SWAT 4

by VIVENDI JEUX PC

Product Features

• Evaluate situations and use authentic SWAT tactics to engage dangerous suspects and to protect the innocent.
• Random enemy placement means that no mission is ever the same
• Bang and clear rooms with a variety of equipment, armor, and weapons
• Less-than lethal weapons like the taser and the beanbag shotgun can be used to gain compliance
• Co-op multiplayer mode allows players to compete as a team through all 21 single player missions

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EDVRUA
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: April 4, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,809 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #22 in Video Games > PC Games > Action > Shooter

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Gold

SWAT® 4 Gold Edition includes the critically acclaimed SWAT 4 and its exciting new expansion pack, SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate. Lead a SWAT team into dangerous situations with the goal of bringing order to chaos. The combination of these two games features 21 intense missions which take place in beautifully rendered environments.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still an Excellent Game, May 3, 2006

By 

FuzzyLiftingDrink (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: SWAT 4 Gold (CD-ROM)

I am a huge fan of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield so I found this game just recently and decided to go with it based off of other's reviews. I am very happy with it, as it is so similar to Raven Shield in many ways. This is a tactical shooter first and foremost - meaning it is not a run and gun game. You direct (or lead) a four-member SWAT team into rather disturbing real life "situations", NOTE: there is a particularly deviant map at a cult hideout that would make this game a no-go for kids. In this game the goal is to NOT kill suspects unless absolutely necessary, and they push what necessary means. You actually get graded at the end of a round and its very hard to not get points detracted. The varying levels of difficulty require different scores to pass, for instance EASY requires nothing but survival and to not kill key civilians or targets. If you kill without giving threats a ridiculous amount of warning time, you will be penalized (see below). Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

Great graphics despite being older, they are better than Raven Shield, yet nowhere near FarCry/HL2 standards, but it looks as good as you would want it to on a rig that could handle those two for this type of game. The maps are very detailed and realistically rendered.

Immersive, you really feel in the moment with your team and you tend to get tense when things go unexpectedly. The maps are the best I have seen for small-scale tactical gaming.

Choices in gear matter, be warned - you cannot kill anybody but those either shooting or getting ready to shoot you, your team members or a civilian. This is a very tactical game and it challenges your thinking.

Unique, this game is going to challenge your FPS skills as well. You can lean around corners (but not while moving), use an under the door camera wand, throw flash bangs, CS gas, stinger grenades (rubber ball loaded grenade that stuns suspects) or use hand held CS for tactical advantage in a map.

Weapons are excellent, but they are real world SWAT weapons so they are no-frills. This is worlds away from Rainbow's endless load out options but much more realistic. You have the usual suspects: MP5, AR-15, UMP, auto shotgun and pump action with handguns going Colt 1911 and the Glock 19. The non-lethal shotgun, taser and CS paintball gun are actually quite effective and nice as you can shoot anyone with them and not get penalized. You also can choose a special breaching shotgun for doors, you have C2 otherwise - you cannot use that entry shotty to kill effectively though.

CONS
Bulky team interface makes using your team member head cam view almost unusable - this makes me rarely break my team up so I can see what everyone is doing. You can see through their cams, but it takes too long and is too cumbersome to use in action. You also cannot give delayed commands like Zulu in Rainbow, meaning you have to tell the team to go in manually through the interface. This makes two point entries a challenge as you need to use the remote unit's headcams, tell them to go - switch back to your view and hope you are quick enough to get into the same room in unison.

If you tell someone to surrender (a key mapping you will use more than any other in this game) and they don't drop their gun - yet don't point it at you, you have to wait till they threaten somebody or you can also shoot their leg, gas them, taze them or so forth - you have NO melee options. Failure to do this results in an "Unauthorized use of lethal force" penalty to your score - 10 points per infraction in a 100-point maximum schema. This causes extremely annoying situations when your team enters a room with five suspects and four civilians with everyone screaming "get down", "hands up", "drop it" - invariably you neutralize a non-threat. I assume SWAT members in real life do not wait for a guy running at them in a small room with an assault rifle to aim for them when there are other people shooting at them already. So realism suffers a little there for game play, as otherwise you could mop up with your AR-15.

