SWAT 4 breaches GOG, commences clearing wallets

2005's tactical cop FPS SWAT 4 is one of the superest shooters and a strong contender for the best game those BioShockers at Irrational made, you might have heard. Probably from us. Several times. And each time, we cough and mutter "Er, but you'll need to wander eBay or something to get it." No more! SWAT 4 is now available easily and DRM-free from GOG. Gather some mates, fire up its co-op, form a plan, and try to neatly complete missions without killing anyone. You'll not find the explode-o-murder of Rainbow Six Siege here. Well, not unless you want to.

GOG are selling SWAT 4's Gold Edition, which includes its Stetchkov Syndicate expansion, for £7.99. Classics like this should never vanish from sale for years.

SWAT 4's a tactical squad-based shooter, playing as a supercop busting everyone from bank robbers to cultists. It's a game of caution, procedure, and hasty improvisation, as you're not only trying to stay alive yourself but also sometimes rescue hostages and, ideally, capture the bad guys alive. It's got a cracking and varied campaign, including one dreadful mission inside a killer's home. Brr!

Absolutely do try SWAT 4 in co-op if you can. RPS elder Jim fired it up a few years after release:

"Anyway, we began with some tough assignments. An armed robbery gone awry in a convenience store, some terrorists in an office block. You know the kind of thing. I love the brief intros and vague details on the assignment: realistic to a fault. One of the tactical maps is even hastily inked onto toilet paper – improvised in the chaos of armed men doing crazy shit. SWAT 4 is packed with these kinds of details. We charged in, blasting doors off their hinges, gunning down perps, gassing and stunning the occupants of bank vaults and underground car parks, shouting, shooting, and handcuffing everyone."

Ah, the days when environment artists had a ball filling worlds with cheeky posters, magazines, and signs about everything from Tribes: The Movie and Kickpuncher 2: Return of the Fist to -- oh good grief! -- "K. RELLY in a-minor".