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SWAT: Global Strike Team Review - Xbox

You are Commander Mathias Kincaid, TAC-3 Team Leader, a former special forces major with a low bullshit threshold and a classified past. With you are 2 of the most elite members of the LAPD SWAT: Specialist Sniper, Lieutenant Kana Lee and Tech Expert, Lieutenant Tony "TJ" Jackson. Together you are one of the most elite SWAT teams around, and it is up to you to save hundreds of innocent people from dying. Varying across 31 different missions, you'll be having hours of fun fighting to protect what's right, against those that harbour misconduct.

Gameplay

From the Game Select screen, you can choose all the different modes SWAT: GST has to offer: your standard Campaign mode, your arcade Time Attack mode, Deathmatch, and some seriously enjoyable Co-Operative gameplay. What's so good about SWAT is the missions vary depending on whether you do Singleplayer or multiplayer, meaning you'll play entirely different missions when you have a mate over, simply because they are different missions.

Believe it or not, a large part of this game revolves around how you will make it through the next door. In your squad, you can choose between a handful of different ways to open each door. If the door is locked you'll of course need to pick the lock, or you can do the traditional "breach" style SWAT manoeuvre, and blow that door down like it's a terrorist itself. These options and others are done with a simple push of your d-pad, and doesn't require any sort of learning curve at all.

On your interface, you get your health in 10 bars, your ammunition and your grenades. If you have a squad, each member will be displayed in the bottom left corner with a picture of their face, and their health in 5 bars. What's most innovative about SWAT: GST is the compliance meter. Every enemy has one of these, and when it flashes red they're ready to surrender. You must use different tactics such as calling out "SWAT, DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" or firing suppressive fire in their general direction to make them surrender. If you kill them whilst trying to achieve this, it's no big deal. However, if you kill the enemy after they've surrendered, you may fail the mission. Surrendered enemies and innocent civilians must be restrained, with handcuffs on their wrists, behind their backs. It's amusing when you have about 10 enemies and innocents in the one room, all cuffed, just lying there on the ground.

Singleplayer usually puts you in the shoes of the squad leader, however occasionally there are objectives where you must take control of the lady of the team, which happens to be a sniper. Sniper objectives are fun, and don't necessitate much dexterity at all. Your other squad member is mainly used as a support, but he is also a great bomb diffuser, which you find out (continued next page)