Swat 2 (c) Sierra Online
82%


By: Phire

SWAT 2 is a game where you take control of SWAT officers under your command OR you can take control of the Terrorist side, with your task being to get the job done at any cost. If you chose SWAT then you have been specially called in for a matter the police itself cannot handle and you become the Special Weapons and Tactics team. If you chose the Terrorist side then you better get ready to sneak your way out of situations where the SWAT team has you covered. Terrorists can take hostages, request for armored cars, kidnap, and much more depending on the mission. You also have to keep in mind that if you picked SWAT that it is your duty to save peoples' lives, even the suspects, so if you killed a suspect then you have not followed your orders, if at any time you need to use force then you may shoot him or use a K-9 unit and another alternative is to use tear gas (There is much more in your arsenal). Though once you have shot a suspect you need to use the medic to keep him alive. Remember you only shoot suspects as a LAST resort.

I believe SWAT 2 is a simulation because of how advanced it is. The designers have talked to real LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officers to make the game as real as possible. You have just about every resource a real SWAT officer would get, loads of weapons and neutralizing utilities. Also each SWAT officer you control has been trained in a different area, one could be a sniper and another could be someone who handles explosives, sort of like each commando has a special skill. You can also have to make very important decisions in this game, at first you may have the chance to be granted communication by phone depending on the mission. In the bank mission where Terrorists have hostages you are allowed to use the phone, someone will drop the phone near the door and leave quickly, a Terrorist will pick up the phone and you can do your negotiations then. But you MUST apprehend the suspects. You cannot let them get away no matter what.

The SWAT have been specially trained for every situation, therefore they have the ability to be stealthy. SWAT officers can do a dynamic entry, what that means is when SWAT officers need to enter a building they will enter in a special way which the Terrorists cannot detect, this allows the SWAT team to catch the Terrorists by surprise. Another way to communicate using the SWAT is the bullhorn, but the bullhorn is usually not used to make negotiations, it is mostly used to give the suspects warnings like "This is the LAPD, put your weapons on the ground!". The AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the game is very advanced - i.e., if the suspect has been outgunned or shot, he will try to make a run for it, that is where you switch out of stealth mode to run mode, chase the suspect and arrest him.

When suspects have made a run for it or you just can't find them, then the SWAT are allowed to call in a helicopter unit which, however, takes a bit of time to arrive. You may give the helicopter unit orders to circle around the place to find the suspects. The helicopter unit usually does the job if you can't find them and the helicopter can also carry SWAT units. When using snipers you must set them in an area which they can shoot clearly and can see far, that means you cannot just use them on the ground and shoot like a regular unit, I set my snipers up on top of buildings. You can also buy camouflage jackets before the mission so they cannot be spotted. It's a good idea to buy a camouflage jacket because snipers are stationary and can be hurt easily if spotted. If doors are locked and you can't get through just by turning the knob you have a few options, you can use the Hooligan tool, which is like a slim stick which slides through doors to open the lock, criminals use this tool in cars in real life. You can also use explosives to blast the door open or you can use a tool which lets you push the door open with force. As I said before, I believe this game is a simulation, when SWAT officers are wounded and you heal them with a medic that only keeps them alive till the ambulance gets there, it just doesn't bring him back to life to be in action again. Sometimes in some missions the hostages themselves have got explosives on them planted by the suspects and this is when you have to disarm them.

And when saving hostages you must talk to them first saying your a SWAT officer and you're here to help, they will reply back with thanks and then you must safely walk the hostage back to a safe area and then he or she will stop walking with you. If you don't talk to the hostage he/she can go ballistic and run away from you thinking your another Terrorist or their just afraid of that gun -people have heart problems ya know ;). You can also pick up stuff that is on the floor, you may find money which is good cause then you can give it back to the person it was stolen from. Units can be set to automatically shoot but that isn't always a good idea since using force is only a last resort or if the suspects fire on you.

Each unit has a special attributes, like their accuracy and such, and you assign these units right before each mission, you can have K-9 units and you can buy weapons and utilities. You shouldn't get confused in the game because the help system is very detailed and it should only take you about an hour or two to understand the whole game. Every time you play the game it will be different than the last time, due to the 'intelligence' of the AI. You also have to watch out in the game when making arrests - he may try to punch the hell out of you, - but not to worry - you're not SWAT for nothing, you can punch too or neutralize him. After you've successfully arrested him the SWAT officer will automatically search him for contraband or weapons. Confiscated weapons go into your inventory and at the end of the mission they are police evidence.

After searching the suspect you must take him outside the crisis area and to your command post where he is taken into custody. I'd say the graphics to this game are pretty average, they aren't eye candy, but neither are they ugly. Some of the sounds are misplaced, but only one or two of them are, the rest of the sounds are very good and clear, the speech and music to this game are excellent and really come in at the right times. This game is very fun because it's always different when you come back into the game, so there's a great replay factor and the AI is very challenging. You can even play this game over TCP/IP or over WON.NET. Overall I'd say this game is really great and if you like action/strategy/sim games then you should definitely check this one out.

