SWAT 4: Gold Edition

Congratulations, you consider buying one of the best tactical shooters out there! You lead a 4 man squad to scout and de-escalate complex situations. They reach from a warrant for a suspected serial killer to a gang shootout in a nightclub. You have to plan ahead, react quick and have to give the right orders to your squad to avoid wild shootouts that could possibly alert other gangsters; who could harm the hostages so you fail your mission. Your main objective is to secure the hostages and arrest as many criminals as possible. The key to this is to read the detailed mission briefings and take a look at the equipment of the criminals. If they are not heavily armed and wear non to light armor, try to take the pepper gun or a non lethal shotgun filled with bean bags. Of course you have access to flashbangs and teargas, too. Keep in mind that, the better the equipment of the gangsters is, the more ineffective some weapons become. Heavily armed suspects render beanbags almost useless. So you have to fit your gear to the circumstances of each mission. Although a fan of the series, I have to admit that SWAT 4 isn't a game for everyone. You need patience and you will fail often, but trust me: it's worth it!

I must admit that I haven't gotten to play the GOG release as of yet. That being said, I did play the original PC release and it was absolutely amazing. SWAT 4 is a sort of first-person shooter where the player is put in charge of a four-man swat team with yourself as the leader. The game emphasizes a non-violent approach when possible and will often penalize you if you shoot first and ask questions later. I LOVE it! When you add in clever mechanics like the optiwand that lets you see under doors and wedges which can be used to block entrances into rooms, it adds a deep layer of strategy. The single player missions are great, but this game really shines when you play with a friend. There's something indescribably cool about being a bad@$$ swat guy bursting onto the scene and filling everyone with lead. Or being slow and methodical. If you're boring like that.

10/10 Nothing compares to it. Many have tried and failed. - Different class of tactical shooter. - the level design and attention to detail is exceptional. - LAN games are fantastic - Great selection of mods to add extra features and guns.

Still the best shooter after 12 years. Aged really well: easy on the eyes, great sounds and amazing AI. Much better than any shooter currently on the market. Great story, addicting campaign, awesome atmosphere. A must have in any serious gamer library.

Four stooges who qualified for SWAT are led by an exasperated squad leader who is tasked with taking on dozens of criminals at once with a group of 4. Command had to make some budget cuts, so the group tasked with breaching, taking suspects into custody, rescuing hostages, diffusing explosives and securing objectives by themselves. Agents are given absolutely no downtime, even when finding a pile of dead children and a rape dungeon (yes this actually happens). The squad mates were apparently very bad softball, since they often throw tactical grenades at their own feet. Despite encountering suspects armed with illegally modified automatic weaponry, the squad leader is often penalized for taking down active shooters. It is also imperative that their weapons are confiscated, which means that the squad are probably armed more heavily than the doom marine, but are penalized if they go in with anything more than a paintball gun loaded with pepper balls. I can only conclude that the squad leader has the patience of a saint.