CAPTAIN ISHTAR VS. THE FEDERATION’S MOST WANTED (C64)

CAPTAIN ISHTAR VS. THE FEDERATION'S MOST WANTED (Alf Yngve) $3.99 USD

Game title: CAPTAIN ISHTAR VS. THE FEDERATION'S MOST WANTED

Game description: CAPTAIN ISHTAR VS. THE FEDERATION'S MOST WANTED is a 5 part multi-genre shooter that sees you play a Star Marshal (Captain Ishtar) with the mission to hunt down wanted interstellar criminals. The first part is a horizontal space shooter, the second part is also a horizontal shooter but this time you are on a hoverboard, the third part starts of as a first person on rails shooter before switching to a horizontal scrolling tank shooter, the fourth part is an on rail third person horizontal shooter while the fifth returns back to the horizontal shooter style (with knives). After completing each level, you are provided with a code that will allow you to access the next level.

[ Digital Purchase ]

  • Production - 70%
    70%
  • Fun - 12%
    12%
  • Depth - 60%
    60%

Summary

Captain Ishtar vs the Federations Most Wanted features some of Alf’s best graphical work to date with large sprites and many vibrant backgrounds across 5 varied and distinct levels and the inclusion of cut scenes to push the story narrative along is very much welcomed.

But oh my god, the game levels are all so tedious, uninteresting and unnecessarily long. The pace of the game is slow (no surprise for a SEUCK game), if it wasn’t for Richard Bayliss’ standard high quality techo fusion SID tunes, I don’t think I could stay awake playing the game.  Throw in awful shooting controls and a horrific final level design and what we have here is 3 to 4 hours of game time that I wish I could reclaim. This is not a fun game to play.

The game feels disjointed due to the levels needing to be loaded separately after you complete each level and seeing enemies reused from Alf’s games in recent times does put a further damper on the game experience and production values.

This ambitious project in the end falls flat and its not due to it being a SEUCK game but instead it is due to the artificial bloating of the game level designs – this is a good example of where less would certainly be more.

Overall
47%
47%
Sending
User Review
1.33 (3 votes)

Pros

  • Attractive graphical style
  • Action pumping Richard Bayliss SID music
  • Cut scenes to push the story narrative

Cons

  • Long, tedious levels
  • Slow paced action
  • Awful controls
  • Awful hit detection
  • Separate loading game levels
  • Many enemies are from Alf’s past games

Additional Screenshots:

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