Previous Next

It's 1999. You're leading a mean squad of three dudes trained to perfection as killing machines, members of the police SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) division. The mission this time is to rout out a nest of terrorists in a district of Los Angeles and release their hostages.

This should have been an operation as sharp as a Bic disposable razor - well, probably a little sharper than that. But to complicate matters, a few civilians remain in an evacuated area and neither they nor the hostages must be harmed by you and your men.

Your squad is on toot patrolling through the vertically scrolling streets of LA. You control the leader of your team, who is at the front of the patrol. When the terrorists home in on him, lobbing grenades, he must move fast -and risk the hidden snipers.

If the leader falls in action, his place is immediately taken by another squad member; when he in turn needs a body bag, the final man is on his own.

Each member of the team is equipped with a gun, but only the leader's can be controlled. He can fire in the direction that he moves, and diagonally - always taking care not to hit innocent civilians, which knocks the points off him.

Reach the junction where the terrorist leader hangs out, and you'll find those hostages. Now things can really get tough.

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: poorly-defined characters, bad use of colour
Sound: very basic

'My, Los Angeles SWAT, what slow graphics you've got! My, Los Angeles SWAT, what limited sound you've got! My, Los Angeles SWAT, what ludicrous colours you use! My, Los Angeles SWAT, what awkward controls you've got! 'All the better for selling me off cheaply with.'

'The graphics and colour in Los Angeles SWAT are awful - curious checkerboard blocks are meant to represent buildings, indistinct 2-D line drawings pass for upturned cars, poorly-animated characters litter the gaudy background. If the action was more exciting this might be forgivable (as might the colour clash), but the controls are awkward, the gameplay is repetitive and even the sound is a letdown.'