Police Quest: SWAT 2
| Police Quest: SWAT 2 | |
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 Police Quest: SWAT 2 |
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| Developer(s) | Yosemite Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Susan Frischer[1] |
| Programmer(s) | Victor Sadauskas |
| Composer(s) | Jason Hayes |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Rating(s) | |
Police Quest: SWAT 2, often referred to simply as SWAT 2, and stylized as SWAT², is a 1998 real-time tactics video game for Microsoft Windows. It is the sixth game in the Police Quest series, and the second game in the SWAT series.
Police Quest: SWAT 2 is an isometric view, squad-level real-time tactics video game in the mold of the classic X-Com or Jagged Alliance games. The game takes place in real-time, with the player issuing orders to individual SWAT team members from a three-quarter overhead view of the level. It was the sixth and last game of the Police Quest series. The later SWAT video game sequels dropped the Police Quest moniker altogether, turning SWAT into a spin-off series.
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[edit] Development
Many of the game's missions were based on real life events, such as the North Hollywood shootout, and a small scale riot that can be seen as a parallel to the 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed the Rodney King incident. The soundtrack was composed by Jason Hayes, and the lead designer was Susan Frischer.
[edit] Synopsis
Police Quest: SWAT 2's story takes place in Los Angeles, California and the surrounding metropolitan area in the then-future of 1999, and revolves around a fictional conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department and a fictional emerging left-wing domestic terrorist group calling themselves the "Five Eyes", led by a mysterious figure named Basho, and his second-in-command, Dante.
As an homage, Sonny Bonds, the protagonist of the original Police Quest series, is one of the SWAT officers available for the player to send into missions during the SWAT campaign. Sonny's high initial stats—some of the best in the game—allow him to become certified as an element leader.
[edit] Gameplay
The game features two separate campaigns, one in which the player control SWAT and another in which the player take the role of a lieutenant in the Five Eyes terrorist organization.
The player assumes the role of Police Chief John De Souza, and direct control of the SWAT Elements on the mission map. He’s aided on site by the CNT negotiator Sgt. Michael Alvarez. At the end of a mission, the player is debriefed by Sgt. Griffin Markossian.
The Five Eyes is controlled by Basho, a high-ranking officer in the Council of the Five Eyes. Basho provides all briefings via a TV screen. Basho’s right hand man is Dante, a self-proclaimed Bellwether of the Second Order. As a terrorist there’s no specific persona the Player assumes. Instead they merely control all terrorist units during a mission.
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The game play in the Five Eyes scenario is slightly different, as members have to be recruited instead of being readily available, and killing a hostage (in lieu of capturing a suspect) is acceptable and encouraged.
The weapons are also different, but still have the same purpose, such as the terrorists' primary automatic weapon being the LR 300 instead of SWAT's MP5A2.
There are 30 missions in total, fifteen each for SWAT players and for the Five Eyes scenario. They are independent storylines and neither affects the game of the other. Both scenarios can be played from the start of the game, simply by selecting the option at the New Solo Game interface window.
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The terrorist missions have a similar interface, though with fewer options and the basic premise is comparable. One important feature is often a mission may come to an end when all police are killed. This may or may not be favorable depending on how many mission objectives have been completed.
The first two missions in both scenarios are training missions. Subsequent missions greatly impact the budget (see above), and outright failure in certain missions may end the campaign altogether.
[edit] Marketing and release
The game was later rereleased under Police Quest: SWAT Generation collection (with SWAT and SWAT 3). Early releases of the game were listed as Police Quest 6 (PQ6) in the file names and folders. The number does not appear on the title screen.
[edit] Reception
With much more positive reviews than the previous two games, Police Quest: SWAT 2 still had several flaws, such as the overly complicated interface and imperfect artificial intelligence, and a simple trick of selling the sidearms of unused characters that allowed players to ignore the budgeting aspect of the game.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ MobyGames. "Police Quest: SWAT 2 (1998) - Windows credits - MobyGames". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/police-quest-swat-2/credits. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
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