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Intro You've been selected to lead the global fight against terrorism and gang corruption. Do you have the courage to lead a trio of highly trained officers through many dangerous missions deemed imperative to our national security? You may even find those elusive weapons of mass destruction. On the other hand, you might just get bored and turn off your PS2. Gameplay: 6.5/10 At its core, SWAT: Global Strike Team is a typical squad-based first-person shooter. You battle through a linear set of levels, each loosely tied together with a vague storyline. Level objectives like diffusing bombs, freeing hostages, or capturing a suspect for questioning will keep you on your toes. Thanks to the somewhat intelligent AI, your squad members never get in the way and are almost always ready to carry out your commands. The woman of the team, Kana Lee, is trained with a sniper rifle and can pick locks. Anthony Jackson is the explosives expert, whose most notable characteristic is his ability to disarm bombs. Together you're a formidable team and this game's at its best when you're all completing tasks cooperatively. Unfortunately, there are far too many levels when you only have one teammate or even when you're going in solo. The game encourages you to end confrontations peacefully by allowing you to handcuff foes who choose not to fight. Each enemy has a compliance meter, when it gets full they'll surrender. You can fill the meter by issuing verbal warnings, firing at their feat, or wounding them. This is certainly a good idea but in practice it's not quite as inspiring. There are times where you can stand far out of range of an enemy and repeatedly yell at them until they surrender. Then you can waltz up to them and slap the cuffs on, even though they had ample opportunity to fight back or simply run away. Each level has certain prime suspects that you'll really want to catch unharmed. These enemies are clearly marked with a handcuff symbol over their head. Successfully capturing these individuals gives you points which you can use to upgrade your weapons. This is a unique reward system and it's unfortunate that it's not more deeply integrated into the gameplay. The upgrades seem superfluous since your weapons are quite overpowering to begin with. The mirage of thoughtful, tactical gameplay that SWAT's squad-based gameplay infers is quickly dissipated in two distinct ways. First, and foremost, is the simple fact that you have unlimited ammunition. Second, and perhaps rather ironically, is that your AI teammates are so effective in combat it undermines the gameplay. Fellow squad members will take out any enemy approaching from the rear or flank before you even see them. Not having to worry about conserving your armaments, and knowing that you always have sufficient cover, allows the Rambo strategy to quickly take over. You'll be barging through doors, guns blazing, much more often than you'll be peeking through the cracks to survey the situation. Levels are extremely linear, allowing no flexibility in the methods used to overcome obstacles. There's always one appropriate path, and the level design ensures you always have exactly what you need to advance. When you aim at an interactive piece of the environment, like a bomb or door, you simply select what you want to do and the appropriate team member will get the job done. This interface is convenient, but the constant handholding makes the game feel pretty shallow in the long run. What's left is your basic run and shoot; kill them before they kill you. That's not to say it's not without merit. The levels are varied enough to keep you on your toes, and the combat is fast and at times quite intense. The problem is, since we've all done this a thousand times before it starts to get stale very quickly. Sadly, what's here is a small concession to the depth of gameplay SWAT could have offered. While there's no
internet play, there are several split-screen multiplayer modes. Included are
a few variations of the standard deathmatch, both every man for themselves and
team-based. There's also two player cooperative gameplay, allowing you to advance
through the normal campaign missions with a friend.
Graphics: 6/10 More impressive, but not overly so, are the character models. Each is a fairly realistic representation, displaying a good amount of detail. For the most part, enemies and teammates animate smoothly and convincingly. There are some nice graphical touches, particularly when one engages night vision or uses the gas mask. Doing so constrains your field of vision, making aiming and locating your enemies much more difficult. The ultimate trade-off
for the low polygon count is that the game runs smoothly and at a consistent framerate.
That's truly the saving grace of this game, allowing it to still be enjoyable
despite its faults. Control:
7.5/10 Movement and aiming is smooth
and easy, as is changing your weapons or headgear. One particular nice feature
is that you can hold down the R1 button to choose headgear, or simply tap it to
engage the last item used. When enemies start pelting you with gas grenades, you'll
appreciate the quick access to the appropriate defense. Overall:
6.5/10 [ top ] | |||
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