game of the year 2005: SWAT 4

SWAT 4 is a masterpiece of the tactical first-person shooter genre. It is also the best game that was released in 2005.

This game needed to be made. The genre is being diluted with action-heavy clones that are less about what was started with Rainbow Six, and instead focus on using heavy-handed assault tactics while in control of multiple characters. Games like SOCOM, Ghost Recon and even Rainbow Six in its current incarnation are guilty of taking the attractive elements of the genre (playing pretend in the military, the guns, the "kick some ass" mentality) and doing away with silly things like "strategy" and "actually reflecting real-life tactical operations". It's difficult to pinpoint how this came about, because as realism has less of a bearing on these games it becomes less tactical and more shooter. Bringing things right back where they started: the first person shooter. It would be monumentally disappointing to lose a genre before it had a chance to fully develop.

While SWAT 4 is by no means a military game, its implementation of teamwork and tactics is as finely tuned as its streamlined command interface. You're put in charge of a five man squad, with you as the leader. The remaining four members make up the Blue and Red fire teams, which are available to command as you see fit. Use a mirror to check underneath a door, breach it with C4, storm a room with CS gas grenades or flashbangs - there are options for every possible situation. Unlike Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, you're only in control of the squad leader - you can't control individual members of your fire teams. As in SWAT 3 you get a sniper team in missions that involve multi-storey buildings with visible windows. Within the mission you are able to control the sniper through a viewfinder to neutralize a target. It seems pretty abstract at first, but when you consider that sniper teams are mostly sitting around waiting for a clear shot in these types of conflicts it's completely reasonable.

The first few missions of SWAT 4 are training wheels that assist in familiarlizing you with the basic controls and typical situations you'll be put in. You can easily beat these early missions with a score of 70% or higher, because the gun toting suspects aren't that aggressive. It gets you comfortable with the notion of yelling at a suspect to capitulate instead of nailing him between the eyes. In fact, it gets you into the habit of giving commands to the two fire teams and hardly ever shooting a gun yourself. It makes you feel like there are multiple solutions to every single encounter.

Therein lies the game's greatest asset: creating multiple, viable options for the player to execute. It isn't enough that you're given the basic premise for every conflict through the briefing and a small set of key objectives to complete. The game allows you to achieve these objectives in any order, which will often be as they arise. For example, the prime suspect or required hostage could be anywhere within a level - it's up to you to seek them out or deal with the often immediate need of neutralizing all hostiles first.

As in its predecessor, SWAT 4 gives players the ability to ask for compliance from the game's many NPCs - hostile or not. In this manner, the game offers a non-violent solution to every encounter. Whether the player chooses to go this route is entirely their decision, though it has some bearing on the mission's final score. In this regard, the harder difficulty levels require absolutely no casualties for a perfect score.

Allowing a peaceful resolution of conflict introduces an entirely new approach to combat: giving hostiles the benefit of the doubt. I could shout "hands in the air" or "get down" repeatedly, only to have my target open fire on me and my squad. This was demoralizing at first, but that is the point where alternate methods can be used for submission. CS Gas grenades, flashbangs, and pepper spray all come in handy when trying to subdue both hostiles and civilians. Though this all depends on their context of usage - throwing a gas grenade in front of a hostile may only cause him to run away, but coordinating an assault on a room by both fire teams can be as shocking as the gas itself. You can also attempt to shoot the gun out of their hands, or shoot at their legs if they're trying to run away - this will be enough to get them to see they have no recourse in the situation. I used this as a last resort; shooting a hostile is always risky when trying to subdue them, because this would result in a point penalty for using excessive force (assuming they would have eventually surrendered by my efforts). Through this system of apprehension I was able to see the mutliple layers of strategy, and how truly rewarding the gameplay can be if the many avenues of suppresion are willing to be explored.

In the case of civilians, restraining them can be a challenge even if it's for their own good. Allowing them to run around when startled is distracting, and any hostiles in the area are not concerned about putting a few bullets in them to get to you and your team. Though I did find some slightly odd behavior: even when there are 3 heavily armed SWAT officers staring down a civilian, it would sometimes take a CS gas grenade or a can of pepper spray to get them to comply.

Once hostiles and civilians have been subdued, they must be secured with the standard plastic zipcuffs, and their status (whether alive or dead) must be reported back to the command center outside of the mission area. All weapons that are dropped by hostiles must also be collected as evidence. Any officers that are incapacitated must be reported. Every one of these items contributes to a mission's final score, encouraging a kind of meticulousness completely in-line with the rest of the game.

In general SWAT 4's AI behaves satisfactorily. The fire teams will do exactly what they're told - exactly - which would lead to unfortunate instances where my entire squad was eliminated after moving into a room that wasn't checked first. There were some occasions where hostiles would simply charge down hallways only to be shot, but for the most part they run to different parts of the buildings and hole up waiting to ambush you. In the missions with large buildings the door wedge becomes absolutely indispensible: by wedging closed doors as your teams pass through you can effectively corral all hostiles into a contained area and deal with them in a controlled and predictable fashion.

The real testament to the game's longevity is the way it randomizes everything on the maps. Specifically, all hostiles, civilians, prime suspects or individuals to be secured are in a different place every time you play the mission. As the maps become more difficult, you will find yourself retrying them multiple times. Though they will still manage to feel distinct. Sure, there were dark corners and certain locations that proved to be popular among the ambushers/hostage takers, but the mission unfolded (or collapsed, depending on how I was doing) in a different way every single time. I wasn't bored. I wasn't frustrated. This was police work; a training program. In Rainbow Six you could just memorize the terrorist's locations, knowing exactly what corners to peek around and the hallways to run full speed through. SWAT 4's missions are meant to encourage finesse, skill, and cool-headedness. Furthermore, custom single player missions can be set up adjusting different variables such as the number of hostiles, civilians, and apprehension ratio - this feature alone makes the available internet play almost irrelevant.

Given the nature of the game itself, having a series of thirteen missions sharing no common thread except you and your team isn't detrimental to SWAT 4. It's a simulation, and the mission maps are simply vessels for exploring the game's interpretation of urban close-quarters combat. The upcoming expansion hopes to address this perceived shortfall with a new series of story-based missions. I'll be playing this expansion regardless of whether I feel this new approach is necessary.

In SWAT 4, Irrational has created a simulation with the utmost respect for how high-risk policework is truly done: defuse armed-hostile situations while protecting human life wherever possible. You may find yourself strategizing more by taking a back seat to the action and giving field commands, despite your ability to take a hands on approach. The worst thing SWAT 4 does is make you second guess yourself, which usually costs the life of a team member, or worse - your own. But for an unparalleled experience of the tension of close quarters combat, I consider this an acceptable risk.