Where are the whistles and wooden truncheons? Where are the rattles and street corner TARDISes? Steam’s dizzying selection of police games implies professional law enforcement began circa 1980. If you want to fight crime as, say, a Bow Street Runner or a bobby in wartime London, you’re out of luck. During misnamed ‘Police Week’ the closest I’ve come to vintage policing is being shot at with a Lewis gun in Early Access SWAT Commander.
The antique MG was in the idiosyncratic armoury of a gang of violent dog-fighting enthusiasts. Quite why said gang chose not to protect their rural HQ with a few chained and free-roaming guard mutts, I couldn’t say, but ignore this inconsistency and the level in question – like all six maps in Ritual’s work-in-progress – peddled its illusion with considerable skill and gusto.
Steaming mugs of coffee… abandoned patience games… dubious magazines… fly-haloed garbage heaps… occasionally grisly, the environments in SC abound with appropriate detail.
While both the enemy and the friendly AI isn’t quite SWAT 4-calibre yet, and the newcomer still sports some potentially disruptive bugs*, if you’re a fan of tense, leany, shooters complicated by innocent civilians and civilised use-of-force rules, it’s highly unlikely you’ll regret splashing out £17 on SWAT Commander.
* At one point I thought I was going to have to abandon a mission because a door was blocked by a surrenderer.
Because each of the six* levels can be tackled lone wolf, in the company of bots, or alongside other humans in three different modes (‘hostage rescue’, ‘barricaded suspects’, and ‘bomb threat’ for example) and foe positions are randomised, there’s far more game here than first meets the eye.
* At least four more maps are in the pipeline.
Unlocked from the start, an Aladdin’s shipping container of guns and equipment expands replayability yet further. SC personnel might not be able to scavenge weapons and ammo from fallen perps, but suitably outfitted, they can…
- peer under doors with mirrors
- wedge doors to prevent flanking
- toss cameras through doorways and over walls
- defeat locks with lockpicks, battering rams, breaching shotguns, or C2
- disable suspects with stun guns, gas grenades, flashbangs, pepper spray, and non-lethal rounds
- and control off-map snipers
Controlled via logical Tab-activated menus linked to your view centre, AI companions are genuinely useful.
They know how to stack before entering a room and do their best to cover multiple sectors and stay out of the player’s LoF. They’ll happily check, mirror, and breach doors for you, gather evidence and secure surrendered suspects.
I wanted finer control – the ability to move individuals to particular spots and specify stances and cover directions – when I started, but as I got to know the menu system and my team’s tendencies, that desire faded.
Presently, perps are perhaps a little sedentary and disciplined. Although I’ve been shot through closed doors, and been surprised by curious, suicidal, and opportunistic* enemies on occasion, I’ve yet to be on the receiving end of blind-firing, or witness anything concerted enough to warrant the description ‘counter-attack’ or ‘organised retreat’.
* Surrendered foes may un-surrender if they’re not restrained or watched.
How does the strong, SWAT 4-reminiscent SWAT Commander compare to on-sale-at-the-moment Ready or Not? Assuming everyone isn’t heartily sick of cop game coverage, I may attempt to answer that question next week.
I’ll play this and Ready for Not one day, but for me, I still consider SWAT 4 — especially with the Elite Force mod — to be the gold standard of this tiny subgenre.