SWAT Force Review

The tools of the trade for a SWAT team member have a glamour that can't be matched by those of a chef or a carpenter: when compared with a battering ram or night vision goggles, whisks and pliers don't really stand up. Not only that, but SWAT team members have a menacing look about them that speaks of power and authority.

Which is probably why there are swathes of games that put you into the sturdy leather boots of a SWAT (that's Special Weapons and Tactics) operative and very few that ask you to cook a perfect crème brulée or put up a straight set of shelves.

The point is that games about defusing bombs, taking down terrorists and partaking in rooftop shoot-outs are generally exciting. Sadly though, after spending just a few minutes with SWAT Force it becomes clear that no amount of fancy big boys' army toys and black clothing could make this particular mission feel any less humdrum.

Not that there is anything essentially wrong with what the developer has tried to do here. The basic mechanics are sound, seeing you taking control a two-man squad, each of which has unique abilities.

As you navigate the pretty but unexciting 2D stages, you must utilise each character's skills in order to progress. The artilleryman comes tooled with a machine gun and flash grenades and is trained specifically for crowd control. Similarly, the explosives expert has his own unique tools and abilities, and is good with pliers, red and blue wires (for bomb disposal), and optic cables.

You move each character one at a time with the thumbstick or the '2', '4', '6' and '8' keys, with the other character following along. You can also switch between characters using the '1' key in order to make use of their unique abilities. The latter is handled via context-sensitive action bubbles, which you negotiate by choosing a list of possible actions with the left soft key: throw grenade, use optic cable, diffuse bomb, use computer, and so on.

Each short level provides you with a different objective, such as save the hostages, or diffuse the bombs, and as you play through it you'll have the opportunity to either stun and arrest the villains that stand in your way or else mercilessly execute them.

You have to be careful, however, since using the artilleryman to mow down enemies with his machine gun will raise the alert level much more than if you use the explosives expert's tazer to stun and arrest the criminals (which bags you more points at the end of the level). In any event, as soon as you either die or raise the alertness level too high, it's game over and back to the last checkpoint.

So far, so good: the problems are not SWAT Force's component parts but rather the poor way they've been implemented, as well as some slipshod design that reveals itself less than ten seconds into the game.

For instance, every time a context-sensitive situation crops up, the screen flicks back to the title image with a small explanatory note, which is irksome and breaks up the flow of play.

Worse still are the elements of the game that simply don't work. For a game with stealth aspects, some audio cues would have been useful, but gunshot sounds or indeed any other effects for that matter are completely absent; you get a short melody every time you die, and that's your lot.

Similarly, with the artilleryman you are supposed to be able to force enemies into submission without shooting, by repeatedly tapping the '3' key. But as all enemies open fire on sight this simply doesn't work and any attempts at it only ever result in a head full of lead.

Switching between characters is also awkward at times, especially after diffusing and opening a booby trapped door with the explosives expert. If there are any enemies behind the door they are usually able to squeeze off enough rounds to reduce his health by half before you can switch to the artilleryman.

True, this can be avoided by laboriously checking under the door with the optic cable for enemies, checking the door for booby traps, diffusing the trap, switching players and then opening the door and firing. Of course by the time you do all of this you have bored yourself into a stupor and be bereft of the will to carry on through SWAT Force's seven levels. Had the game instead enabled you to choose to play as either character and issue commands to the other, this repetitive trial-and-error gameplay might have been avoided.

As mentioned, visually the game scores well. Backgrounds are detailed and colourful and character animations are more than passable. Unfortunately, fancy graphics are precious little recompense for a game that is so flawed and plain joyless to play.

SWAT Force just goes to show that you can have the best toys in the world, but without imagination they are about as much fun to play with as a whisk or spirit level. Avoid.