SWAT 4: Gold Edition

SWAT 4 is a decent tactical shooter but does not hold up well against its predecessor, the almighty SWAT 3: CQB. I'm a huge fan of tactical shooters and had high expectations for SWAT 4, but it's been a disappointment. I don't want to spend a lot of time summarizing the gameplay, which you can read about in a magazine review; to keep it brief, this is a squad-level tactical shooter with a heavy emphasis on police gear, tactics, and procedures. SWAT 4 is certainly a graphical upgrade compared to its 1999 predecessor, but the gameplay seems to have taken a step backward. The squad command interface has been butchered; the highly efficient number-key based command system has been replaced by default with a horrendously slow and clunky mouse-driven system that you can't realistically use in combat. There is a "classic" command option but it doesn't work like in SWAT 3. Realism fails in many small ways. SWAT 3 had excellent AI for its time. SWAT 4 is mostly a step backwards. Suspects run around like headless chickens. Officers stand in doorways getting shot repeatedly while they prepare to throw a flashbang. Officers get stuck on corners and sometimes don't carry out your orders for no reason. Although SWAT 3 had the subtitle "Close Quarters Battle", that belongs more appropriately to SWAT 4, where you will never engage a suspect at a range of more than 10 feet. Move faster than a grandmother and your accuracy drops to 0, but it hardly matters when you've practically got your gun jammed in the suspect's mouth. Combat is clunky and awkward at these close ranges. Where SWAT 3 gave you the glorious feeling of adapting skillfully to an evolving situation, SWAT 4 collapses into a mess whenever bullets start flying. SWAT 3 had good animations for the officers, but in SWAT 4 they stand like they have sticks up their rears. Also, who wears a balaclava with their nose uncovered? Also, your characters visibly do not have gas masks but are somehow immune to CS gas.

I loved this game back when it was released. I just started playing it again with the SEF mod which I just found support voice commands for your AI teammates which is a complete game changer. The game is as tense and immersive as ever and with the SEF mod doesn't look as dated as the vanilla game. If you haven't played a tactical shooter, this is a great place to start at a bargain price. An easy 5/5 recommendation.

SWAT 4 has a nice atmosphere, and it still looks good even today, but the gameplay has some serious issues. The rules of engagement are absurd. You have to prioritize the safety of armed suspects over hostages, your own teammates, or even yourself. A suspect can open fire, kill two of your teammates, and if you return fire you get penalized. And to make things worse you won't know you got penalized until the mission results screen. Non-lethal weapons are ridiculously overpowered, which defeats the point of having to follow procedure because you're still running and gunning. You're just doing it with a pepperball gun, or a green shotgun instead of a black shotgun. Levels in SWAT 4 are tiny compared to SWAT 3 or Raven Shield. But the real kicker is the squad AI. It will ruin the experience for you. The friendly officers cannot be trusted with even the most basic of tasks. They can't perform a room clearing without having the flashbang bounce off the door frame and into your face. They stand around and make quips while suspects run into the room and kill you. It's infuriating. So why 3 stars? Because of this mod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/swat-elite-force Elite Force goes a long way towards salvaging the SWAT 4 experience. The squad AI is massively improved, still not SWAT 3 good they no longer feel like a handicap like in the vanilla game. This alone is enough to bump the game up a whole ranking but Elite Force also adds features like campaign co-op, iron sights, revamped suspect AI, new equipment, new levels, bug fixes, interface improvements, in-game notifications for when you violate the rules of engagement, the ability to exchange equipment with AI officers or other players, and more that I'm probably missing. It overhauls SWAT 4 into the game that it should have been.

I bought this game kind of on a whim and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I think that from literally hundreds of games I have played on PC and consoles in the last couple of years there’s been only 10 or less that I enjoyed as much as SWAT 4. Today’s games have very serious issues. They are “triple a” addictive but miserable experiences that require A HUGE investment of time and money, small indie games with rather simple and very small scope, or pipe dreams with mediocre designs and almost non-existent research, balance and testing put into them. This game feels that it comes from another era when making the customer have fun without treating them like a lab rats with wallets was paramount (or lab rats with daddies with big wallets). It has the perfect balance between a procedural tactical game and simplicity. There’s no need to memorise tons of keys or learn the maps or do any other overcomplicated chore to start having fun with it. Also for me it ran without problems on a modern gaming PC. Note that I played only a couple of missions on the vanilla game to test and afterwards I played the whole game with the “Elite Force” mod which ads a ton of improvements such as additional resolutions and although I think it makes the game a bit harder/realistic is well worth it and it’s very east to install. Just download the files and copy to the game directory then run the main .bat

Review based on disc version, but I'm sure as hell getting this when I get paid! S.W.A.T 4 is almost unique in it's design, being based on the groundwork of S.W.A.T 3, the designers wanted it to feel REAL. As a kid (a kid who sucked at playing anything other than the action he was so accustomed to) this game showed me what swat was really about. You lone wolf run and gun no scope and your carcass will be stuck at the bottom of the river before you could say "ouch!" Killing the badguys should be your last resort AND REPORT EVERYTHING. This game is all about methodical planning and situational awareness. TACTICS! of the highest order, a stark contrast to Rainbow 6 Vegas and co. with their Hollywood approach to SwatSpecial forces and ARMA with it's often confusing controls. S.W.A.T 4 is simple, challenging and there's nothing wrong with that. My copy was stolen years ago, so I'm very pleased to see this available once more even if my wallet isn't.