Tips and strategy

Once you know the controls, these habits make the difference between clearing the first building and reaching the later ones.

Plan the descent from the top

Every building is generated fresh, but each one follows the same logic: shafts and escalators chain together from the roof to the basement, and every floor can be reached. Before you rush downward, note which red doors are on the floors you're passing. Going back up for a missed document costs far more time than a short detour on the way down, and time is what triggers the alarm.

Let the elevator do the fighting

Crushing an agent under a descending car is worth 300 points, three times a gunshot. When an agent is waiting on the floor below your car, ride down onto them instead of stepping out to shoot. It's also safer: you're inside the car while it happens.

Read every shot

Enemy fire is either high or low, and the answer is always the same: duck under high shots, jump over low ones. Don't hold down the duck button by default. A low shot will still hit you, and you can't move while crouched. Watch the agent, react, then fire back.

Use lamps on purpose

A shot-out lamp gives you two advantages. The lamp itself can drop on an agent for 150 points. The blackout afterwards makes enemy shots much less accurate for a few seconds. Save lamps for moments when several agents are on one floor, or when you have to cross a long corridor under fire.

Jump-kick when they're close

A jump-kick is worth 150 points against 100 for a shot, and the jump takes you over low shots at the same time. It's the best answer to an agent who has just stepped out of a door right next to you.

Respect the shafts

• Before stepping into a shaft, check the car is really there. Falling more than about one floor is fatal.
• Riding on the roof of a car is a fast way down, but step off before a car going up reaches the top of the shaft.
• Don't wait at the bottom of a shaft. A car coming down will flatten you just as easily as an enemy.
• Jump across an empty shaft from the very edge. Taking off early drops you down the shaft instead.

Beat the clock

The alarm makes every enemy faster and more aggressive for the rest of the building. Keep moving: take the fights that are in your path and ignore the ones that aren't. Points from extra kills are rarely worth a building full of fast, aggressive agents.

Bank extra lives

The first extra life comes at 10,000 points and then every 20,000 after that. The building-clear bonus grows with each level (1,000 × the level number), so surviving to the later buildings is the fastest way to earn lives.

Put it into practice, or go back to How to play.