Since it's original release back in 1995, the SWAT series has sought to create the most realistic simulation of SWAT tactics.  With five years since the last SWAT release, VU Games has managed to make the best and most realistic game yet.

In SWAT 4, your job is to control your team through a variety of dangerous situations, such as raids on casinos, arrest warrants, and jewelry heists. 

Just like in real-life, when you head into a situation, you must obey the same rules of engagement that every officer must face.  Guns are to be used only as a last resort.  Naturally, this can make the game pretty hard at times. 

You will quickly fail missions if you blindly run into rooms.  Instead, the game is quite strategic.  Therefore, don't be shocked to find only a few parts of intense action.  Your goal in the game is for a peaceful conclusion.  Then, after completing each mission you will be graded on how you performed.  Arresting suspects (rather than killing them) will get you more points, while things like using improper force will take points away.

The game is made up of 14 missions which, sadly, are in no way linked together via a good storyline.  They are stand-alone missions rather.  You'll start out doing training missions and work your way to full-fledged missions.  Controls can be very intuitive as well; point at a civilian and simply tell your team what to do, right click when aiming at a door, tell your team to open it, through a flash bang, and charge inside.

Prior to each mission you will hear a briefing about what the upcoming mission entails.  You will learn of information from a dispatcher, 911 calls (sometimes), photographs, etc.  All of this information is extremely important as it will give you enough information to choose what weapons and equipment to use, floor plans, and sketches of the suspects.  When choosing weapons and equipment, you have a variety of things to choose from, including assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, pepper spray, flash bang grenades, fiber-optic cameras, and much more.  

In missions, you control two teams: red team and blue team.  At any time, you can switch between either of these two teams.  One of the great things about these teams is that they work together flawlessly.  For example, you can switch between teams and lead them both through different doors that lead into the same room.  You can also do a Picture-in-Picture to see what each team is seeing at a given time.

While this may sound complicated, you will quickly get used to moving around the game.  Luckily, the first few missions are relatively easy to let you get used to the game.  Fear not, if you are looking for a challenge, the game does get much more difficult in the end.

Also, just like in real life, all hostages and suspects act very differently.  Some suspects will give up if you yell at them, others will demand you to shoot them.  Some hostages will do whatever you ask while others need to be knocked out.

Multiplayer mode allows up to 16 players to play together online.  You can either play the in-game missions or new custom-missions.  This allows you to play through the whole game with a friend controlling the other team.  Other game modes include death-match, bomb-defusing games, and VIP escort.  Unlike many games, these additional modes are quite fun and enjoyable.

The graphics of SWAT 4 range quite a bit.  Player models are fascinating, but hostages, suspects, and things like mirrors look rather poor.  It may be for the best though, as any more detail would probably require top-of-the-line machines.  Even so, 1GB of RAM is your best bet for running this game smoothly.

All in all, SWAT 4 is a fun, enjoyable game.  If you enjoyed SWAT 3 or similar games (such as Rainbow Six), you will definitely like SWAT 4.