SWAT 4: Gold Edition

An excellent simulator from the good old days in which one can spend countless hours agonizing over precarious, randomized life or death situations. The emphasis on the use of non-lethal force ratchets up the tension by forcing the player to always be thinking several steps ahead, as a perp only needs a shot or two to take them down. It's about getting the jump on them before they can do the same in return. Highly recommended, for its simulation value. I tend to call it a simulator rather than a tactical shooter because it is about the simulation of the role of a police officer (role play) more than it is about being able to land precise and immediate head-shots.

If you're here and you don't know what SWAT 4 is, buy it. You're going to love it. If you're remotely interested in this gem pick it up! However, it would be nice to see a little house-keeping done. If you have the chance, modern resolution support without modification of .inis would be wonderful.

This might be a fun game to play with friends in co-op, but the single player missions are pure frustration because of your squad's AI. Sometimes it feels like ordering children (or ducklings) into a gunfight. They can get easily massacred even after a room has been flashbanged (Or getting shot just for openening the door for the flashbang). Storming a small room with a split-up team from 2 doorways sounds fun on paper, but managing them through the headset-camera is cumbersome. And seeing for the 10th time that your "children" get gunned down after the breach – just because the granades didn't do their thing – is depressing. Pathfinding can lead your teammates through rooms that have not been cleared yet... There are a lot of things that break the illusion of a SWAT simulation and make you feel like a caretaker for group of 4 children (or ducklings). Graphics, sounds, atmosphere are all fine, but the single player gameplay is not.

The game is easily one of my top favorite games of all time. I still have my boxed copies of the game and it's expansion. Seeing it on GoG was a dream come true. I've been wanting to buy it digitally for the longest time. I've only bought a few games from GoG, but they've all pretty much ran perfectly out of the box, and felt like modern tuneups of the older games. SWAT 4 didn't get this same treatment from what I can see. After a bit of INI tweaking I managed to get a proper widescreen resolution and a bunch of other things working, but it's a little disappointing that it seems like this is the same as the old boxed copies just without the DRM. Still it's worth the price as it's a good game, just be sure to do some wiki diving to get it running right.

This is one of the last pure tactical simulators of the 00's, one of a kind as well. The deepness, gameplay and the whole 'feel' of it, as far as CQC are concerned, will probably be never topped. Just to give you an idea of what the game is like, your squadmates have about four different ways they throw a grenade, each suitable for the situation at hand. The game focuses on simulation of the mission aims as well, which means you are expected to shoot less and bring people in more. However, a lot of people have already praised the gameplay and system of the game, while the atmosphere and characters deserve a notion as well. The levels are just brilliant, the buildings and districts literally soaked with the live feeling of the scene, and the characters are very believable. 'Hollywood on the move' - you'll remember that phrase for a long time. The game is even more immersive when you play on the elite difficulty, since the AI is good to begin with, your mistakes are barely fixable and your aims are very high. This game will not be easy on any player, but those who love proper tactical simulation will get goosebumps every time they initiate a breach.