Overview

SWAT 4 is the latest game in a series that had steadily gotten better - going from the execrable Police Quest: SWAT, improving with the sequel and getting down-right good with SWAT 3. Then, strangely, for four and a half years there has been nothing - until now.

Multiplayer

The artifact

The Vulgar

Naturally enough, SWAT 4 places the player in charge of a 5-man element. The operators are lead by you, that is to say, Gold Leader, and are also split into pairs among themselves - Red Team and Blue Team. Now, not only can the player order them around while they're within visual range, he can also switch to a camera view of any of them and give them orders from their own view. Direct control of team members is impossible - this isn't Ghost Recon - but the AI is competent enough to handle itself and it follows orders nicely. The interface is simple and giving orders to open a door, pick it, breach it, breach and bang, breach and sting, breach and gas - it's as easy as drinking tea. The AI's entire arsenal of behavior and equipment is available at the touch of the right-mouse button and the scroll wheel. Color us impressed.

Hell Time Hunter

Hazmats

Vulgar again

SWAT 4 will offer a campaign mode with a linear mission selection, as well as an instant action mode. The instant action mode uses the pre-existing maps but under player-defined conditions. This means that the player can choose the type of engagement (warrant service, hostage situation, etc.) and the presence of any hostiles or enemies. This mission creator is, for all its apparent rigidity, surprisingly capable of creating a variety of experiences. Packing some of the smaller, simpler maps full of enemies can create intense firefights. A larger map with just one or two foes and many civilians becomes a nervous experience as the player tries desperately not to injure innocents while, in turn, trying not to be fragged himself. The dynamic generation of enemies and civilians is also used in the campaign mode itself, to add variety and keep the player from rehearsing his moves.

The game runs off the Unreal engine and the developer's previous experience with it shows. SWAT 4, even in beta stage, ran smoothly and flawlessly on our Pentium 4 3GHz review system with a GeForce 6800 Ultra. There's a fair variety of models, and though they're not overly detailed they are animated well and the textures are of high quality throughout the game.


What SWAT 4's locales give up in size, they make up for in detail and real-world sense. A dot-com office looks like a dot-com office, and an all-night diner looks like your typical diner. The variety of combat environments, though they are commonplace areas like offices, clubs, diners and homes, is quite great and a relief from standard warehouse missions.


In combat the player is limited to realistic SWAT equipment such as two rather famous submachine guns in 9mm and .45 caliber variety, as well as the Colt M4 and a German-designed assault rifle. All the standard firearms come with a choice of full metal jacket or hollow point ammunition, or in the case of shotguns the player can choose slugs or buckshot. Not all weapons are lethal, mind you. There is a less-than-lethal shotgun and pepper ball shooter, as well as a tazer gun the player can use in place of his sidearm. In addition, the player has a large choice of suppression weapons like gas grenades, stingers (grenades that fire rubber balls to inflict pain) and flashbangs. Other cool utilities include a snooping scope to look under doors and around corners, as well as charges to breach a door (or a breaching shotgun if you prefer).


The game scores the player's performance, and keeps track of his behavior throughout a mission. Shoot a suspect who is about to comply with an order to surrender? That's going to cost you. Use stingers or gas grenades on civilians without reason? That'll cost you points as well. Failed to secure weapons and evidence, or to report downed suspects/civilians/officers? More points lost. Difficulty levels don't affect the AI or the number of enemies or hitpoints. Rather, difficulty increases the number of points required to pass a level and go on to the next one. The game doesn't choose the player who is the best at killing, rather, it discriminates between those who use proper tactics and procedures, and those who don't. A small, but definitely charming addition.