Swat 4

[Mochan]

Testing out Swat 4, it looks interesting though I can't be too trigger happy in this game, it seems. My main complaint is that frame rate feels stiff and jerky even under lower settings. The engine must not be that good despite the frame rates looking high. It just feels jerky. Not a real issue though.

Another problem is lack of 5 channel sound. I think I only get stereo. Maybe a patch fixes this? I'm d/ling patch 1.1 to see how it goes.

[DBS]

The patch is a nessessessessity

[Mochan]

Grabbing the patch again. I just realized I got the UK version of the game but got the US patch. LOL. The UK patch for some reason is half the size of the US patch. I wonder why. Anyway I noticed a few more weird things about the game.

AA and AF settings on the video card do not affect the game. This sucks. This means you can't play it with AA!!! To compensate I just bumped up the resolution to 1280x1024. This reminds me of Neverwinter Nights all over again, though at least NWN had ingame AA settings.

By lowering the detail levels I can play the game at a smooth enough frame rate to satisfy me. Sucks though, I have to play with only medium textures, medium world detail and low bump mapping; and everything else off. Well it'll do. Now I hope this patch fixes the sound.


As for gameplay so far, this game is fun! I am using the paintball gun because otherwise I kill all the suspects. I am too trained to shoot anything that moves in the head, once I shot a suspect in the chest and he lived but usually I end up killing them and thus get very low scores. :)

I think I will try the rubber baton shotgun.

[Mochan]

Ah, the shotgun is nice! Problem is v1.1 didn't fix any sound issues, made the game load slower, and worst of all the game now crashed whenever I use a Stinger grenade. The hell? The patch actually wrecked the game instead of fixing it.

I don't feel like playing the game anymore at this rate. Sucks.

[Mochan]

I tried to reinstall it a bit and it seemed to help but I still crash every now and then for no discernable reason.

Anyway I tried the multiplayer, can anyone tell me how you do an arrest in multiplayer? I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I've been trying tazers, pepper guns, etc. but they just stutter, not give up.

[moya]

The SWAT 4 patch adds a kind of spyware to the game which streams ads in-game then monitors which ones you look at. Check it:

http://nationalcheeseemporium.org/

(Yes, that link is legit.)

Maybe that could account for the size difference between the US and UK versions of the patch.

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Actually, I was telling DBS that the last time we played, there were NO The Island ads... the last Friday we played however, these movie ads were so plastered about the level that it was almost unrealistically placed advertisement. Not a bad idea, I like the real-world feel, but I'm just not keen on the amount of placement. I've never been one to be swayed by advertising, in fact the more I see a certain commercial, the more I refuse to buy the product, simply because if the advitiser is going to annoy me so much, they don't deserve my hard earned money...

[Mochan]

Ah, I haven't seen any of the ads yet, must be because I'm using the UK Version. This new advertising scheme is pretty ingenious actually, I think I first heard about it in the MMORPG that became free as Friend Bear mentioned. Ingenious, but not really that effective IMO, especially in FPS games. Who the hell takes time to look at walls anyway? FPS gamers have their attention spans trained on other players and shooting their heads off, not looking at wall posters. Though maybe if they put enough scantily-clad women on the walls it'll turn heads? LOL.

Like SBS though, advertising doesn't work on me unless I really want the product in question. I'm the type that believes in the real use of advertising... to inform, not to brainwash. These days it feels like ads are there to either dope up some company propaganda or brainwash you into buying a product that you would never in your right mind buy. I too tend to NOT buy a product if I get annoyed by how constantly it barrages me with psychological warfare.

[moya]

Really? So I guess that means you guys are above brand recognition and its pervasive psychological effects...

Seriously, I think this spyware thing pretty much sucks. It's not just about streaming real-world ads into your game. That would be almost acceptable, but, as SBS mentioned, who believes they'll be able to restrain themselves and not just shove in adverts anyoldwhere, realism be damned? No, what's insidious about this thing is that it monitors what you're looking at and sends information back (using your bandwidth) to the server which it then uses to decide precisely which ads to send your way in the future.

