Saints Row the Third is one of those games that you may find yourself beating many times on many platforms because of the sheer focus on over-the-top fun and ridiculous personalities you encounter. I've done a playthrough with each voice for the Boss (player character), and every time it felt like a fresh game because each voice has their own lines and unique reactions to all the shenanigans that goes on in the game. If you need a break from Grand Theft Auto's more serious tone then you need to play this series NOW!
SWAT 4 is a game all about refining your tactics, communication skills and learning to cooperate with your team which is what makes this a great LAN game. The game presents you with many different types of scenarios to explore such as shootouts at night clubs, hostage situations in convenience stores and raiding a serial killer's house. No mission plays the same twice due to the randomized NPC placements and bahaviour patterns forcing you to think on your feet or risk having your entire team killed due to a single mistake. The game also offers opportunities for "competitive" player in the multiplayer host menu which I haven't tried myself, but at least one has the option. There is no other game like SWAT 4 that takes realistic tactics and turns it into a fun mechanic, therefore I give it a 5 star rating.
This game was definitely made to play with friends and family. My brother and I had a blast in the co-op arresting people for arbitrary reasons such as "Possession of a hamster without a license". This game is best played on the hard difficulty otherwise the game goes by too fast and you will wonder why you bought a short game but even on hard it's pretty easy. Arcade mode was a nice touch added but I don't believe it has a co-op mode like the story does so I haven't bothered with it much. Multiplayer is really great although I wish the shotgun did it's job and killed people point blank. Most maps in multiplayer follow through with the mechanics but some do feel like they were just a mish-mash of the story maps.
Rogue Trooper has one of the most diverse campaigns ever along with a really awesome Co-Op mode. You can choose to play it as a stealth game or a straight up action game and the A.I. will comply with your actions immediately. The character dialogue will give you verbal options for how to approach each section of the game but it is ultimately up to you how it gets done. Even after the campaign is finished, you have the extra Co-Op missions to mess around with which add even more things for you and your friends/family to do. Considering my first experience with this game was on the PlayStation 2 and played this game for hours in order to fill up the entire encyclopedia and get every single research available, it took me zero thought to pick it up here on GOG for the PC. The game is just that good. TECHNICAL NOTE: This game works perfectly on 32-bit Operating Systems but you will have trouble in the LAN multiplayer mode on 64-bit Operating Systems. According to my experience with this game on three different 64-bit OS desktops, the game will crash immediately if you try to host or join a LAN multiplayer lobby. Considering that GameSpy was completely shut-down I don't see any other way around this issue outside of obtaining a computer with a 32-bit Operating System. None of the compatablity modes work either.
