Police Quest: SWAT is an Interactive Movie game developed and published by Sierra for computers running DOS, Windows, and Mac OS in 1995 and the first installment in the S.W.A.T. series. In it, you play as a SWAT pup who has to train under the eye of more experienced members by taking part in drills, listening to interviews and lectures, and generally following procedure. Once he is ready, he can take part in missions.
The game runs on the SCI 2 engine. You control the playable character by clicking on things. Commands can be given to other members of the team with the LASH radio during missions.
This game provides examples of:
- Amazing Freaking Grace: If the player character dies, a bagpiper plays "The Amazing Grace" at his funeral.
- Artifact Title: SWAT 1 and 2 retained the name "Police Quest" in their titles, despite being neither quests nor adventure games of any kind. If not for the presence of Sonny Bonds in the second game, this would nearly count as In Name Only. This pretense was dropped in SWAT 3.
- A Winner Is You: The game simply cuts to credits after the third mission. The closest thing to closure is the same use-of-force investigation cutscene you get if you use your firearm on either of the first two missions.
- Didn't Think This Through: Failure to plan out mission 3 could result in the player dying the moment the mission starts.
- Digitized Sprites: The sprites of people used during gameplay are relatively unedited video-captured actors.
- Drop-In Nemesis: An extremely blatant example, as the suspects will immediately come out of nowhere and kill you if you do a single thing wrong, even though using the mirror will reveal that they're not present anywhere near you.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: With its heavy emphasis on Full Motion Video, this game plays more like an adventure game in the vein of its parent series than its more tactical sequels.
- Ensign Newbie: You play as a SWAT pup, a new member of the team who trains his skills and learns all about the procedures necessary during an operation.
- Flushing-Edge Interactivity: There's a toilet in a bathroom during the first mission. You can flush it, but that will compromise the operation.
- Full Motion Video: The players play the game in a FMV-type sequence.
- Gameplay Randomization: Each mission has a few possible variants, depending on which team the player character is assigned to and what the suspects are doing, though each variant essentially plays out as a linear adventure.
- Gun Porn: The loadout screen gives detailed closeups of the various weapons available to SWAT officers and clicking on the Detail button gives loving audio descriptions of each weapon's characteristics.
- Have a Nice Death: Getting killed in combat simply shows your funeral. Non-death game over sequences do play this straight with reprimands for poor behavior, including those that lead to game overs.
- Idiosyncratic Menu Labels: The game uses "New Career" and "Previous Career" in place of "New Game" and "Resume Game".
- In Name Only: The SWAT series bears virtually no resemblance to the original Police Quest series, despite bearing its name. This ended with SWAT 3, which dropped the name.
- Never Mess with Granny: The suspect of the first mission is an old lady who doesn't hesitate to shoot the crap out of SWAT members.
- No "Arc" in "Archery": Averted with the Sniper Rifle. The rifles scope requires zeroing and factors, such as wind resistance, need to be taken into account to determine the fall of shot. Played straight with the other weapons, since they're all used at such close ranges where such factors are not an issue.
- Permanently Missable Content: Pacmeyer will eventually be promoted out of D Platoon, meaning that you may miss a chance to qualify as a sniper and take part in the third mission as one. It can be done after performing the first two separate sniper training drills and returning to Metro, and is generally best done right after the first callup as this will catch him as he's leaving.
- Press X to Die: SWAT is full of this, as well as Press X to Not Die. Go around a corner without slicing the pie? You're dead. Fail to cover a door? You're dead. Take a wrong turn? You're dead. Enter the Eastman building on the wrong side or without proper sniper cover? Total Party Kill.
- Randomly Generated Levels: SWAT only has a few missions, but the exact scenario can differ, such as the suspect's location. Better check all those corners with your mirror, just to be sure.
- Scare Chord: A chord plays in most cases when you shoot somebody and there's a closeup on them dying.
- Shooting Gallery: The player can participate in range practices both with close quarter weapons (1911, MP5, M16, shotgun) and with the Sniper Rifle. In the latter case, the rifle needs to be zeroed.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- SWAT 1 has internal affairs coming in anytime you had to use a firearm, even if the mission was a success. This is done to review if the shot you took was justified. Accordingly, justified shots have you reinstated and commended, while unjustified shots have you arrested, ending the game.
- Using a flash bang on a woman with a bad heart, rather than stunning her, has her die immediately - flashbangs and the like are emphatically less-lethal and not "non-lethal", because non-lethal weapons do not exist.
- SWAT 1 has internal affairs coming in anytime you had to use a firearm, even if the mission was a success. This is done to review if the shot you took was justified. Accordingly, justified shots have you reinstated and commended, while unjustified shots have you arrested, ending the game.
- What the Hell, Player?: The other members of the team or instructors tend to chew you out if you do stupid actions, try to interrupt them, quit the drill, jeopardise their mission, etc.
- Bad behavior incurs negative reactions from your fellow officers. Failing to meet protocol or staying with your team has you removed and scolded by the sergeant, and giving civilians the silent treatment has them rightfully offended at you.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Shooting anyone without a justifiable reason* will result in internal affairs getting involved, and eventually having you arrested for murder. Victims can include Lucy, the old lady in the first mission, and a injured hostage in the third mission.