[Mochan]

LOL, yeah, brand recognition means little to me. I judge a product on its individual merits and how it jives with my taste, not its brand. Granted, I make such distinctions based on firsthand experience, so in certain markets (like electronics, for instance) I cannot make accurate judgements since I do not have enough firsthand knowledge.

I mean, no matter how many times you advertise Coca Cola I'm just not gonna buy or even think about drinking it since I loathe the taste. In parties I have to ask for water since I refuse to drink the soda they usually serve. This is because I know from long experience that I don't like the taste.

But for something like, say, motherboards, I don't get to try out all motherboard models, so I don't know how durable it is, how fast it is, how well it overclocks, etc. except from what I read in reviews, which is only half the picture at best. Thus, to make a buying decision I have to rely a little on branding, and with my limited experience see which brands screwed me up the most and which didn't. In this case I'm never buying another MSI board since they always screw me up one way or another. So actually, brand recognition does work on me.


Anyway, back to the spyware thing, I admit I am not a fan of the prospect (I am as a rule against anything that installs itself on my PC without my consent to do things I do not want to do) and spyware is near the top of the blacklist for me. Don't get me wrong: I admire the ingenuity of the marketing people but I do not like the idea.

[Aku]

Yeah, incorporating ads into games is a great idea....until you're playing some medieval rpg and on the castle wall you see a poster that says "Desperate Housewives Sundays at 9 on ABC". :D

[Mochan]

LOL, yeah, it obviously fits for SWAT but if you start seeing those in Guild Wars you just have to laugh your ass off!

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Yeah, I too am not swayed by brand recognition. In fact, I tend to shy away from the product even more so. Especially when it comes to foodstuffs. These companies have big profit margins to maintain, and are available to the public sector through shares; their goal is to make food that sells and lasts for ages on the shelf.

This to me amounts to little more than loading our food with poisonous preservatives, and other "goodies" such as colour and spices being thrown into our foods. If I buy foods, it's generally from local suppliers, and/or little known food labels, that are actually putting the time into making a quality product, instead of trying to meet profit margins.

There's a reason cancer is becoming a number one killer in western societies, and the **** we put into our food is most likely the number one leading cause of most forms of cancer. Did you know that under the listed ingredient "Spices", this incorporates up to 35,000 different chemicals? Including MSG? The food groups lobbied hard to get this in place, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna line their pockets eating the crap they're spoon feeding us...

Anyways, you can see that I have my issues with large companies, and it's not just foodstuff suppliers, it's most multi-national corporations that raise my ire. Cosco, Wal-Mart, The Gap, McDonalds... pretty much name it... I don't like it.

If I buy anything from a large department store, it's Canadian, and I'm proud of it. The Bay tends to be the store of my choice.

[Mochan]

BTW... can anyone tell me how to make an arrest in Swat 4 multiplayer now?

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Mine is middle mouse button.

[DBS]

I don't like the advertising only because it is overkill. It would be cool here and there but they litteraly plaster the posters almost on top of each other...rather annoying, ugly and unrealistic. Besides I am looking to blow someone's head off not read the walls. I know...I should be looking for an arrest but it is so much more fun to take em down....

[Mochan]

I know what button the handcuff item is mapped to, my question is how do I use it to arrest an opponent in multiplayer? Do I just stun them with a pepper spray or taser and then bring the cuffs out and click? In singleplayer you have to make them drop their weapon first by yelling at them but in multiplayer this doesn't happen. Do you just go ahead and use the cuffs on them as soon as they are wretching?

[Suicides-by-Steve]

Oh, don't know... Heh. Never played the DM MP before, just the Co-op MP... and that works Identically to the SP game. Why not ask in-game next time?!

[Mochan]

The schmucks ignored me! Hehehe. Well I'll try it again on another server.