Publisher: Sierra Reviewer: Night_Hawk Review Date: 12/04/00

When reading reviews of Swat3 Elite Edition, nearly every reviewer mentions that Swat3 was a great game but it was simply lacking its multi player element. Now that the multiplayer option has arrived in the form of either a free upgrade download, or at your local game shop, then realistic-tactical sim players everywhere can sit back and enjoy Swat3 for what it is now – Elite Edition.

To start with Swat3 is THE most realistic fps game out. You are an element leader in LAPD SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics). As the story goes: You are assigned to make sure that the signing of the ‘nuclear abolishment treaty’ goes ahead without any ‘accidents’ (eg. terrorist activity). But naturally someone always wants to ruin the party and so our game begins.

When starting a career in Swat3 you are able to choose your personality and appearance, as well as your nickname and other misc. features that will change how your squad members respect you. Career mode is made to be realistic. You have the choice of 4 primary weapons, the M4A1, MP5, MP5 Silenced and the Benelli Shotgun. Choosing the correct weapons and equipment for the mission is crucial. Basically career mode is all about how much your AI officers respect you. If you give them ‘dumb’ orders during a mission they won’t respect you for that and as a result they may not carry out a later order. Pretty smart eh? ;).

Now onto the add on – Elite Edition. Sierra worked long and hard on this feature. Basically the goal of Elite Edition was to produce the best multi player experience for the gamer. Sierra has achieved this goal 10 fold. There are 3 modes of game play to choose from. Co Operative, Death Match, and Last Man Standing. Sierra has also released quite a few new mods to enhance game play, as will be discussed later.

Some other great Elite Edition features include: MANY new weapons and even more variations on those weapons! New character models and levels/missions, level editors and a plug in for character editing, among other things.

There is no other game with an emphasizes on team play and real tactics that has been as successfully done as in Swat3. Where other games fail, Swat3 shines. In multi player Co-op mode you, and up to 4 other players, team up to finish the mission objectives. You may think that taking orders from someone else could be quite boring. But think again! Somehow Co-op mode brings out the team member in you. After a few practice matches you know when to shoot and when not to shoot. If you manage to find a good group of people to play with you can play through various missions for hours on end without ever getting bored! I myself have played a co-op with a good friend, and the mission ("Hollywood Hills Home Invasion") took us nearly 40 minutes to complete! And after it we went back for more!

Death Match in Elite Edition offers you nothing new really. But is still extremely fun to play! Even in death match Swat3 still manages to emphasize on real SWAT tactics to 

complete/win a mission. You don’t aimlessly run around a level shooting everything that moves. Instead it is in your best interest to first learn the level well, and then find good ambush points where you can ‘trap’ your enemies. This is far from camping. This is called ‘tactics’. As with the other modes, in death match you have the choice of a huge variety of weapons and uniforms. In death match mode it is suggestible that you choose a weapon with a C MAG, as you tend to be running out of ammo a lot hehehe.

Last Man Standing is just as the name says. The last man standing wins. To prevent lame campers Sierra has implemented an option that takes health off you character if you are in the one place for too long. When you kill someone your health goes back up again. You won’t find many Last Man Standing games online at the moment; expect more of them to be up with the release of the 10-player patch.

Basically the major downside to Elite Edition, for most people, is that only 5 human players can participate at once. Sierra is currently working on a patch that will allow more human players. Sierra must have realized that some players would object to this number of human players, so they’ve given the option of up to 30 AI terrorists and 30 AI civilians at once. Very fun!

But what really makes Swat3 shine in its genre? Part of being labeled the most realistic fps game is the fact that Swat3 AI is realistic! There are no real set paths for the enemy AI or your officers. The AI reacts to sounds and other clues to hunt you down. There are over 200 AI personalities in the game and each character reacts differently each time you play. Hence you’ll never play the same mission twice, other games claim to do this but Swat3 is the only one that I have found that lives up to that promise. The characters in Swat3 each have different personalities, some say really funny stuff, others simply curse you for ruining their plans. You’re sure to run into some ‘cool’ terrorists in Swat3!

Sierra have realized that the mod community is the reason that gaming communities last so long. So with Swat3 they have released a level editor as well as a plug in for 3d Studio Max 2.5 so that modders can create new levels, characters and weapons for all to enjoy. Already the mods are rolling out into the community. Check the bottom of this review for some good Swat3 links. Sierra has also released mods such as the Commander Pack (which adds new weapons) New character models and game play enhancement mods.

Graphics:

The graphics in Swat3 are superb. The levels (based on real LA locations) are amazingly realistic and add to the feel of the game. Character models are very well made and their textures, as with all others in Swat3 are fantastic!

Sound: The score in Swat3 is very suitable. During a shoot out, or when things get tense, the music adjusts to a faster – more heart pumping pace. When in stealth mode the music is rather quiet and peaceful. Overall the score in Swat3 is a winner. The gun 

shot sounds in Swat3 are top notch. They were all recorded in indoor environments from real weapons, so expect to have the neighbors yelling out at you to turn down the sound.

Game Play: As said above Swat3 is the game to get if you want a realistic tactical sim that is also fun to play!

To be honest I’ve been a massive fan of Swat3 for the past 10 months. It is a great game and is certainly worth your money.