Vivendi announces SWAT 4
Police the sumptuously detailed streets with all the right equipment from Q1 2005 onwards.
Prepare to kick open doors and bring down terrorists and other wrongdoers whilst pretending to be chain-smoking and boozing Irish actors! That's right, folks, Vivendi has announced SWAT 4, the latest game in the tactical PC FPS series, currently in development under the madly tapping fingers of Tribes Vengeance scribes Irrational Games, and due for release in Q1 2005.
According to Vivendi the tech behind the game is also much the same as the new Tribes game, with an Unreal-based core engine backed up by Havoc object physics and realistic ballistics. Spread across 16 levels, the single-player campaign will see you as the unit commander of a five-man SWAT team facing high-risk arrests, hostage rescue and counter-terrorism missions, making use of the Colt M-4 Carbine, Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun, Surefire tactical lights and other authentic SWAT equipment - all the while observing authentic police procedures.
Elsewhere you can expect three competitive multiplayer modes (any guesses?) and a co-operative campaign, which will have to go some way to beat off the challenge of Raven Shield but still caps off an interesting package. You can see three rather impressive screenshots to get an idea of what we're up against, and although it wasn't explicitly mentioned in Vivendi's announcement, there is a possibility that it might appear at E3 next month.