SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate

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This expansion swats all the bugs from the original and much, much more

SWAT 4's plotless carnage-romp through the underbelly of Boston is swept aside in this fine expansion pack of eight missions, tracking down the Eastern European crime family known only as The Stetchkov Syndicate.

There's still a four-man team to lead into battle in a tactical FPS, but this time the management system has been enhanced with stackable orders.

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Put simply, you can order your men to do something straight away, or hold on until you give the go signal. It's a simple tweak that opens a range of new tactics, and you don't feel like a mother duck leading her gaggle of excitable younglings around.

You can lay down orders, plan and execute manoeuvres, all from SWAT's excellent right-click menu. Hold down Ctrl and the orders are delayed until you're ready to go. It's exactly what SWAT needs.

More tangible additions are the Night-vision mode that helps steer you through one of the darkest games we've ever played. A new tazer sits on your hip and is beefed up to launch a pair of darts, especially when tackling stubborn grannies, erm... we mean criminals.

The already brilliant multiplayer also gets a boost with voice communications and a doubling of your potential co-op chums to 10.

The Stetchkovs exist to give meaning to the locations you visit. The original game didn't do plot between missions; just people in peril. Here, each mission is a level in its own right, and takes you one step closer to busting Boston's most notorious drugs cartel.

What's more, Irrational's open-ended jumble of buildings, corridors and rooms ensures nothing remains the same from play to play.

We always enjoyed the choice of locations in the parent game, such as the cultists with a horrendous secret hidden in their basement. It was a step away from the traditional tactical shooter warehouses.

The Stetchkov Syndicate takes that sense of style up a notch as you flit through a church rammed with recovering junkies in one level, then sweep into a rock club with a massive devil statue the next. Excellent.