Navy Seals

About

Navy Seals is a 1991 side-scrolling shooter that tasks you with tracking down hidden missile caches in Middle Eastern locales. Play as Lieutenant Dale Hawkins, dodging bullets and climbing ladders across five levels filled with Arab soldiers to eliminate. The core loop mixes platforming, like grappling ledges and pushing crates, with gunplay using a handgun, machine guns, or a flamethrower. Each level forces you to plant time bombs on weapon crates and escape before they explode. The Beirut level adds a 3D-style hostage rescue, blending action with tactical timing. The game earned praise for its tight controls and varied weapons, though some ports drew complaints over simplified visuals. Critics highlighted the challenge curve and creative level design, with players often returning for better scores. While the movie tie-in is loose, the fast-paced combat and resource management keep it engaging for retro shooter fans. Its 1990s charm and mix of strategy and reflexes make it a niche pick for those craving old-school intensity.

Storyline

The game is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up and revolves around the protagonist, Lieutenant Dale Hawkins, recovering caches of hidden Stinger missiles from Arab terrorists in Oman. The game features a total of five levels with varying locations and begins with allocating five lives to the player. The main objective of the game is to locate and place time bombs on boxes containing Stinger missiles, in which the player is required to escape before the time runs out. The enemies featured in the game are Arab terrorists; the player must neutralise them by shooting them with their selected weapon, which is a handgun by default. Other weapons available in the game include machine guns, rocket launchers, and a flamethrower, which are only accessible through finding hidden crates. The second level of the game is in Beirut, and focuses on the player, along with a group of Navy Seals, rescuing hostages in a 3D presentation of the city. If the player is successful in rescuing the hostages and recovering all missiles, the remaining forces will rendezvous at a submarine. During the game, the player-character may grapple onto ledges, climb ladders, crawl, and jump in any direction. The player can also push large crates in order to reach higher platforms. Combat is focused on shooting an enemy with a weapon on sight, however the player can crawl at any time in order to avoid the oncoming bullets of an enemy. The player is also able to neutralise enemies by dropping down onto them whilst dangling from a higher platform. In every level, the game sets a time limit when a bomb is placed on one of the crates containing Stinger missiles.