No saving - which means if you are going through a long and challenging map - you have one shot at it. As the lead man you also cannot get killed, your team members can, but you will be penalized for this at grading time. Also if you are wounded badly - you move VERY slow - slow enough to make it impossible to finish if only half way through some maps.

That's far from everything, but I just wanted to add a recent review for those of us who don't go after only brand new games. I would have given it four stars except the package is a great deal for the money. The interface, threat system and lack of an in game save make me hold back on calling it a must have for anybody but genre fans. SWAT 4 is still very good and with the expansion pack - well worth the investment for those who like tactical shooters. If you are uncertain, check out the demo, but if you like Rainbow Six - don't waste your time, buy this now.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tactical training at its best, August 28, 2006

By 

California runner - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: SWAT 4 Gold (CD-ROM)

SWAT 4 is the best of the hard core serious tactical simulations. This is a pretty authentic game and really fun. I have been a law enforcement officer for 11 years, and SWAT 4 has some training value like Fire Arms Training Simulator and other police trainers.

There are some annoyances. The game has excessively conservative use-of-force requirements. Based on the totality of most of the missions (hostages, injured civilians, shots fired, multiple bad guys with gas masks, rifles and body armor), someone holding a gun is a justifiable shooting in real life. You aren't going to give the bad guys a chance to harm anyone else (even by escaping) once entry is made.

Fortunately, it is possible to set the requirements low enough that use-of-force penalties won't fail you so you can unlock all the missions. Still, your team will always follow their artificial intelligence and get killed when they didn't have to.

I notice that the bad guys rarely execute hostages. This allows the SWAT team to take its time in most missions. In real life, if you have 10 citizens bleeding to death and active Columbine-type shooters, you would be under some time pressure.

There are some other unrealistic aspects such as only a five man entry team against a dozen body armored terrorists in a huge facility, and others, but the game is still the most realistic I've played as well as the most fun. Making split second life and death decisions is the most difficult aspect of law enforcement--you can end up dead or in prison. SWAT 4 makes it fun.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have Game, February 9, 2010

By 

Brett Wetherbee (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SWAT 4 Gold (CD-ROM)

I love this game more than any other game I have for my computer. I have never had so much fun playing a computer game. Swat 4 Gold also includes the The Stetchkov Syndicate expansion . Since it is an older game the system requirements are not that high.

In this game you play the role of a SWAT officer who lead four other officers through many situations ranging from a High-risk warrant to taking out terrorists. The game itself is so much fun to play and very frustrating at the same time. It is fun because every time you start the level the criminals, hostages, and wounded civilians are randomly placed around the map so no play through is the same. You are also equipped with an arsenal of weapons and tactical equipment to use against the criminals.

Even though this game is very fun it is also very difficult. You can be killed in around 1-5 shots based on where you are hit. Depending on where you are hit affects how your character operates. If you are hit in the leg, you move slower and if you are hit in the arm your aim isn't as accurate. Bringing what I feel more realism to the game. Though this game is tough, nothing is more satisfying than beating a level that that you had so much trouble on.

Multiplayer is also really enjoyable, all are team based. Barricaded Suspects has a criminal team and a swat team and you earn points by killing each other or swat arresting the suspects. Escort VIP has you protecting one player from the criminals. Rapid Deployment has your team disarming five bombs placed around the level along within a time limit. And finaly co-op where you and up to four other friends can play out the story based missions. In the expansion you can do this as well as play custom missions made from you or other players.

If you can deal with the frustration over this difficult game you will find this game extremely fun. I highly recommend this game to any gamer, and it should be a part of your collection.

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