SWAT 4

"Justice, SWAT style"

In the years since SWAT 3 tactical shooter fans have been starved with only the odd Rainbow 6 game to satisfy them. Now with Swat 4 they're in for a feast. Veering away from the Quake formula of shoot first, ask questions later SWAT 4 only lets you use your gun as a last resort.

Most of your time in SWAT 4 will be spent skulking through houses and peering around corners. Don't worry every few steps you'll come against some determined bad guy. After you've spotted each other a shouting match ensues with both parties screaming to put the others weapons down. Either they'll run or start shooting either way SWAT 4 provides you with a multitude of means to pacify them. You can either use your primary weapon to shoot them in a limb or use a non-lethal weapon such as a Taser to get them prone on the ground. It's in this freedom of choice that SWAT 4 excels. While on higher difficulties you will get penalised for being overly aggressive there is nothing preventing you from going in Rambo style on the easier difficulty levels. If you prefer a more hands off approach you can use your AI teamates to clear rooms and confront suspects leaving you to mop up after them. The enemy and teamate AI is of a high standard with suspects and hostages responding realistically to the presence of a heavily armed SWAT squad busting in on them. While some might immediately begin pleading for their lives others will take a bit more persuading. Missions will usually involve you rescuing hostages and bringing criminals to justice unharmed with the occasional collection of evidence thrown in for good measure. A vast improvement over SWAT 3 is the new order system. A context sensitive quick order can be given by looking at a suspect or door and using the spacebar to give the most appropriate order. If you need to give any other order you just use the right mouse button to bring up a more extensive list of options and the choose the most appropriate one.

SWAT's missions don't follow an overall story as in SWAT 3 and stand only as a series of missions by themselves. A story aspect isn't all that important and your fellow squad members are at least fleshed out during missions with the odd comment or two thrown in.

SWAT's graphics are quite good. While not up to the standard of HL2 of Doom 3 they are still very good right down to the number and type of equipment carried by you and your teamates. Your surroundings are also well rendered with the smallest of details present throughout all your missions. The voice acting is of a high standard and the ambient sound can sometimes provide quite brilliant atmosphere to some of the levels. There is no music as such with only the odd low-key tune in the background.

SWAT will last only a couple of hours on the lower difficulty levels but it comes into its own once you ramp up the difficulty and have to deal with more aggressive suspects using the minimum of force. As with SWAT 3 replayability is enhanced by randomly placing suspects and hostages in levels so they are never the same. Sierra has also included a quick mission maker so players can create their own missions using the characters and levels in the game. An editor is also included so that brand new missions and levels can be created.

After a couple of years Sierra have given us the best tactical shooter ever. With AI and levels that put rainbow 6 to shame this is a must have.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/05