SWAT: Target Liberty

SWAT is truly one of the classic shooter titles in the realm of video games. It sparkled with strong AI, focused on arresting and detaining the bad guys rather than just go in guns blazing and leave the sorting out of the innocents from the bad guys to the coroner.

The term “SWAT” has the word ‘tactics’ nestled in the acronym, and the games were about tactics. Sierra (along with developer 3G) has chambered the next round in the franchise, but this time the SWAT title is releasing on the PSP handheld console.

Sierra showed off SWAT: Target Liberty at the Sierra Spring Event held in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. GameZone was on hand to get an up-close look at this title and from all appearances, this should carry the SWAT banner forward strongly.

“We tried to take the things that made SWAT fun,” stated the Sierra representative when asked how the handheld game would differentiate from the other platform releases.

And what does that mean? It means moving in the characters from SWAT 4, and allowing players to control their team members while creating random enemy placement within the scenarios. The franchise format moves into the handheld in both the look and fun factor, with the look remaining gritty and realistic.

The camera has been changed to a ¾ view (or isometric), and while sniper mode made it into the game, the emphasis is still on non-lethal weapons. The story, penned by an executive producer on the television show, The Shield, links the 12 scenarios that take place in New York City. Of course, the missions escalate the tension and the “consequences are catastrophic if you don’t stop the terrorist threat.”

The missions themselves are linear in nature though the game makes up for that by utilizing the moral system for the enemies. Take out one bad guy and his buddies will notice and won’t be as certain of themselves as the conflict progresses. “We were going for an AI experience that you hadn’t seen on a handheld before.”

SWAT tactics from the real world are employed in the game with the developer trying to “create a blend of authenticity and fun.”

The levels are long and huge, with each mission taking place in a unique environment. The mission levels do have checkpoints, and the game has rag-doll physics, particle effects and some destructible elements inside the environments.

The game will support Ad hoc multiplayer for up to four people with set multiplayer levels and a random kill house generator.

“There are great games out there,” it was stated, “and we want to be one of them.”

The visit afforded a bit of hands on and while the controls do have a minor learning curve the game itself was intuitive. Environmental elements have collision paths and the size of the levels made this a terrific tactical dungeon crawl, in a sense.

SWAT: Target Liberty is slated for a fall release and should be one of the titles that shooter fans look to drop into their PSP systems.