Police Quest: SWAT is the fifth game in the Police Quest series. It is a graphic adventure game released in 1995, and re-released in 2016 for Steam. With extensive use of FMV videos for its basic gameplay, the game required four CD-ROMs.
Gameplay
In keeping with the strict realism of the previous series, the majority of the game is spent performing training exercises. In fact, there are only three actual missions in the game. The first mission is available after the player completes a single training exercise and then attends a tactical lecture. The second becomes available after completing the first. After successfully playing several variations of the first two, the third becomes available. To increase replay value, the missions play out slightly differently with each playthrough, though only a limited number of variations exist. The role the player takes during the last mission also differs based on the career path they have selected during training, acting either as an element leader, with a greatly expanded list of radio commands to direct their team, or as a sniper, with randomized wind conditions forcing the player to adjust his rifle scope to ensure an accurate shot. During the training portion of the game, the player can make choices that lead to verbal reprimands. For example, if the player tries to 'skip' the briefings, the commander will scold the player. If the player is told to go to one location but then goes to another, someone there will warn "SWAT Pup" that he needs to be at the other location. If the player pesters other people at the various locations, by trying to talk to them too much or loitering, they may also get annoyed. Only shooting one's fellow officers in the few scenes in which this is possible will result in any form of disciplinary action, however, and this causes an immediate game over. Verb/noun commands can be issued via the character's LASH radio which allows the player to request assistance from his teammates or, if acting as element leader, give them orders. In-game items are kept in an inventory that functions like the inventory in other Sierra SCI adventure games of the era, though the only items the player will ever carry are tactical devices such as angled mirrors, flashbangs, gas masks and firearms. These are issued to the player automatically at the beginning of each mission. The game is in first-person whenever in training. It goes into third person whenever interviewing witnesses or talking to fellow officers. Missions are mostly first-person, but the player's character is often shown moving between areas in the third person. The game is built on the SCI2 used in the previous Police Quest game, Open Season, and other adventure games of the era such as Phantasmagoria and Gabriel Knight 2. It utilizes a single cursor interface similar to these and other SCI2 games. The game utilizes much of the same technology as the previous game: most backgrounds are scanned photographs with green screen actors, but there is much more use of FMV.
Reissue
SWAT was re-released under the Police Quest Collection Series adventure compilation, the "SWAT Career Pack", the Police Quest: SWAT Force pack, and later the Police Quest: SWAT Generation collection, and the Police Quest: SWAT 1 & 2 pack from GOG.com. The game is listed as Police Quest 5 in the file names, folder, and the credits. The number does not appear on the title screen. The full title Police Quest 5: SWAT also appears on the back of second Police Quest Collection it was first included in.
Reception
Sales
According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of the Police Quest series—including Police Quest: SWAT—surpassed 1.2 million units by the end of March 1996. Police Quest: SWAT was a commercial success; SWAT 3s Jim Napier later wrote that it "received only marginal reviews, sold like crazy." Between January 1998 and July 1998 alone, it sold 152,425 copies and earned $1,622,405 in the United States. Its sales that year ultimately totaled 253,128 units, which brought in revenues of $2.73 million and made SWAT the country's 17th best-selling game of the year. The game's overall sales topped 1 million copies by March 2000.
Critical reviews
A reviewer for Next Generation criticized that the mission instructions are overly ambiguous, sometimes leading the player to receive a reprimand even after apparently following orders correctly. He praised the large amount of content, educational value, and digitized audio, but scored the game two out of five stars, concluding that "this is a decent attempt at a police simulation, but your lack of control leaves much to be desired." PC Zone offered the game a "Recommended" rating, and a writer for the magazine called it "gun-toting cop fun".
