By It’s about time we get a decent tactical shooter that can actually deliver a solid SWAT-style experience to challenge big studios.
SWAT Commander might just be it!
I’ve been a huge fan of SWAT-style tactical shooters since the early days of owning a PC. Unfortunately, there’s a huge lack of quality games in this niche.
Right now, the only decent SWAT game available is Ready or Not. Other games don’t even come close to it.
But I have a feeling things are about to change. Because SWAT Commander has a solid shot at challenging Ready or Not.
What Is SWAT Commander?
SWAT Commander is a tactical shooter that you can play completely solo, with AI teammates, or in co-op with friends. SWAT Commander is a lot similar to Ready or Not.
In case you’re not familiar with the genre, in this game, you basically lead a SWAT team through various missions like terrorist attacks and home invasions. You can either play alone, with friends as your teammates, or with an AI team.
Even though it’s still in early access, SWAT Commander includes 6 different maps with multiple variations of game modes, with more content on the way.
I’ve put in a couple of dozen hours into the game so far, trying out all the maps, different difficulties, and game modes. Here are my thoughts.
Great Maps & Game Modes
At the time of writing this, there are 6 different locations/missions available in SWAT Commander. There are placeholders for two more maps, which will be released soon.
These missions include various terrorist situations in locations like banks, factories, nightclubs, and mansions. All these locations look beautiful and cleverly designed while offering an entirely different vibe in each mission.
You can also play each mission in different ways. For example, you play a mission with the main focus on hostage rescue or go in to defuse a bomb in a limited time. Each mission has at least three game modes and also includes custom game modes that you can create yourself.
This offers extensive replayability where you can create challenges yourself and approach each mission differently each time.
Right now, these missions are played separately as one-off missions. But the developers announced that a campaign mode is also on the way to connect all these missions together with a story.
Enemy AI & Behavior Could Be Better
One of the few areas where this game needs improvement is enemy AI.
In any PVE tactical shooter, enemy AI plays a pivotal role that affects the level of immersion and realism. You need fast-reacting AI enemies that make intelligent moves based on player movements. Ready or Not has excellent enemy AI. Even though it occasionally acts weird, most of the time, the AI makes you feel like you’re actually taking down real terrorists.
In SWAT Commander, the AI feels flat and even non-responsive at times. In most missions, I was able to barge in through the doors without taking any precautions and take down multiple enemies without seeing them fire a single shot.
I also noticed that it’s very difficult to get enemies to drop their weapons and surrender. I always had to kill them or shoot them in the body to get compliance.
While I still enjoyed the game, I felt like the enemy AI behavior broke the immersion and in fact, made the game feel too easy.
I played the game in every difficulty level, from easy to the hardest difficulty, but in each level, the game felt easy. The enemies start shooting much sooner in hard difficulties, but that means it’s almost impossible to apprehend them without killing them.
Basic Weapons & Customization
SWAT Commander also features a decent selection of weapons, gadgets, and tools.
You get the standard AR, shotgun, SMG, and pitol selection along with gadgets for breaching doors, surveillance, and non-lethal tools for neutralizing enemies.
You can also customize weapons to your preference. Even though it’s not extensive, it offers a limited but effective selection of attachments for each weapon.
Overpowered AI Teammates
I’ve had the most fun playing SWAT Commander by myself. It creates a sort of tension and immersion that you don’t feel when playing with teammates.
I also tried playing a few missions with AI teammates, but that felt like cheating. Oftentimes, it seems like the AI team members have X-ray vision because they would even shoot through doors or even be able to track enemy movements in the next room without having clear visuals on them.
When commanding the team to open and clear a room, they would always do it flawlessly without any casualties. They always have perfect aim and perfect reactions, no matter the difficulty level you play on.
There’s Room To Improve
One of the coolest things about the game is its overhead cam view that allows you to play in a more realistic manner. I loved playing the game from this point of view as it made the game a bit harder and cooler at the same time.
With the upcoming campaign modes and new unlockable items like uniforms and weapon customization, the game seems to be heading in the right direction. These small features will give players an incentive to replay missions and get a sense of progression as well.
Although if there’s one area that I could ask the developer to work on, it would be to optimize the game’s performance and add DLSS support. I experienced a lot of stuttering and even maintaining 60FPS in the game. And I think that needs to improve soon.
Is SWAT Commander Worth Playing?
SWAT Commander is a great alternative to Ready or Not. Even at the current early access state, this game offers tons of value for the money.
I mean, SWAT Commander is only $20 bucks, and it includes all the maps in the base game. No need to buy them in separate DLCs.
It’s great seeing the developers put out a roadmap and actively working on the game. This game has the potential to be a great tactical shooter and a competitor in this already shrinking genre/category.
