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S.W.A.T. stands for "Special Weapons And Tactics". In America the S.W.A.T. team are the people who are called in, when the job is too much for the conventional forces to handle.

You are the poor chap who has to take control of a three man S.W.A.T. team for their toughest assignment yet. There is pandemonium in the west side of L.A. Most civilians have managed to evacuate, but we know some are still in there. The gangs have taken hostages and it's your unenviable task to blow away as many of these terrorists as possible and regain the hostages unharmed.

You are armed only with your rifle and are attacked from all directions by baton-wielding psychos. The game scrolls upwards and yes, you guessed it, it plays just like an urban Commando. You walk down the main street with another two S.W.A.T. members on each side of you. The other two S.W.A.T. members do absolutely nothing until you get killed and then you control one of them. Apart from bullets you also get grenades thrown at you. These grenades are a little different from the ones in other games of this kind, as they never travel more than two feet, and often kill their thrower.

You must be careful who you kill in this game as there are still a few dozy civilians strolling carelessly about. If you kill one of these a thousand points will be subtracted from your score.

The game is set out in levels. On each level you must make it up through the riot to the top of the street, until you come to a crossroads. At the crossroads, you will encounter a huge gang, you must kill all of them. When this is done, the leader will come running holding the hostage next to him. You must shoot the leader without harming the hostage or again you will lose points. As you get further bigger gangs will appear, upturned cars will block the road, and a lot more people will be trying to waste you.

Graphically, S.W.A.T. is adequate with nothing to shout about. The sound is also pretty basic with average touches. The real quality S.W.A.T. has are that it's simple and fun to play, and it's very cheap.