SWAT 4 Number 1!

I'll get right into it this week, no pre-amble necessary: As of Wednesday SWAT 4 was Number 1 on Gamespot's list of top PC games and Number 2 on their list of Games on all platforms. Yay Irrational!

Our lovely European friends over at EuroGamer SWAT "one of the most macho games I've recently played; all guns, tactics and difficulty" and say they would like "to shake the developers by the hand." Now, being 5'2'', owning about 30% pink clothing, and just all around about as un-macho as humanly possible, I take a lot of joy in being even remotely connected with "one of the most macho games". My absolute favorite bit of insane Irrational news from this week concerns a SWAT 4 hidden bonus that a gamer found while innocently shooting up bad guys. Our friends over at 10-David report a video of Irrational employees "wandering their offices half naked in boxer shorts and vests, surfing on chairs and acting like a SWAT equivalent of The Village People." If you really want to see Irrational employees half naked, by all means check it out. Those Europeans might not be knocking down any doors to shake Irrational developers’ hands after seeing this one. By the way, I mention the site all the time so for any SWAT fans, 10-David is an excellent place to go for a ton of SWAT information, articles, news, and forums. So if you want to know more about the game I highly recommend taking a look at the site.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there is still a ton of press coming out on Freedom Force Vs. the 3rd Reich. Generally by the time a game has been out a month, things have really slowed down in the new review department.

Robert Berry of RetroCRUSH , which in case you were unaware, is the "World’s Greatest Pop Culture Site" says "The overall quality of the game is just beyond impressive."

G. Christopher Williams over at PopMatters wrote a very interesting review of Freedom Force, which basically centers on people’s love of watching good overcome evil. This is a totally different kind of review and it’s interesting to look at Freedom Force from this perspective. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, here is a small sampling from the article:

"Such brilliant and chilling ironies are not simply found in the dialogue of the heroes, though, they are embedded in the plotline itself."

"Within the innocent naivety and blustery melodrama is a romantic appreciation for justice, freedom, and heroism."

I will warn you that the review contains spoilers, so make sure to avoid this one if you haven’t played the game through.

There is a nice interview with Ken at PCGameWorld Andrew Bub who I called my hero a couple of weeks ago for his Yahoo!Games review, apparently has an alter-ego names Gamer Dad As Gamer Dad, Andrew brings us yet another stellar review of Freedom Force Vs. The 3rd Reich, this time complete with a section on its suitability for children. According to Andrew Freedom Force has "The kind of love for its subject matter that's infectious, replayable, and memorable. For just half the price of a hardcover Marvel Masterwork, Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich is a comic book guy's dream come true, a delight for strategy/RPG fans, adults, kids, and wannabe super-heroes all over the world." Gaming Illustrated has a brief but detailed review of FFV3R which includes such gems as: "With rich comic-book style graphics, excellent storylines, complex characters, and superb construction, FREEDOM FORCE VERSUS THE 3rd REICH is a great RPG. Certainly this is one of the best games released in the past six months, and raises the bar on quality and content. A great value for your gaming dollar." And finally, my favorite quote of the week is from Magikahn over at GameHelper "I can’t get enough of this game, and it pains me now to even stop one moment and write this review." And one more thing, there are some updated mod tools available at FreedomFans. "These updated tools fix the issue with importing bundles and putting files in the wrong place."

-- Meredith Levine