S.W.A.T. is an acronym for Special Weapons And Tactics. Make no mistake, SWAT 4 adheres to the tenets of all SWAT units around the world. SWAT is a life saving organization. That is the first, last and most important thing to know about SWAT. This isn’t some fictional game construct. This the way ALL SWAT teams operate, in every city, in every state, in every country around the world. The officers who work in SWAT know precisely what kind of organization it is. It is often a dirty and thankless profession, but one that is so incredibly vital to law enforcement. Whether they are extremely evil or extremely desperate, there are people who will do anything to get what they want or to avoid the consequences of their actions.



This is the arena in which SWAT 4 places you in. Every situation is unique and every one is extreme. After all, if it were simple and predictable, then why would you call SWAT?

So how does SWAT 4 stack up in the technological ranks of the squad base shooter ranks? Not bad at all. It certainly won’t match the pseudo-realism of Half-Life 2 and it can’t match the atmosphere of the creep filled Doom 3. My personal feeling is to place this somewhere between Counter-Strike and FarCry. That’s just judging specifically by the graphics and physics of the game. Tech only.



SWAT 4 really stands out in two areas, squad control and missions (or level) design. In each mission you play the squad leader, cleverly codenamed “Boss”, a recent transfer from Los Angeles (home of the Worlds Finest SWAT unit, and that’s not bull). Your team consists of two squads, call sign Blue and call sign Red with two members each. The team call sign is Gold.

Like most tutorials, SWAT 4 walks you through the basics and thankfully that includes all the squad rules and squad control methods. You can control each of the squads with very simple commands issued using the tab key (to toggle through the squads) and either the space bar for ready commands (commands that are obvious) or using the context menu (from the right mouse button). What’s killer is that each squad actually operates effectively. Gone are the days when a two man squad was basically brain dead, now they will really do what they should be doing. They will never be as good as any mediocre gamer, but at least they actually act like SWAT members and follow all the procedures. You don’t have to worry about some lame perp creeping up your backside with these boys around. They got your back.

Word of caution while stepping through the tutorial though, capping the newb after you’ve slipped on the zips will definitely give you a NO-GO. Yes, you can fail the tutorial.



One of the points that separates SWAT 4 from other shooters is the story. There is no story. Most shooters try to prop up their settings and visuals with a shallow, barely discernable story that is often completely meaningless. So, rather than try to create some form of atmospheric tension with a flimsy, 24ish knockoff plot, SWAT 4 simply has no story. You are a SWAT officer, nothing more, nothing less. Even when playing the Career mode, you are simply the team leader with a very light background profile. The Career mode is precisely what it portends to be, you take your team through a series of missions that contain a number of different extreme situations. From serving high risk search warrants (which means the suspect probably doesn’t know you are coming but will likely kill you if they think they can escape) to really nasty hostage rescue situations, each mission in the Career mode gives you a mission rating that determines how good a team leader you are. Obviously the objective is to be the best SWAT leader possible and that means following the rules of SWAT.

Take special note that once again Irrational Games is really adhering to the nature of SWAT. SWAT is a life saving organization, not a life taking organization. To that effect, each mission has been designed with heavy emphasis on life saving procedures. No rational person is ever OK with the death of a peace officer no matter what the situation. However due to the extreme nature of SWAT operations, the loss of an officer can be considered acceptable. However, the loss of a civilian is never acceptable. Not in any situation or under any circumstances. Those people are your responsibility and their lives are entrusted to your care. And so, while progressing through any of the missions you may lose an officer and still obtain an adequate operational score, the loss of a civilian life will result in an immediate operational failure. Your job is to bring order to chaos by protecting the innocent and arresting the suspects. Yes, I said arresting. If you roll up into the A-Bomb nightclub and start spraying like you’re Tony Montana you will are very likely to fail the operation. However, while you are trying to arrest the punks by ordering them to the ground, bear in mind that these are extremely violent people and often in hostage situations. They may decide to paste a hostage just to show they mean business. So while you definitely want to get the loser on the ground, don’t wait to long or you may be calling the meat wagon for an unintended body bag.

OK, so while the multiplayer demo was certainly not adequate to properly judge SWAT 4 as a total game, that does mean that it is not worthwhile. Quite the contrary, the multiplayer level of SWAT 4 is pretty good. In fact, multiplayer really had a Counter Strike feeling to it. Unfortunately when you play in multiplayer you really are not playing SWAT any more. The nature of playing with other people prohibits proper tactical analysis and cautionary progression. You won’t be using the OptiWand to look around doorways and you won’t be stopping to mirror corners. About the most tactical thing you can do in multiplayer is crouch and lean to fire around a corner and present a minimal target profile.

This game is not meant for children. It is not excessively violent, though violence is the nature of the job. SWAT 4 is not excessively bloody or containing of excessive gore, but there is blood and blood spray shown. Oh, and there is some use of colorful slang adjectives as well. Definitely a few s-words and if I’m not mistaken, I even heard an F-Bomb being dropped.



One final note. This is a preview of SWAT 4. The copy I received came in a plain envelope with a couple of standard TDK CD-Rs. This is beta code? It’s got to be a nanometer away from the gold version because this was the tightest preview code it has ever been my pleasure to put on my hard drive.



Now I have to go and try to get that damned theme song out of my head.



Editor's Note: SWAT 4 is scheduled for release in the early part of March 2005. For a closer look inside this promising game, check out these brand new screenshots .