Promising but disappointing police sim
This is an unusual real-time tactics game which although ambitious in its scope and brimming with potential, sadly fails to live up to its promise and is less than entertaining as a result. The game throws players into control of a squad of SWAT officers or terrorists and then charges them with completing 15 scenarios. Prior to your mission, a briefing video is shown, giving you an idea of what you will be up against, and then with this knowledge, you create your team based on your requirements. A good selection of officers and terrorists are available, each with unique weapons and skills and once you have your selection, the mission begins for real. Missions are varied, with those for SWAT including controlling riots or sniping enemy leaders, while the terrorists get to ambush the police or start the same riots. The two separate campaigns, one for SWAT, one for terrorists, are both involving with some interesting dialogue and characters, and feature graphics and sound which are decent enough. However, it is the gameplay which lets things down the most, with an overly complex interface that renders control awkward and frustrating, poor AI and numerous other niggles which just suck the fun out of things. On top of this, the whole game shouldn't take most players long to complete, even with two campaigns, lacking in challenge as they are. Syndicate or the X-Com series would be better investment if you're looking for something in this style.
