Swat 4

Okay my first review…

Basics: Swat 4 is a game by Irrational games, publisher Sierra. Its rating is m for mature for blood intense violence and strong language (what do you expect criminals to say when you cuff them???? Nutty fudgekins????). It is a First person shooter.

Swat 4 is a very original game that is pulled off very well. Most games just follow the same fps mold with just a small twist, or even none at all. Well not completely smashing the fps mold Swat 4 manages to bring refreshing game play to a unreflecting genre. The idea of the game itself is fairly simple, you lead a swat team into a situation (psycho hiding in his moms house takes somebody hostage, bank robbery, failed convenience store heist….e.t.c.) and try to Bring Order to Chaos. The means pretty much handcuffing everyone in the area (including hostages so they don’t go running off into the middle of the fight).Sometimes this is easy, you yell for compliance and the suspect will drop there weapon and surrender. Sometimes they will refuse. The latter situation requires quick thinking, you can simply shoot them and at the end of the game have a lower score, or try to use one of the many non lethal weapons at your disposal. Of course using a non lethal weapon means letting your guard down for a split second. Long enough for the suspect to shoot you dead.

Of course your not alone, you have a squad a very capable Swat members always ready to help you out. The command system for ordering them around is quick and easy to use.

The graphics in the game are fairly good, not the best but there enough to give a good atmosphere. Which brings us to my only real complaint about the game. Many of levels, mainly the ones dealing with psychos give you some truly disturbing levels. Of course real SWAT officer have to deal with this but it was still a major downer to have to worry about accidentally loading a horrifying level. Of course it is considered a good thing that irrational games was able to give this such great atmosphere and so I am only telling about these levels so that you can know about them when deciding if this game is worth buying.

As a brief note on the multiplayer mode. It is very well done with orginal modes of play including co-op which substitutes your AI teammates with your fellow players.

In short SWAT 4 is a very good game and I recommend it to anyone who is sick of the same old FPS mold.

8/10