SWAT 4 is addictive

Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by Sarthak K in Gaming

Although the company that developed SWAT 4 is called Irrational Games, the game itself is amazingly rational, a first person tactical shooter – based on SWAT – the elite American special operations paramilitary force.

Thanks to a friend who introduced me to this game, I often end up playing it for hours.

SWAT stands for Special Weapons and Tactics, and the game takes players through various crisis and hostage situations. You as the lead officer have to clear each mission without killing a civilian or letting a suspect kill one. The game tries to achieve gameplay similar to real SWAT experience. E.g., it encourages the use of non-lethal force to subdue and arrest subjects rather than killing them.

As an operations commander you choose from a brilliant array of weapons for yourself and your team. These include both lethal and non-lethal weapons, automatic guns including AK-47, 9mm SMG, a suppressed 9mm SMG (which includes a silencer), the Colt M4 Carbine and the GB36 assault rifle. The look and simulation for all these guns is very realistic, with recoil effects and all that.

We also have three types of grenades – Gas grenade, stinger and flash grenade. All of the three are usually non-lethal, their aim being to numb the senses of the enemy or cause intense discomfort so you can easily arrest them while they are vulnerable. The gas grenade when used fills a small area with gas that chokes all in the vicinity. SWAT units who use gas grenades usually wear gas masks to protect themselves. A sting grenade when explodes throws up lots of splinters in all directions, and being in its radius induces a lot of agony. The intense pain produces a hazy effect on the mind for a half a minute, during which time its easy to handcuff or neutralize the suspect.  The flash grenade when used produces an extraordinary amount of white light, the impact of which blinds those in the vicinity for sometimes almost a minute. SWAT teams that use flash bangs often wear a helmet to protect themselves from its effect.

My favourite weapons in the game though are the pepper spray and the taser gun. The taser gun has to be used in close range, and when the suspect is shot with it he gets paralyzed by the strong electric shock for well over a minute. Handcuff and secure!

The internet based multiplayer game actually becomes a sort of social networking arena, where players from various parts of the world interact with each other through in-game chats. Very often people take up interesting nomenclatures while playing SWAT 4 online. I have seen names like Slaygirl, noobdude, teamkiller, sharpshooter, Warrior, blood4blood, Hawk etc.You will usually find me playing in a server with the name ‘Saar.’

Players – who sometimes know each other just by their nicknames – form groups more popularly called ‘Clans’; and when they think they are strong enough they go for a clan war with another clan.  Winning a Clan war gives the players a sense of satisfaction probably just next to orgasm. They do take it seriously!

SWAT 4 has brilliant reviews from all major gaming sites. Gamespot gave it 8.5/10 and had this to say among other things:

It’s been more than five years since the last SWAT, and the newest iteration of the series is the best one yet, offering an intelligent and flexible interface, a varied and highly replayable campaign, as well as multiplayer modes that include cooperative play.

I myself give the game a thumbs up, for being one of the best tactical action game ever!