When ordinary means of law enforcement are not an option, there is a group that
is called upon to dole out justice to those that believe they are above the law.
This highly-regarded and specially trained unit is SWAT. In SWAT 4, you
are the element leader of an authentic Special Weapons and Tactics team within
the big city where danger looms large. The legendary SWAT tradition continues as
you lead an elite squad of tactical experts into hard-hitting action. In a city
rife with armed felons and explosive situations only the unique skills of you
and your men are up to the task. From intense hostage situations to Homeland
Security threats, your SWAT team will tactically command each and every
situation differently where a split second mistake could lead to failure. Within
the city, crisis and turmoil are an everyday, every second occurrence.
GAMEPLAY
Like Medal of
Honor Allied Assault and other shooter games, the gameplay for
SWAT 4 utilizes the mouse for moving in and out of
position, firing the weapon of choice, commanding the SWAT team
members, and more. While the mouse is my favorite way to play
shooter games it also limits response time when in a sticky
situation. In terms of looks, the game interface (mission profile,
etc.) is very good. Since SWAT 4 is a thinking game as much
as it is a shooter game, the player is asked to make careful
choices about when to enter a room guns blazing or trying to talk
down the criminals. The objectives in every mission are saving the
hostages, detaining the criminals, restoring order, and, most
important of all, limit or prevent injury to fellow SWAT officers.
The game is divided into 13 different missions that take place in
generic but nevertheless interesting locations. The vast array of
SWAT technology and weapons is also interesting and comes in handy
during the missions. Speaking of missions, each one can be
customized according to the individual player's preferences. Also,
online multiplayer with three 16-player and 13 co-op levels is
available.
While the game is
interesting to play it takes a while to get used to some of the
annoyances. The AI is a bit flawed and the load times take too
long. The criminals are pretty smart as they will run away, hide
and attack at any time and place. The fact that they are never in
the same place adds great replay value to the missions. However,
it becomes frustrating when the criminals don't obey the commands
of the officers to put down their guns. The objective is to
preserve life and not kill, but many times I found myself having
to kill the bad guys because they didn't comply or started firing
at the other officers forcing me to return fire. Another flaw in
the AI is the response and control of the other officers. I
frequently found myself losing one or two members because they
didn't spot the bad guy or got killed (it's as if they only fire
when fired upon). Completing missions is not always easy and it
will take several tries before getting through to the next level,
either because you're dead, failed an objective, and ran out of
ammo (which can happen easily although curiously the game doesn't
end there).
SWAT 4 looks
pretty decent but also dated in terms of textures and animations.
There are better looking shooter games out there than this one,
but the quality is sufficient enough. The designs of the various
locations is intricate and sometimes quite creepy (with specific
details and signs on the walls and floors).
AUDIO
The audio is
presented in a fairly good manner with the machine gun fire,
explosions, the command shouts, and the suspenseful score sounding
realistic. Surround sound is an option here but it depends on your
computer's specifications.
FINAL THOUGHTS
SWAT 4 is not
the usual shoot-em-up type of video game, but one that requires
tactical thinking, patience and smarts. It's not about who you
kill, but who you save and rescue, and what you accomplish in each
mission. The game is good and interesting to play for a while, yet
it's not without a few flaws. Players of SWAT 3 might not
find much improvements in this new version, but newcomers should
have a pretty decent time playing the game.
