Good, but they lost some of the gameplay from SWAT 3
The game caters different gaming modes in multiplayer: Coop, Barricated Suspects, Rapid Deployment and VIP. With must-have expansion you also get a kind of get the bag-mode.
Coop is the normal SP missions in coop. This is probably the most revarding gamemode. If you have the expansion there is a very good Voice over IP ingame.
Barricated is normal team deathmatch. This is rather good, but sometimes it tends to be people running around spraying eachother with pepperspray. Also this community is not spared from the old "NO CAMPING n00b" problem. In Deathmatch games tactical playing is usually not accepted.. you simple have to run around and shoot. No holding positions and so on.. just run around. This makes me pretty much count this gamemode out. But that's not as much the game's fault as the community. If you're 14, and you nick looks like "h4xx0R&&//#("%", and if you like to say "n00b I ownz you" then this is your gamemode. But if you're into more tactical playing. Stay away.
Rapid Deployment is awsome. You have to disarm 2-5 bombs if you play Swat and defend them if you're suspects. Here the gameplay tends to be more tactical and you really have to strike as a team to win. Awsome.
In VIP teamplay is central. One person is VIP and the other teammates have to escort him out. Great tactical and dynamic gameplay.
Swat 4 is a great game. But the things that you get in the expansion should have been in the original. It's rather buggy out of the box. And Coop really lacks alot of the thing that makes it stand out. Such as assignable positiones in the entry team and context based menus for your position. Some of this is taken care of in the expansion but it still just won't get to the same level of serious gaming as Swat 3 did.
Also, with the expansion the loading times is completely unacceptable. catastophical...
So... I do have alot of issues with this game. Especially after playing Swat 3. But Swat 4 is still a great game, and if you find nice people to play with this is an awsome multiplayer game.
I really secommnd this game. I always have this installed. If you play a map there is always a better way to do it, so there's a lot of replay value here. Me and my friends have played some maps 40-50 times. Great value.