Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest: SWAT - Gameplay

Gameplay

In keeping with the strict realism of the previous series, the majority of the game is spent performing training exercises. In fact, there are only 3 actual missions in the game (a mentally ill person, a barricaded fugitive, and a terrorist attack). Each of the missions can only be accessed after the successful completion of many training exercises. To increase replay value, the missions are randomized so that they unfold in a different way each time (a character may be an innocent in one play-through, and a gun-wielding maniac in another). The role the player takes during the mission also differs based on the career path they have selected during training; for example during the last mission the player may act as either the element leader or a sniper. The gun training exercises function similarly to the gun training in Open Season.

During the training half of the game, the player can make choices that lead to reprimands. For example, if the player tries to 'skip' the briefings, the commander will scold the player. If the player is told to go one location, and then goes to another, someone there will warn "SWAT Pup" that he needs to be at the other location. If you pester other people at the various locations, by trying to talk to them too much, or loitering they may also get annoyed.

Elaborate verb/noun commands are made using the LASH, this allows the player to order SWAT team mates to do various actions in the missions.

Ingame items are kept in an inventory that functions like the inventory in other Sierra SCI adventure games of the era.

The game is in first person whenever in training or on a mission. It goes into third person whenever interviewing witnesses or talking to fellow officers. The character is shown in third person whenever traveling between areas as well.

The game is built on the SCI2 (Sierra Creative Interpreter) used in the previous Police Quest game, Open Season, and other adventure games of the era such as Phantasmagoria and Gabriel Knight 2. It utilizes a single curser interface similar to these and other SCI2 games (see also King's Quest VII). The game utilizes much the same technology as the previous game, Open Season; most backgrounds are scanned photographs with green screen actors (there still is a use of sprites in many places), but there is much more use of FMV.