Gameplay Movie

Watch SWAT breach doors and neutralize hostiles in this exciting gameplay movie.
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A lot of us played cops-and-robbers when we were younger. One team was the cops, the other was the robbers, and "playing" the game usually meant running around and pointing fingers while making crude gun noises. SWAT 4 from Irrational and VU Games will be a step up. Maybe two. This upcoming game, which will be powered by a heavily modified version of Unreal technology to allow for all the latest flashy graphics, will also incorporate team tactics and intense close-quarters battles. Now that development is nearly done, we sat down with Irrational associate producer Joe Faulstick for a look at how the game is shaping up.

Welcome to your first day, rookie.

GameSpot: Give us a progress report on SWAT 4. What parts of the game is the team working on now?

Joe Faulstick: Polish, polish, polish! SWAT 4 is currently in its beta state, which means that all features are functioning and there's no more new content coming in. Right now the team is busy playtesting the game and squashing the final few bugs. It's very hectic, but also pretty nice since we can finally view the game in its oh-so-close-to-completed form.

GS: Now that the game is much closer to being done, give us an overview of the game's single-player campaign and how it's structured. How much flexibility do players have in approaching each single-player mission? Why was the decision made to not make a continuous, story-based single-player game that chronicled one character's rise through the ranks of the police force?

JF: The single-player campaign is a progression of unconnected missions. We wanted the campaign to show off a range of realistic missions that SWAT might undertake. We chose not to have a story-driven campaign with interconnected missions so that we could place the focus on each mission being a totally different deployment.

Your flexibility is only limited by what you're willing to do in order to accomplish the mission's objectives. Do you run in guns blazing and potentially fail due to unauthorized use of force? What if you stock up on tactical aids and take a less lethal approach? Maybe you'll just hang back and control the element through the helmet cameras and let them do the dirty work! The choice is really up to you...just be sure to follow police procedure!

GS: Tell us about the game's gritty and realistic environments. Why aren't there any outdoor levels with sunshine or rainbows? Were there any specific inspirations, such as movies, TV, or comics, which the team drew upon for the game's level design?

JF: We wanted the environments in SWAT 4 to have a dark and gritty feel to them. The team drew from a large variety of sources while designing the levels. [The movie] Seven was a source of inspiration for at least one level's art design. The artists and designers are a very creative group and it's hard to tell which ideas were influenced [by other sources] and which came from their imaginations.

GS: Tell us about the game's AI, both for squad teammates and for enemies. How did the team go about developing this AI--how much research was done into real-world SWAT tactics, for instance? How in-depth is the AI--what kind of tactics can we expect to see friendlies and hostiles pull off? Move-and-fire in groups? Breaching doors? Calling for help?

Don't be fooled by this picture. Most of SWAT 4's environments will not be sunny and bright.

JF: Your SWAT element will be with you throughout the entire single-player game, so we knew that the artificial intelligence was important from the beginning. We wanted the AI team members to come off as realistic, not just in terms of how they function, but also in terms of how they behave. Fortunately, we had some good insight on how a SWAT element "behaves" from our SWAT consultant, [25-year veteran officer] Ken Thatcher.

With Ken's help we could design AI that would function like a real element at the player's command, from realistically breaching and clearing a room to holding their own in a fire fight. The SWAT AI is capable of doing all actions that the player can.

With interesting officer AI, we needed to match that up with intelligent enemies. The enemies in SWAT 4 were designed to respond dynamically to every situation. An enemy will not respond the same way twice under identical circumstances. They might surrender easily if caught alone and off guard or they may decide it's better to barricade themselves behind a door with a hostage or two. Essentially, the dynamic behavior of the AI was designed so that no two missions will ever play the same.