As true a horror game as anything else, really, with a focus on restricting the player's willingness to take action instead of their ability. You certainly can shoot at anything that moves, but success in SWAT 4 is highly dependent on not pulling that trigger when frightened. Enemies in later levels have guns that kill you faster, but the real threat is the paranoia: wandering in near silence, knowing that your time to correctly assess each situation is shorter than ever as the door in front of you suddenly opens, a gun pokes through and you shoot your co-op partner in the head because you didn't realize they had wandered off.

It's the best survival horror of 2005 genuinely a masterpiece, forcing you to meticulously comb through environments where you feel completely foreign, limited to being the second invader on scene in the best of scenarios. The constant pressure to remain vigilant punishes video game instincts you may have acquired elsewhere, where an impulse to shoot for the head can turn an "unauthorized use of force" into "killed a hostage". The praise might sound silly, but all these mechanics only become praiseworthy due to the work done to create atmosphere - it's incredible that you can skip every single briefing in the game and still come away with vivid memories of each level. Trudge slowly through the dark, combing each inch of a hostile environment for evidence as distant, sprinting footsteps remind you how far you are from establishing control.

As much as I'd like to conclude it there, it's a little hard to talk about this game now without considering the existence of Ready or Not, a spiritual successor that modernizes and blends the core SWAT 4 experience with its expansion and several popular mods. I can easily recommend Ready or Not if you just want easy co-op, but taken as a whole I still find SWAT 4 to be the more compelling experience. In moment-to-moment gameplay, Ready or Not skews a little closer towards traditional shooters than I'd like. SWAT 4's guns never feel fully accurate, the player always feels fragile, and each level feels like it existed before you loaded in - Ready or Not misses the mark on each of these, and has a markedly different mood as a result. Try SWAT 4, mod it if you have to, and see if this style of game is your speed. If you like the core gameplay and want more (or you find yourself frustrated by a lack of QOL features / non-Hamachi multiplayer) then it may be worth picking up Ready or Not, but I'd read up on the changes first.

don't let my 'completed' on this fool you: i'm never wrapping this game up and i'm never seeing the ending. i don't know how this ends, and i don't want to. in my world, boku's going to get that ultimate wish and live out a truly endless summer as long as i have a say in it. he's going to draw pictures and catch bugs and sit on logs and explore the sunflower fields for as long as his little heart can take it, until his smile sticks on his face for good.

ozu's 'good morning' and home movies of the summer of your first kiss, wrapped in a deep embrace in a sleeping bag surrounded by the buzzing of the august cicadas. this is one of the games i started learning japanese with the hopes of playing and now that i'm here, i can say it was worth all that work. this is the grateful dead's 'ripple' of video games - one of the few genuinely perfect, genuinely, overabundantly loving and tender experiences in its medium. truly in the league of katamari damacy and earthbound in that regard. just dear... just precious.

donkey kong country 2 has some of the best aerial control of any platformer of the era, and it's weird that such a seemingly minute piece of the game would be its defining feature for me, but more than anything else this time around i appreciated that about it. a firm improvement over its predecessor with more intent behind the level design and articulated platforming concepts, diddy's kong quest is the one of its trilogy i'd full agree on the "classic" status it's garnered. i'm admittedly not as hot on the original as some are and 3's... definitely not for me, but 2 strikes a perfect balance with its comfortable difficulty and general flow.

the visual design is a lot more realized and dynamic, and an even more incredible soundtrack provides a deeply relaxing and memorable experience throughout the adventure. the game loses me sometimes with some of its lesser gimmick levels and some of the really vertically-inclined levels that feel like trial and error as opposed to genuine fresh test of the skills, but make no mistake; donkey kong country 2 is a FINE title with a lot to offer. though you hardly needed me to tell you that.

Me when Mirage hires me to do war crimes: " FREE MONEY! 🤑🤑🤑 "

Me when Crest hires me to do war crimes: " FREE MONEY! 🤑🤑🤑 "

Me when Union hires me to do war crimes: " I'm a mercenary, but I'm still human. Today, I stand before you to express my deep concern about the devastating impacts of war and to advocate for a world that prioritizes peace and diplomacy.

War has long been a source of immense suffering, loss of life, and destruction. It tears apart families, communities, and nations, leaving behind scars that can last for generations. We must remember that there are no winners in war—only profound losses on all sides. The human, social, and economic costs of conflict are staggering. Lives are forever changed, dreams shattered, and futures stolen away. Innocent civilians, including women and children, bear the brunt of the violence, often caught in the crossfire with no means of escape. Let us not forget the toll war takes on our moral compass. It devalues human life, promotes hatred, and perpetuates cycles of revenge and suffering.

As a society, we must reject this path and instead embrace peaceful means of resolving conflicts. Peace is not a sign of weakness; it is a testament to our strength as human beings. It requires courage, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to dialogue, understanding, and negotiation. We must seek common ground, recognizing that our shared humanity far outweighs our differences. We should prioritize dialogue over confrontation, and diplomacy over militarization. By engaging in respectful and inclusive conversations, we can build bridges, foster understanding, and find peaceful solutions to even the most complex of conflicts.

In closing, I implore each and every one of you to embrace the power of peace. Let us be champions of diplomacy, advocates for justice, and voices of reason. Together, we can build a world where conflicts are resolved through dialogue, where peace prevails over war, and where the rights and dignity of every human being are upheld. "