WEEKEND WASTER - SWAT 4

Weekend Waster is back! And this week I present you with... SWAT 4. Coincidently another masterpiece penned by Ken Levine (no, not the underwater one). This is as common as muck on budget right now and you can get it off Amazon here for a measly 6.480000 English pounds.

THE GAME

Fear is discovering that you forgot to reload your taser when you’re only inches away from an armed terrorist’s face. Fear is also finding the graves of small children in the basement of a deranged religious cult with a penchant for assault weapons. But mostly fear is when, after taking a round in the leg and chest and losing three of your men, you are required to clear the last room of a building. Knowing you don’t have any grenades and knowing that you shouldn’t have a chance in hell, but ordering your last man to open the door regardless and limping inside. Not only that, but as the perps within raise their rifles and take aim, still having to consider: is there a chance I could make them surrender? Could I take them alive?

Gameplay in SWAT 4 comprises of continual split-second decision making. It doesn’t let up. If you’re not quick enough then you’re dead. If you don’t cover your back then you will be shot in the back. And each decision you make has to be perfect because there are no savegames or second chances within the scenarios. Yes, it is possibly the most intense game ever created, not only for the reasons mentioned above, but because the thought is always in the back of your mind: People actually do this for a living?

SWAT 4 is a masterpiece of design and a game that I never expected to get much value from initially, but it sucks you in and the scenarios are fascinating snapshots of American suburban living gone hellishly wrong. In short, it's brilliant. In long, it's jaw-droppingly f**king amazingly brilliant. Buy it now.