Old, but still very enjoyable squad based shooter.
The graphics are fairly crisp and sharp , and on today on the lower echelon of graphic accelerator the game can be played on the highest setting, without any effort, and still looks great. The images move most of the time as real SWAT mates would do and so are the other NPC's.
The sound is simplistic, but does its job well. Occasionally you hear the captives talk to you, and you can even hear the bad guys talk to you during and after the shooing's done (using a more subtle lingo after you cuff them...).
The game itself is actually simple : in each scene , you must arrest the criminals and protect and evacuate the civilians, using 2 squads of 2 members, and you act as team leader. Your selection of equipment before each mission is fairly limited (you can choose between 4 gun types) but the game play does not require much more than that.
Evacuating the civilians is fairly simple - you just cuff'em and radio the trailer unit. Once they are out of your sight, the trailer will notify you and the will magically disappear... Arresting (or killing) the criminals is surprisingly easy if you play by the rules - use the mirror before entering each room and corridor (where's the fun in that ??? "All guns blazing" attitude just can't work here), and than Bang , Clear and Enter command will do most of the job for you, while you cover for your mates.
Even though all I described sounds simple, it works well on the first few levels, and later on you must assist more actively to you mates, or else you're toast pretty fast.
The Elite edition adds a few more levels, and that is a blessing, because most missions (the first 9 of them ) are pretty easy, and consists very few jail-birds-to-be types. The latter levels are a little more complex (the sewers mission is fairly hard without a map).
The AI on this game is Ok most of the time. Sometimes your SWAT members get lost for some reasons, or just get stuck somewhere, and like their father you have to come and pull them out, and sometimes they take the most ridicules route to the destination (walking backwards...) , but all in all they are manageable. The enemies fights pretty well, they don't hesitate to shoot, and they hit well, so you have to be careful, because as in most reality based squad shooters, 1 or 2 shots can kill. The enemy's also travel between rooms, retreat, etc - very nicely done.
Enemy placings are random on some of the times, whats adding more complexity to your hunt.
I really like this game. I can't say that it gets better as it gets older, but as in when it was launched - it is plain fun.