As a fan of
Sierra’s SWAT franchise that lit up my PC back in the day, I was actually
anticipating the series’ introduction to the PSP handheld. For the most part,
the series began as a tactical first-person shooter featuring a squad of
highly-trained SWAT specialists that just didn’t burst into rooms with guns
ablaze but rather took some strategy and real-life police enforcement guidelines
that had you making arrests when the bad guys are smart enough to throw their
weapons down. Yet in SWAT: Target Liberty, a PSP exclusive title, all the
good things we love about the series just doesn’t show up in this game.
“Oh no, it’s a mime … a French mime!”
Target
Liberty places
you in command of a three-man SWAT team that suddenly finds itself involved in a
war between rival Korean gangs as well as a terrorist plot to detonate a bomb
somewhere in the heart of New York City. As team leader Kurt Wolfe, you and your
team dive head first into the gang war that has the Jopoks and the Gangpehs
taking to the streets and causing chaos. In the midst of the gang violence,
though, a known terrorist faction threatens to blow up a major NYC building so
Kurt’s team is pulling double duty on this mission. This is the story that makes
up the game’s single-player aspect and the missions will have you going through
a number of areas in the New York City area.
While past games
in the franchise have been tactical first-person shooters, Target Liberty
is a third-person tactical action game that shows you the situation from a
bird’s eye view of your surroundings. It’s actually a lot like Killzone:
Liberation … only the tactical portion is flawed and the actual police
procedural aspect of the game just doesn’t work. The game first tosses you into
the Killhouse, a training area that teaches you the basics when you’re called
into action. Your first mission begins in the subway as the two gangs have taken
a number of hostages and then you’ll work your way into gang territory in a
number of other locales. In true SWAT fashion, you’ll even have to
complete a list of mission objectives. One objective has you disarming
explosives scattered in side offices while other objectives have you securing a
number of hostages in Central Park.
The tactical end
of things has you issuing orders to your men and deciding what specialist works
well within a given situation. Some situations require a sniper while others a
negotiations expert and depending on the scenario or mission objective you will
have to decide what specialist you would like on the team before you head out.
The trouble is that your men don’t often respond as quickly as you like and this
goes double for combat situation. You can issue orders to position your men
using a green icon as well as order your men to secure hostages or enemies that
throw down their weapons to surrender. Then again there are times when your men
will respond to situations a lot faster than you can seeing as Kurt moves like
he’s wearing cement boots. Your sluggish movements are the reason you will get
killed or arrive to an intended spot a bit too late to provide covering fire or
give orders to secure hostages.
When not winning Grammy after Grammy, U2’s Bono
leads an anti-illegal music download task force.
Aside from the
fact that your character moves at a frustrating sluggish pace, combat in the
game is actually tedious and oftentimes ridiculous. Like past SWAT games,
you and your men will shout at the bad guys to put down their guns. Sometimes
enemies will surrender after firing a few rounds but your men will still open
fire and kill them. Since most of the battles are close-quarter affairs, you
will often run into enemies and inflict damage by way of rifle butt. This simply
makes matters worst since there are enemies you’ll need to interrogate. Even the
skill upgrades you earn in the game don’t help any.
The problem is
that nothing really changes in the game’s short single-player mode and by the
third mission you’ll feel like you’re just doing the same thing over and over
again. At least Sierra included a multiplayer mode played via an Ad Hoc
connection that has your friends taking up the role of the other members of the
team. The great part about that is that you can coordinate better with real
players and thanks to the Killhouse generator feature the game does a
magnificent job of setting up the multiplayer options that play to your skills.
The game modes are also actually pretty inventive. There’s Football (a game that
has you collecting hostages and leading them to your base), Rodeo Round-up
(where you are tasked to take out a number of hostiles) and The Great Escape
(where one player takes of the role of a SWAT member while the others play as
terrorists).
Graphically, the
game displays some pretty impressive environmental detail. The opening subway
level alone will blow you away with the liter, makeshift blockades and the
scatter of empty bullet castings. Unfortunately, you can’t really interact with
the environment so you can’t even make use of the blockades as cover. The
character models aren’t bad at all either and watching the bad guy goes down is
fun to watch. What doesn’t work are the game’s repetitive soundtrack and the
voice acting that just doesn’t quite capture New York City accents all that
well. Somehow even the sound effects don’t come out right on the PSP speakers.
SWAT officer: “Oh darn, I forgot to pick up milk
and bread. My wife is going to kill me.”
SWAT: Target
Liberty for
the PSP could have been a really great game since it does have all the right
elements in place but with so many faults this is more an exercise in
frustration. As a fan of tactical shooters, Sierra has often done right by the
series but somehow it just doesn’t come together nicely in the portable format.
If you’re a fan of the genre or the series, this is one game you will seriously
want to skip altogether. Sorry, Sierra, it was a nice try but this mission is a
No Go.
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Gameplay: 5.0
There’s
tactics involved but it doesn’t hold a candle to Killzone: Liberation and
your characters somehow move slower than molasses. You can change your team’s
load-out weapons and there are some decent mission objectives to complete but
combat is handled way too awkward to be much fun.
Graphics: 6.2
The
environments are packed to the gills with details and your team looks pretty
good in action. There’s some realistic character movement as well, making kills
really stand out. Too bad the visual effects are seriously lacking in
everything.
Sound: 4.5
The soundtrack
is repetitive and the effects sound a bit too muffled but the worst part comes
in the form of the voice acting that’s just too embarrassingly bad. The New York
accents are just plain laughable.
Difficulty:
Medium
The missions
offer up a few objectives to complete and the close-quarter combat makes this a
little harder on your team. Still, the most challenging part is wrestling with
the poorly conceived tactical options and the awkward shooting controls.
Concept: 5.5
It’s a SWAT
game and you’ll have a number of cool weapons on hand as well as goodies you can
unlock throughout the game. You can upgrade your team’s skills and play wireless
multiplayer matches with up to four players. Other than that, there’s not much
to this game.
Multiplayer:
6.0
Despite the
lack of an online multiplayer option, four players can take on three different
game mode types such as Rodeo Round-Up, Football and The Great Escape. The
Killhouse map feature randomly picks out mission conditions and does a great job
to boot.
Overall: 5.0
A repetitive
and flawed experience from start to finish, SWAT: Target Liberty is a
disappointing tactical strategy shooter that just doesn’t quite have what it
takes to be a fun game. This is too bad really since this isn’t an incredibly
bad game … it’s just the poor execution that makes this feel like wasted
potential. SWAT fans will definitely want to stay clear from this one.
