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The SWAT Series are the followup of Sierra's classic adventure game series Police Quest. As the genre decreased of popularity by the mid nineties and Jim Walls, the former series designer, left Sierra and was replaced by real-life SWAT founder (and recently dismissed LAPD chief after the Rodney King scandal) Daryl F. Gates, who only released Open Season, panned by overly tedious rulebook gameplay and cliched plot, Sierra had the need to search new genres for the popular police simulation series.
The first title, Daryl F. Gates Police Quest: SWAT was an interactive movie released in 1995 that suffered the same fate as most titles of the same genre released during the so-called Multimedia Explosion in the mid-nineties. Keeping the rule strictness of the previous series, the game was packed in four CDs. As the game flopped for a second time, it would take three years until a new game in the series would be released. Police Quest: SWAT 2 (1998) was a team-based RTS in the line of the classic X-Com or Jagged Alliance games, but with a more tactical component. With much more positive reviews than the previous two games, it still had several flaws, such as the overly complicated interface and imperfect AI.
Until now, the most popular game in the series is the third installement, SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle, released in 1999. It had two major updates, Elite Edition (2000) and Tactical Game Of The Year (2001), which added more game modes (including paintball), mod support, maps, weapons and skins. Altough those were sold as new games, the new features are freely available from Sierra's SWAT 3 website.
In the game (which was fully endorsed by SWAT, who worked close with the development team), played in a fictional 2005, Los Angeles is hosting the signing of the United Nations Nuclear Abolishment Treaty, which will celebrate Global Peace Day 2005. The player is the leader of a five man strike team, and has to issue orders to the remaining pairs (Blue and Red) to properly finish a mission. The leadership rating (which defines how well the mission was played) depends on several factors, such as the improper use of deadly force, killing cooperative enemies and proper communications (calling evacuation for a dead enemy or declaring a downed but breathing character dead would take points) would reduce the rating. Medals are awarded according to the situations faced in the mission, but are rarely affected by a poor leadership score.
The levels (for a total of 13 in the campaign) are varied, from high-risk arrests and dignitary protection to bomb defusals. The hostage and terrorist positions are randomly assigned at each game start, assuring differente experience every time. Some of the maps are based on real buildings such as the LA City Hall or the Convention Center. Common criticisms are the lack of sniper support and predefined tactics, which are at disposal in contenders Rainbow Six series. As an homage, Marie Wilkans, one of the main characters from the Police Quest series, appears as a bank clerk in the bank mission.
Two action-oriented console titles were planned. The first, SWAT: Urban Justice was announced in 2002 but canceled one year later and SWAT: Global Strike Team, released for the Xbox and the PlayStation 2. The "gung-ho" gameplay of both caused some attrition between SWAT and Sierra.
A new title (tentative title is SWAT 4) is scheduled to be released by Spring 2005.
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