SWAT 4: Gold Edition

In short, this game has the sort of mission based depth only vaguely glimpsed at through the looking glass of the high concept, Steam indie games (your Slayer Shock's, your Hotline Miami's, your X-Com: Enemy Unknown, etc.) In many ways it's most comparable to the better, or rather the best, of the Hitman games, in their sheer wealth of solutions to very simple combat encounters. Moreover, in both games, scores prioritize "Ghost-ing", or a highly stealth-based playthrough, for the uninitiated. The difference is, in other Hitman, or in Deus Ex, or in Thief, you aren't, under any illusion playing the "good guy". And unlike in other tactical shooters, you are not taking lives; you are saving them. On higher levels of difficulty the level cannot be completed if people die, when they could have or should have been arrested. SWAT 4 is the ultimate counter-thesis to discussions of detrimental effects of video games on the human psyche. It, like other games in the SWAT series, simulates the inherent stress of being a "good" person, and a "good" guy. From the get go, five lives, including your's, are in the palm of your hands, later levels have you manage the lives of fifty, sixty people, who, as in real life are dumb as dogshit. And in many games, an oversight as great as poor Ai would diminish immersion and depth, but as I said, it's like real life. Citizens resist your commands, but we all know the person who would do that, even if their life were at risk. This is a game about creating tiny stories, not an over arching plot, but an interweaving network and spiderweb of a cynical world of criminals and psychopaths and morons and the occasional pervert. And everyone of them becomes the pieces of an obsessively detailed puzzle. It is an Irrational game after all. In the end, the question of whether or not to buy this game comes down to a few simple criteria. Do you like the Looking Glass, simulation, ethos? Buy this game. Do you like obsessively replaying games over and over? Buy this game. Can you focus on more than one thing at a time? Buy this game. Otherwise, avoid it like the plague. Believe me, I pity you.

This game's focus on nonlethality combined with its realism makes it a very planning-oriented and deliberate tactical shooter. It creates a very engaging cadence between careful stealthy infiltration and frantic breaching tactics. I highly recommend the Swat Elite Force Mod for a lot of new features and quality of life additions, adding a lot more depth and tactical options. There's a plethora of fan-made maps out there as well, which are admittedly a mixed bag to sift through, but with a lot of gems to discover,

I remember when this game was released. It had numerous bugs, and the SWAT team AI was unreliable at best. Despite that, it was way ahead of its time. Combat is fluid, the tactics are realistic and the random positions of enemies ensured that no replayed mission was ever the same. It's very, very repayable. When missions go wrong, it's frustrating but you generally accept that YOU messed up. When you succeed, saving all the hostages and walking away with your team intact, there's an unparalleled sense of satisfaction. In some of the earlier missions the atmosphere is spot on. As you progress, missions just seem to get bigger, and harder, and the atmosphere is lost - but they're still good missions. A solid game, and worth anyone's money.

Heard good things about SWAT 4, so I bought a copy to see for myself, and I must say the only disappointing thing about it is there's not enough of it. That's not to say there aren't flaws, but I'll get to that down the line. The game discourages playing it like a typical shooter. Unless you're playing on Easy difficulty, you will be penalized and unable to complete missions if you decide to light up everyone holding a gun. You need a minimum of 50 on Normal, and 25 points extra every difficulty above that. However, the only thing failing you on Easy is allowing hostages to die or allowing bombs to go off, or dying, which is easy because enemies will hit more often than not, and you only have so much health. It's not the prettiest, but the graphics are clean and detailed, and I get a laugh just reading all the posters they put in the game. The levels feel lived in and tell a narrative if you pay attention. I find the aesthetics of the game appealing, and honestly it feels half like a horror game when it comes to how grounded everything is. The levels are little sandboxes that depending on the level usually have you go in a spiral to clear out the floors, or otherwise are a series of sprawling corridors where one door can lead to different part of the level. Aside from some parts of levels, it's never an A to B linear road. The thing keeping this from being a 5 star review is that it has a few stinking flaws. For one, your squad is kinda stupid, and will often get wiped for lining up. The physics bugs also make it so that when suspects do surrender, their weapons will clip through the floor, disallowing a perfect score. And the rules of lethal engagement basically put you in harm's way. The game penalizes you for shooting dudes if they aren't actively threatening you, but that includes aiming their gun at you. I have been shot dead and failed a level too many times because a guy opening a door was a quick or the dead situation.

SWAT4 is an excellent, distinctly unique game rich with atmosphere and environmental storytelling. Everything is grounded, plausible, almost familiar. It's laser focused on what it wants to be, but has enough concessions to keep it enjoyable as a fun video game. What sets SWAT4 aside from nearly every other game is it's focus on de-escalation, and avoiding violence. A good mission in SWAT4 is one where barely any shots were fired, and you brought most if not all of the perps in alive to have their day in court. Tear gas, stingers, tasers, pepper balls you name it. You have the tools, and the game actively hands out a higher grade for restrained use of force. A lot of the characters are presented like.. well, people first, and enemies second, so you feel kinda vindicated when you go out of your way to pacify rather than harm them. Arresting a failed bank robber, and hearing him say "I knew this was a bad plan", it reminds you these are people. Not great people, but people still. Missions are a perfect length to match fatigue; they end roughly around when you need a mental break, as the game requires a lot of concentration and rapid decision making. There's enough variety to keep it interesting, and slowly escalate -- but never into the ridiculous. My only complaint, honestly, is that the otherwise stellar AI can be a little frustrating at times. Suspects are lightning fast on the draw, and often you don't have enough time to clock that they're not dropping the weapon before they've shot you. You're penalised for shooting before they've had a chance to surrender, so it can get frustrating. The team AI can often get wiped out for being too slow to react, or being blind, but it's less frequent then would be problematic. A few rough edges I wish they'd ironed out, but the overall package is a classic. I wish there were more games like this, it's really sad that the only one in nearly two decades is Ready or Not, which is still in development as of writing.