Cyber Police ESWAT sees the player as Duke Oda, a Japanese-American police officer accepted into the crime-ridden Liberty City Police Department's top unit, E.S.W.A.T. (Enhanced Special Weapons and Tactics). Duke starts off as a regular human being, but during the course of the game is given a powered exoskeleton (called I.C.E. in the attract sequence, which stands for "Individual Combat Equipment") to fight against a powerful high-tech crime organisation named "E.Y.E." which is threatening the city. His ultimate goal is to apprehend "Balzar" a mad scientist, when E.Y.E is revealed to be a rogue artificial intelligence computer.
Gameplay
ESWAT is a run-and-gun game in which the player must eliminate threats approaching from either side of the screen. After completing a few missions, player is accepted to the elite E.S.W.A.T. unit and given a power suit and special weapons. Each stage is divided to several levels, and a boss is waiting at the end of each stage.
Power-Ups
Bullets: Increase the number of bullets player has.
Plasma Cannon: Powerful energy weapon that penetrates through enemies in a straight line.
Multi-Shot: Opens fire to all targets in front of the player in a 90 degrees angle.
Heat Charges: Launches two powerful bombs that travel around the screen. Strongest weapon in the game.
Stages (Arcade Version)
Stage 1: Bank Robbery
Boss: Fatman. He covers himself with a shield to block pistol shots. He will be vulnerable when he lowers his shield to breath a fire ball. Also occasionally rolls on the ground.
Stage 2: Hostage Situation
Boss: Nasty Nick. He uses the hostage as a shield and throws a hard to evade boomerang. Jump up and fire towards his face to damage him. Shooting the hostage does not penalize the player other than giving an ear-piercing shriek. Kicking him will knock Nick down instantly.
Stage 3: Truck Stop
Boss: The Captain. He will swing his anchor towards you like a flail. He can either swing while standing or crouching. He is vulnerable when he throws the anchor towards you. Completing this level will allow player to joing ESWAT unit and wear the power suit.
Stage 4: Rooftops
Boss: Dirty Duffy. He will attack you with his own power armor. Keep the distance from him and fire your arm mounted gatling gun away. He will occasionally jump over you to the other side of the screen.
Stage 5: Derelict Building
Boss: Flamethrower Guy. You will be attacked by multiple enemies and a guy with a flamethrower. He can rapidly reduce your health so, keep distance and fire away.
Stage 6: Condemned Block
Boss: Collapsing Building. Once you enter, Duffy will remotely activate explosives while the building you are in will slowly start to collapse. Stay clear from explosives as they detonate. Once you are out, Duffy will shoot his pistol towards you. A single shot will be enough to make him surrender.
Stage 7: China Town
Boss: Tiger. A tiger will charge towards you. Watch its movements carefully and jump when it is charging and duck when it is jumping over you.
Stage 8: Warehouse
Boss: Gorilla. It will either throw wooden barrels or get close and smash you with its fists. As usual, keep distance and fire away. If it is moving towards you, quickly move forwards and backwards to prevent it from cornering you.
Stage 9: Rooftops
Boss: Monster Truck. Rats Lee will be driving his oversized pick-up. His thugs at the back will throw grenades towards you. If the truck moves all the way backwards, move to the other edge of the screen as he will try to run over you.
Stage 10: Dockyard
Boss: Laser Turrets. A group of laser turrets will move upwards and downwards and fire their lasers. There is a considerable delay between firings so use this momentum to move around and avoid fire.
Stage 11: Harbor
Boss: Personal Flight Platforms. Two men with hovering bikes will fly around and attack you with lasers. They are quite fast so time your shots carefully and always move around to avoid projectiles.
Stage 12: Factory
Boss: Black Devils. Two robots equipped with the same ICE armor player is wearing will attack at the same time. They can jump around and crouch, making them much harder targets than usual.
Stage 13: Secret Entrance
Boss: Incinerator. A moving platform will drop molten iron lumps to the conveyor player is standing. Keep moving right to not to fall to the pitfall on the left and jump over the burning trash. Fire upwards whenever platform is nearby.
Stage 14: Armory
Boss: Mini-Tank. Rockets can be evaded by crouching while gun at the top will only hit you if you jump. Mortar at the back will be a problem however and you must watch avoid it by staying close to the tank or jumping backwards or forwards when it is just about to hit the ground.
Stage 15: Balzar's Throne Room
Balzar's throne will be surrounded by four tesla-coil like weapons. Keep moving around and fire towards each coil until they are destroyed. Heat Charges can bring them down very quickly if you have them.
History
Legacy
Cyber Police ESWAT's moderate success saw it ported to multiple platforms. Sega brought it to the Sega Master System in 1990, and U.S. Gold were given the license to publish versions for home computers, including the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.
A "sequel" or "remake" in the form of ESWAT: City Under Siege was released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1990. Cyber Police ESWAT and ESWAT: City Under Siege are frequently mistaken to be the same game, but although both share a similar gameplay style, the Mega Drive game is very different.
Production credits
System 16 version
While hard to see, a high score table is displayed during the game's attract mode in-between lots of information about the ESWAT suit.