Jason gets his equipment ready for some expansion pack fun.
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Fri, 3 March 2006
by: Jason
SWAT... The very name brings many images to mind: teams of black clad shadowy individuals kicking in doors, abseiling from helicopters and assorted other hi-jinx that look like a great deal of fun if not slightly life threatening. SWAT 4 tries to bring the experience and feeling of being in command of your very own SWAT team to your humble PC; and in some ways they almost succeed in providing an extremely immersive experience.
To call this a game is perhaps a bit of an injustice, as it verges very close to simulator territory. For example, you can just burst into a building and shoot anything that moves, but doing so will result in a lot lower score and more than likely a quick death and a visit to the retry mission button. The better option is to work like a real SWAT team, moving in and securing an area, ordering different elements of your team to different tasks, restraining suspects, securing hostages and evidence.
The weapons and other assorted toys are straight out of the SWAT handbook; a couple of shotguns, pistols and assault rifles are all available. Although, they take a back seat to your non-lethal items like grenades, of these you have 3 types: flash bang (big flash and a bang, geddit!!) CS Gas (some sort of nerve gas, makes you cough) and stingers(nasty evil little bastards, full of rubber balls that bounce all over the place causing pain and incapacitation).
Other goodies in the non-lethal category include tasers and pepper spray, as well as a type of handcuffs for restraining crims. Not only are these boys armed to the teeth they also carry an impressive arsenal of tools and toys: lock picks, C4 door charges and breaching shotguns (for the locks you don't want to pick), door wedges (for keeping suspects in and stopping them keeping you out) and the brilliant in theory but shithouse in practice Optiwand (for looking around corners and under doors, perhaps I just cant use it).
 | | The alley is your best bet when you can't find a toilet |
After initial play, I was all set to absolutely pan this game as an exercise in pointing and clicking and issuing orders to AI squad mates just doesn't equal exciting and riveting gameplay to me. Having said that, I played it a few more times (a review consisting of "this is shit" would probably not be warmly received by anybody) and during replaying it started to grow on me to the point where I was finding myself actually planning strategies and deployment plans, while reading the mission briefing of biblical proportions that precedes every mission. Yes, they are a fairly full-on read, but they cover almost anything you want to know about your mission and the location (that is, of course, unless going in blind is going to make the mission more exiting. For example; the second mission featuring an ordinary suburban two-storey home, with probably the most extensive basement in the world). The briefing section is also where you decide the gear your men will be carrying; want to turn one of your doughnut gobblers into a lean mean non-lethal grenade chucking machine? Well you can, sort of but it's probably best to leave weapon and equipment loadouts to the defaults or the pre-determined sets.
Graphically, the game looks great, well up to the current standards, no hint of a lagging framerate when you're in the middle of a firefight or with lots of stuff on screen. The sound doesn't really make an impact, muffled boots on gravel, quiet responses from your squad, etc. Until you find a suspect or hostage, basically when these guys "go loud" they go very loud indeed! During the first mission I surprised a suspect in an alley, its probably safe to say he was more surprised than I was at the chorus of deep manly voices yelling things like "down on the ground" and "freeze!!!" but it was close. Control wise the game seems a bit daunting at first, a quick browse through the key list will make you wonder just where do you get another 4 hands. But in practice it works well, with movement, reloading and weapon selection all handled in much the same way as all FPS games and the space bar used as a context sensitive orders button, more detailed orders are available by the use of an on-screen menu accessed by the right mouse button (left one for shooting).
Online is where the action is at, a quick look online revealed thousands of servers patiently awaiting budding SWAT commanders who have cut their teeth on the 14 single player missions to take it online and replay the same missions in a co-op mode with a team of real actual people (weather this is helpful or a hindrance probably depends on your choice of teammates); various SWAT vs. suspect game types are also on offer. There is a quick mission maker to add replayability, while not a full on level editor it will certainly make enough changes to maintain your interest.
The expansion pack, the Stetchkov Syndicate, leaves the stand alone, single job, basic everyday SWAT stuff of the missions in the original for a more narrative and continuous approach. Basically tracking and dealing with a European crime syndicate, before you know it you will be hot on the trail of guns, drugs, and suspicious accents.Seven new levels are on offer, all larger and more complex than in the original. But the "trial and error" style gameplay still remains (not that it's a bad thing) although being shot when you only need to secure a piece of evidence to complete a mission is bloody frustrating. Multiplayer has also been given a tweak with the welcome addition of voice support, allowing you to yell orders, information or just general abuse at your teammates (providing you have a mic and headset... or they live next door) as well as being able to nominate a single commander for co-op.
 | | He is wearing a hockey mask...Jason, is that you? |
Several new types of weapons and equipment are also up for grabs, these include grenade launchers, night-vision goggles and light sticks(probably more commonly known here as glow sticks - kind of a modern day "trail of breadcrumbs" thing - however, a crime scene is still hardly the place for a dance party). Also, of note is the ability to "stack" orders no longer do you have to order your team to open a door, order them to clear the room, order them to restrain suspects etc. Now you can queue the lot and unleash hell with a single click (makes coordinating different parts of your team easier too).
Overall, the expansion builds quite nicely on the original, with enough new stuff to grab your attention without sacrificing anything that made the original what it is. Casual gamers after a five minute frag-fest should probably look elsewhere. But anybody wanting a full on tactical FPS experience that rewards patience and proper planning will be highly contented indeed with The Stetchkov Syndicate.
by: Jason
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