S.W.A.T. 4

Lead a SWAT team through a number of tactical, realistic scenarios in this first person shooter

SWAT 4 was designed by Irrational Games with Vivendi Universal Games working as producer in 2005, but for a game that's ten years old it holds up surprisingly well. At the time of its release it received good reviews on all points, graphics, missions and general game play. The player is tasked with leading a five man SWAT team through thirteen different missions in the single player missions and then playing additional content provided by multi player. The game's predecessors are Police Quest and other SWAT franchise entries.

Game Play

SWAT 4 gains points for its realism. All through the missions the game puts emphasis on real police procedures as opposed to other first person shooters that are more about gun and gunning. Most missions require the player to apprehend their targets without the use of lethal force. Each mission is graded and different difficulty levels require a higher grade to pass and move on. Points are deducted for things like firing on a criminal without them first pointing their firearm at a SWAT member, harming hostages or having a SWAT officers become incapacitated. Injuries are incurred easily and it doesn't take much for a hostage to be harmed, or even a heavily armored SWAT office to be incapacitated making the game exceedingly tricky to gain a perfect score. The game provides a variety of weapons and equipment in order to complete your goals, as well a key mechanic is the ability for the SWAT members to negotiate with the criminals they're trying to capture. Challenges and orders can be issued, and must be issued, before resorting to lethal force.

Presentation

The game's graphics are dated, but good for being ten years old. Their isn't a story, per say, but there is a sense of continuity from mission to mission. Sound effects and visual effects are on par with what you'd expect and are reasonably done. The real presentation gem is the sense of realism that the player gets. Announcing their entry, giving warnings and chances to surrender before opening fire etc give the game a great sense of actually being on a mission and having to comply to police procedure.

Pros

• Great realism and mechanics underlining real police procedure
• Hardcore scoring system challenges players to get a perfect score

Cons

• Ten year old graphics won't be for everyone