SWAT 4

"Rainbow 6? What's that?"

Swat 4 is a tactical first person shooter for PC. This game has caused me many nights of little or no sleep. It's one of the best computer games around.

Story: 7/10
Swat 4 is made up of 14 separate missions, and the only thing linking these missions is the fact that the same SWAT team is present at all of them. For most games this would lower the score in this section to a 4 or 5, but the score was saved by the was the missions are presented. At the beginning of every mission there's a briefing. You can listen to the 911 call and the briefing, or if you're in a hurry you can just skim through the the text for important parts. There's also always a map of some sort to look at, but sometimes it's just a poorly drawn outline on a napkin. There's information on the suspects, hostages, and a time line of what's happened. It all helps to immerse you in the game.

Game Play: 10/10
This is where the game truly shines. As I said at the beginning of this review, Swat 4 is a tactical first person shooter. When you hear tactical fps you probably think Rainbow Six. There are several things that separate this from a Rainbow Six game. The first and foremost is the fact that you're a police officer and your enemies are criminals, not terrorists. Therefore you can't go in all guns blazing and shoot everyone holding a gun. Your goal is to save lives. When you enter a room you first shout out at the suspects telling them to drop their weapons. If they don't give up you'd ideally shoot them with a non lethal weapon such as a tazer, but if they shoot or aim at you you can shoot to kill. In Swat 4 you are the leader of a 5 man team. It's made up of you, the red team, and the blue team. You can give orders to both teams at the same time or one at a time. The orders vary from opening a door, throwing a flash bang, and clearing the room to restraining a suspect. All the commands are easy to issue through a simple interface that I'll talk about later. You can also see what your team members are doing via their helmet cameras. As a member of SWAT you are expected to keep everyone outside the building updated on what's going on. You have to report dead and restrained suspects and hostages. Another challenge to this game is that enemies don't appear in the same place every time. If you die and restart the mission, the enemies will be in different positions. This adds to the realism because you can't memorize the maps.

Graphics and Sound: 9/10
The graphics are slightly dated, but still look great. They go to show you don't need amazing graphics like oblivion to have a good game. The characters look realistic and usually act the way you'd expect a person to. The sound really helps set the mood for the game. Whenever you issue a command your team will reply. Suspects yell at you and hostages scream in fear. Guns sound realistic as far as I can tell. When you enter a new room or the action starts picking up, the music kicks in with a fast exciting beat. I almost forget it's a game when I blow open a door, run into a room with my team all shouting at the suspects, and then shoot the suspects seconds before they kill my entire team. The only reason this gets a 9 not a 10 is that sometimes I'll hear an enemy saying something completely out of character.

Controls: 9/10
The controls in this game a right on. There are more controls to deal with than most games because you have to be able to control you team, but they work well. The commands for your team are by default all given with the mouse. You point at an object and hold the right mouse button. This brings up a command window that's different depending on what you're pointing at. You scroll through it with the mouse and release the button on the action you want your team to perform. It works really well. The great thing about the controls is that if you don't like them you can change them.

Replayability/Mulitplayer: 8/10

I've beaten this game at least 3 times. Once you've beaten a mission you can go back and play it to get a better score or just for fun. There are 3 different difficulties to play on, and hundreds of mods and player made maps. The expansion pack is also out now. I haven't played multiplayer much, but from what I have played it's pretty good. There are several different game types such as coop, vip (swat protects the vip while suspect try to capture and hold for 2 minutes), and a basic team death match. The non lethal weapons are put to good use here. When hit with a sting grenade your vision gets blurry and you stumble around. Tazers render you immobile for a few seconds. This game has lasted me a long time.

Overall: 10/10
Swat 4 is an amazing game if you're looking for another tactical shooter. In my opinion it's 10 times better than Rainbow Six games. If you want intense action that requires some thought get this game. Plus, it's only $20. Who can't afford a $20 game that will last them as long as this one? Go out and buy it now!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/06