Graphics: 16 / 20

Sound: 14 / 15

Gameplay: 21 / 25

Fun Factor: 18 / 20

Multiplayer Play: 4 / 5

Packaging: 4 / 5

Overall Impression: 8 / 10

Overall Rating: 85 / 100




Rating
85%



By: Pseudo Nim

Third-person team RTS games are fairly rare these days, and when they do come out, they're usually quite good. Take Syndicate, Syndicate Wars [although some people didn't like it], Commandos, and, well, this time it's SWAT 2.

In SWAT 2 you command a team of elite SWAT team members, or just as elite a team of terrorists that do 'random acts of damage' and oppose the SWAT. If you want a SWAT review, read higher up - this one's about the Dark Side baby ;).

The terrorists are actually members of a group called the Five Eyes - Environment, Ecstasy, Education, Equality, Electricity. Don't ask me what the last one's doing there - I don't know. Anyway, as a 'sect' and not as a random terrorist group, you not only have to capture hostages and draw general attention, but also have to try to bring members into your group. You can do that by distributing pamphlets, and, depending on how you do in your mission, you attract members as well.

Your terrorists can be hired, and equipped, as you wish. In the Team display, you can sort active members by their qualities, such as certain skills and then assign them to strike forces. So far I was unable to determine how many strike forces you can have (each one has up to 3 members), but it doesn't look like you're limited - which is cool. Well, you ARE limited - by your cash and the equipment available.

When you go on missions, most of the time you need to capture hostages so that them wankers from SWAT don't shoot you down. Be careful though, to keep an eye on your hostages - you lose 'em, you're dead. You can shoot SWAT officers if you're protected by a hostage - but beware the wrath of the mighty LAPD should you somehow lose the hostage, which is actually, quite possible - which brings me to the next point.

The graphics in the game, frankly, quite disappointed me. The game makes no use of D3D [Direct3D, or your 3Dfx/other card], which means it stresses your main card considerably. A huge omission by Sierra, in my view, was to not make the game switch into a custom resolution - because for us people with slow computers that means the game will run VERY slowly. I tested this on a fairly crappy P200, with a Millenium card running in 1024x768x24bit, and boy, was it slow. Your units move fairly slowly - which means that you'll have a bit of a hard time giving realtime orders. However, there seems to be a sort of a turn-based mode, which I haven't tried so far - maybe it'll alleviate the problem. However, I have to say it - in my view, even Syndicate Wars' graphics were in many ways better than these... there's just no liveliness to them.

The gameplay is definitely incredible. IF you got a fast machine to run this (unless the turn-based mode works like I hope it does, in which case the rest of us can enjoy it) you can have immense fun, both for the SWAT side and for the terrorist side. IMHO, the terrorist side is a bit more action-packed, as you can pretty much shoot anything you like - if you're willing to cope with the consequences, that is - but on the SWAT side, you can't even really shoot the suspects, which is, in a way, not fun. However, the SWAT side definitely compensates for this in the strategic sense - you have to somehow lure the terrorists into believing whatever it is you're promising them and then move in for the capture. What would be quite nice, I think, is to have a Fallout-type menu where you can pick WHERE you want to shoot the target, since sometimes (not always) you have the option of picking your target at leisure. And, it would make SWAT actions easier because you could risk shooting the suspect's arm with the weapon, or you could shoot him in the legs if he runs. I'm not sure if the game automatically picks the best target for you, but I'd definitely love to have a manual option as well. Nothing more fun than shooting a terrorist in the head and then claiming it was a stray bullet.

The equipment your teams can use, both for the SWAT side and the terrorist side is pretty extensive. The SWAT equipment was described above, but the terrorist equipment is quite similar. You obviously don't get tanks, but you could get a runaway vehicle (incidentally, it seems like you are able to capture peoples' vehicles - any info on that, anyone?). Your firearms include a MSG90 sniper rifle, a 50AE Desert Eagle handgun and a LR300 machine gun. Other weapons include grenades, remote-detonated explosive, gas bombs, and even knives. Combat knife, to be precise. That's pretty much it... it'd be neat to have some heavier weapons though,, such as a rocket launcher - just to take out some houses. Then again, this ain't Crusader. [Mmm... Crusader]

The sound in the game is pretty average. The speech is a bit cheesy, and it superimposes TOO much - for example, if you have a 6-person strike force [2x3 that is], and they ALL spot a SWAT team - they will ALL say that there's a cop, in the same words - which is a bit annoying, and confusing if one of them actually tries to deliver useful info. The background music is pretty good, though I prefer the menu music to the game music - but that's personal preference.

In resume, this is a great RTS game of the Syndicate fame - it follows the great teacher, and even outdoes it in many ways - but then again, such are the times. A definite recommendation, albeit some of the nitpickier details prevent me from rating it above 79%.

Graphics: 12 / 20

Sound: 10 / 15

Gameplay: 24 / 25

Fun Factor: 18 / 20

Multiplayer Play: 4 / 5

Packaging: 3 / 5

Overall Impression: 8 / 10

Overall Rating: 79 / 100

In brief:

Highs: great concept, great execution thereof, large choice of team members

Lows: graphics a bit subpar, sound effects a bit cheesy, control's a bit funny

Overall: Definitely a good title. Pick it up, it's worth the gaming buck for sure.




Rating
79%