SWAT 4

"Could have used some online tweaking!"

In single player mode this game shines brightly, it is realistic and enjoyable. Many of the environments are highly detailed and are fun to breach with your sophisticated squad of police men, some of whom could have benefitted from slightly toned down Brooklyn accents.

The AI is superb as well and the game is relatively glitch and bug free in single player, but you will need to have nerves of steel to find enjoyment in the online mode. The mode itself is not as much a problem as the bumbling idiots who use it, mind you, because often times other players (either out of frustration or just for kicks) start teamkilling or acting disadvantageously towards the game.

For example if your job is to escort a VIP out of a building, a joker may find fun in incessantly spraying the VIP with pepper spray or electrocuting him. He may also wound the VIP to the point of near death, making it much more difficult to perform a safe escort. The players who do this are not punished by the game in any way.

A voting system, much like those present in the online Medal of Honor series should have been implemented. This would allow players to vote on removing a possibly disruptive player without the presence of an admin.

Another problem with the online mode is the frustration you'll have learning to un-learn everything you know from previous shooters. While games like Counterstrike encourage speed, running-and-gunning, and intense jumps on the enemy, this game basically reduces every single action to one style: slow. If you so much as move your gun around too quickly your accuracy will be ruined. If you shoot while standing up your accuracy will be gone. I often found myself shooting at an enemy repeatedly, hitting him several times yet watching him slaughter me with the same weapon soon after. This amounts to a great deal of online frustration, though I'm sure practice makes perfect and a devoted player would be able to learn the tricks of the trade in multiplayer.

This game should not be tried by Counterstrike or Medal of Honor players. You, like me, will be pulling your hair out with the frustration youll endure on the online servers. The officers cannot jump, and their "running" is equivalent to what normal humans refer to as a "boogie in the seniors center." Why Sierra couldn't have implemented a brief sprint function that makes you lose energy while sprinting but regain it when standing still is beyond me.

A fun thing about the game is the vast amount of non-lethal weaponry one can play around with in the multiplayer modes. The sheer joy of pepper spraying and arresting a heavily armed enemy is really superb, and highly embarassing for the individual you arrested. See, on Swat 4 servers being arrested is equivalent to Glocking someone down in Counterstrike, or bashing them to death with your gun in Medal of Honor. It is the most recognizable thing a player can do, so be careful out there!

The game lets you equip yourself with a gas mask, but to compensate for the obvious bonus of a gas mask Sierra blocks the top 25% of your monitor and bottom 25% of your moniter with a black, non transparent image as if you were wearing one of those turbans the taliban ladies use to cover themselves entirely. What's funny is that if you look at the gas mask in the inventory selection it is specifically designed to give the officers the best view possible, meaning there is absolutely nothing there which could hinder the view as much as the game wants you to believe.

Youll discover fun things while playing the game, like how sometimes when you shoot an enemy their gun will continue shooting spastically as they fall to the ground. The game is very realistic and fun, but the multiplayer takes a lot of practice and getting used to. I hope this review helped!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/05