Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3355 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Released on: 2007-10-26
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Platform: Sony PSP

Manufacturer's Description
SWAT PSP is built upon the classic and highly acclaimed SWAT franchise. Penned by script writer Scott Rosenbaum (The Shield), SWAT: Target Liberty is set in New York City where the SWAT team is tasked with thwarting an ever increasing number of international terrorist threats. Player's will take on the role of Kurt Wolfe and his New York City SWAT Team in the only true Tactical Squad-Based Shooter on the PSP. Life and death decisions is the norm faced everyday by real-life SWAT teams and gamers are faced with an elite terrorist group that is planning to detonate a nuclear weapon in New York City. The citizens of New York are counting on Kurt Wolfe and his team to figure out the mystery before it's too late.

Customer Reviews

SWAT is going on!
SWAT for psp is not a dreadful game by any means, but is sadly a story of missed opportunity which would have made this a stand out title.

The game sees you take on the role of Wolf, a squad leader of the SWAT team, with a variety of other team members to choose from all with their own area of specialism the game is set ready to become a classic psp title.

So, to put you out of your misery it doesn't live up to these high expectations.

The control system is not intuative, operating your character as well as the accompanying team was never going to be straight forward on a psp with its cursed button config, but even with this taken into account controls are still awkward.

Each time you wish to command your squad, making even a simple order the action is very slow and does not require any speed of thought while you scroll through sub menu's of options to find the action you desire. It is the slow passing of time (something you don't associatte with SWAT really?!) that makes what should feel like your controlling an elite group of strike counter terrorist operatives occasionally feel like you charged with the cast from 'Last of the Summer Wine'.

As you 'the player' get more aware of the combinations the gameplay gets a little faster, but I can't help but feel if the game were in real time this would force quicker action from the player and make a slicker and more reactive game.

The other poor areas include dialogue, you interogate suspects and interact with civilians only for text to be displayed at the bottom of the screen, the only worded dialogue you hear are the repetitive stock phrases time after time 'fall in' or 'in position' etc. For a new title the amount of dialogue makes the game feel dated, Rainbow 6 on psone had far more than this, and that game is now approaching 10 years old and was on an outdated and supposidly inferior console.

The graphics are okay, you view your squad from a raised viewpoint which is sometimes advantageous when in battle, other time it is frustrating when however you manipulate characters you find it impossible to get the view you desire.

The game is a functional squad based shooter of sorts and will appeal to fans of this type of game who are left with few other options on psp. There are a variety of weapons and tactics which can greatly effect the success of the mission, it at least demands an amount of thought on how to tackle the enermy tactically. Other positives include the fact the autosave saves at checkpoints rather than only on completion of a level which can see you coming back to within a minute or two's play from your furthest point within the game. The game difficulty settings are such that this really can be enjoyed by the new gamer ot the more experienced player.

The story element is OTT and played out in a very American style with cut scenes showing heavily accented newsreaders reporting on the heroes within your SWAT team, I wouldn't say this is a bad way to present the game but just be warned, this game is not subtle.

The game offers something different to the psp's catalogue of games, fact. But for those wanting a squad based combat game this isn't quite as good as the Socom Tactical (although that isn't perfect either) and for those wanting a stealth combat style game thankfully the Syphon Filter titles on psp are stunning and in a different league to anything else on this console. Pity this game couldn't find the holy grail of combining the two.

It is more suitable to all ages than those mentioned above as the violent subject of the game isn't as graphic and you're spared the choice language that is occasionally used in the Syphon Filter series named above.

'Not bad' is probably a harsh way of summing up a game that really does try to set itself appart from the competition, but sadly that's about the best way to describe it. With the flaws above ironed out there is still the chance of a great sequel, I really hope it happens.