SWAT: Target Liberty

Off the mark

Anyone who has watched an American cop movie has probably wanted to control the "Special Weapons and Tactics" division at some point - busting in, kicking ass, and taking names seems like quite a good laugh and even (whisper it) strategically interesting.

Unfortunately, 3G Studios and Sierra Entertainment have singularly failed to transfer that interest to the small, virtual screen. This game is riddled with bugs, a complete lack of logic, and a simply ridiculous storyline.

The game kicks off by introducing you to your character, a SWAT officer known as Kurt Wolfe. He also has four sidekicks. You can choose two to accompany you for each mission - Subway, who is good at interrogating people; Gramps, who has a sharp eye and can spot the suspects more easily; Python, who is the tough guy character; and Hollywood, the marksman of the gang.

Each level starts with a quick mission briefing, after which you can choose which of your team you want to accompany you. I suppose the developers intended for you to choose based on the briefing, but these short paragraphs of text really don't give a whole lot of clues on what skills you might require.

However, you will be pleased to know that it really does not matter in the slightest. Each level follows the exact same procedure - only the environments are swapped out.

Your team starts at one end of the map, and has to move across clearing each room until they reach the end, when the ending cut-scene is triggered. Yes, you sometimes have to locate certain items to complete the level, but the map funnels you towards each item so that you simply cannot miss them on the way over.

It becomes apparent very quickly that the best way to progress is to hand out orders to your colleagues and follow along behind them. At each door into the next room, you can order your gang to "enter and clear", which they will do with relative ease. This is much less frustrating than trying to aim at the targets yourself - the targeting system takes too long to lock onto something. By the time you have locked onto a perpetrator, they will have had time to pump a couple of bullets into you. Best to let the grunts deal with it.

Of course, your colleagues do seem to have a self-defence mechanism in response this tactic - sometimes, they will quite merrily ignore your orders. This is usually when trying to get somewhere in an awkward place - obviously an AI pathing issue. But other times they just won't do what you ask, simply unforgivable for a game that is allegedly based on the most team-based organisations on the planet.

You are encouraged to go for a non-violent approach, subduing suspects rather than killing them, as it will give you a higher score at the end of each level. This is, of course, true to the subject matter, but sometimes the game is so frustrating you just want to blow their brains out.

The point scores translate into experience for your chaps - after they have gained a level or two, they actually become good at what they were supposed to be good at in the first place. Hollywood might actually pop a headshot once in a while, and Python gets a decent melee attack. But you have to wonder what the point is in choosing different agents at first when all five of the team obtains experience regardless of their involvement.

The sound is passable, although a bit samey after a while. The story is laughable - somehow a SWAT team ends up being the sole people who can stop a terrorist blowing up a nuclear device in New York City.

This game is quite clearly meant to be a celebration of how "kick-ass" the SWAT teams are, and will probably provide a smattering of enjoyment for the more jingoistic out there. But it really has nothing to offer anyone else - it's just a poor version of Killzone on the PSP. Purchase at your own risk.

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By Richard Bright