SWAT 4 Review

The action in SWAT 4 resembles real-life police operations where caution and good team coordination are the key to success. It's a game where you need to mind your mission objectives and find the best way to perform the operation. If you do not need a reason for to shoot people, animals, or monsters dead on the spot, this probably isn't the game for you. Although I'm extraordinarily aggressive, I still found the game very enjoyable because of some nice touches that make it realistic and exciting. There were some occasions when I'd lose all the members of my team, so I'd sneak around the building on my own, looking for any potential suspects left. With the corner of my eye, I'd catch the glimpse of the silhouette of a man behind the wall, standing there on his guard, suspecting nothing. I just waited until he turned his back on me so I could steal closer and shoot him in the head. This feels much better and gives you more satisfaction than the Rambo-style assault - it's cleaner and much prettier (???! -Ed), and it bears some sort of poetic justice. The beauty of the act comes hand in hand with the fact nobody's seen you, so you can go on unnoticed. It also bears no risk of being shot. The thing I hated most was being shot in the leg, as it forced me to limp around like a freak, looking for someone I could treat with a bullet or two.

I always knew she was a whore, and now my suspicions proved correct.

Erm... hello. Can't we just talk it over?

Although SWAT does not bring anything exceptionally original, the missions are well rounded and take place in nicely designed locations, with lots of good spots for shooting from cover. Your opponents take full advantage of that fact, hiding in a toilet stall and waiting for you to pass them by, eliminating you quickly because you have no room to turn around. Advancing slowly, checking every room, and using your environment, such as mirrors, can very often save you from ending your life in shame and misery. As I've already said, both your team members and your opponents display a solid amount of intelligence, although they're also capable of some devastatingly stupid actions. They are capable of dealing with the room full of armed suspects only to be shot by a single person at the next corner. However on Earth did the four of them manage to get killed by a single thug will forever stay a mystery to me.

Your teammates are also sometimes prone to getting stuck in doors, which is a buzz-kill in combination with occasional graphics glitches. This however happens very seldom, so it won't hinder your overall enjoyment of the game.

Apart from this, the game suffers from no real problems. On the visual side, it looks rather good, with detailed textures and heavy use of bump mapping, and objects rendered with a reasonable amount of detail and realism. Most of the game takes place in shady indoor settings, which look rather good and realistic, varying from dirty slums inhabited by the members of a sect to clean and polished bank interiors. The game utilizes the Havok physics engine, which means you can expect some realistic rag doll physics, but the environment is not nearly as interactive as it should've been. Maybe I was just spoiled by Half-Life 2, but this certainly would've added even more realism to an already realistic looking title.

As for the sound, I will not waste words on it as it does a very good job. The background sounds and the voiceovers are of very good quality, while the music themes fit the atmosphere perfectly and build up the intensity.

What increases the replay value of the game aren't only the different difficulty settings, but also the easy-to-use mission builder where you can create your own custom missions by adjusting several basic parameters. The game also includes the instant action and the multiplayer mode (up to five players in a co-op game, 16 players in a SWAT-versus-suspects mode).

All in all, SWAT 4 is a very good game, which brings nothing truly revolutionary, but allows you to engage in exciting missions with a set of different objectives and various locations. The gameplay is smooth and the environments are cleverly designed, so with the addition of a solid AI, it creates a realistic and a very authentic feel. While this game may not be remembered as a trendsetter, it gives you quite an enjoyable experience.

SWAT 4 wants you to be an effective and deadly law machine with a strong authority and an unfaltering ego. Glad to find out I had tons of both. I also managed to cripple several annoying civilians without the internal affairs finding out about it, thus satiating my sadistic appetites. Well, I certainly do feel better about myself right now. Now on to my next real life mission: trying to shoot the neighbor's dog in the ass shouting, "Once I'm done with you, I'll take revenge on your fucking owner, you ugly son of a proverbial bitch!" (I hope she has a good lawyer on retainer. -Ed)