucks do not shoot, but they often carry power-ups.
- The bombing run clears the screen, not the fear. Save it for the boss.
Accessibility: reduce motion, flash limit, separate camera shake, colour-blind safe palette with pilots labelled P1, P2 and AI, and interface scale from 80 to 150 %.