SWAT-style games have always been a favorite within the FPS gaming community. Ever since SWAT 4, gamers and fans of the Hardcore gameplay that SWAT4 offered have been begging and waiting for a worthy game to knock the current champ off its pedestal. Ready or Not is a tactical FPS game where you take part as a SWAT member to debunk terrorist and illegal activities within the USA. Ready or Not is a brutal experience and not for the faint of heart. Developed and published by VOID Interactive you can only find this on PC.

Don’t expect to drop in like a COD gamer and run-around drop-shotting/ 360 no-scoping enemies. As I experienced when some random people joined my instances they soon found out that hard breaching and being a Chad led to a quick demise. With Ready or Not going for a realistic experience, slow and steady, calculated gameplay is always the best option. The gameplay was immersive. With most of the instances being low-light encounters and enemy/prop placements being seemingly randomized, it was hard to run and gun this was fortified by the fact that the enemies were actual laser beams. In saying this, enemies didn’t seem to move from the areas they were spawned and as long as you PIE maneuvered through each room, ambushes never seemed to work, you could eliminate the enemy before they were ever a threat.

Your operator can have any weapon from the S.W.A.T armory to use at their disposal, from beanbag shotguns to high-powered assault rifles there’s something for every scenario. Each weapon is highly customizable as well, not quite Escape From Tarkov customizing but it does hold up well as compared to other FPS games. You can also kit your operator out with tactical devices like door wedges to prevent flanks, and snake cams to see under doors and around corners expanding your tactical options.

The dim light areas and unrelenting accuracy of the AI make the immersion next level, however, the audio lacks in this essence of the game. The AI doesn’t seem to say much unless you are in their direct presence of them. They should be talking and communicating with each other about what’s happening. Instead, they just sit there and wait for you to get close enough to shoot. The game features a wide variety of maps, you have 7 maps to play broken up between car dealerships, a port, a farm, a gas station, suburban homes, and a hotel. There are also 4 test maps atm, including a club, fast food, and two that are classified still.

The maps were very intriguing, however, the prop design and prop saturation made the levels feel rushed and repetitive. The maps felt like they were missing something big, something to give them soul. The dev team worked with local law enforcement to gather tips and tricks from the trade in an attempt to make the game feel as realistic as possible. They achieved the atmosphere, however, the awfully robotic AI and un-immersive audio really let the game down.

I wish the devs had made a game/server searching menu, where you could search for currently open lobbies. However, at the moment all you can do is search for an open lobby or make your lobby open to the public before starting the game. And then you need to wait for someone to join and hope like hell they don’t attempt to play as if it was COD. The gameplay is intense and immersive, with the great graphics, the audio however left much to be desired.

Your character is unable to run, but the audio from walking makes it sound like they are jogging. The novelty of this jog/walk hybrid lost its novelty very quickly as I was moving slower than a snail although it sounded like I was galloping around like a stampede. In the main hub, the lack of audio is chilling, this is a SWAT headquarters with many instances needing teams sent out to be sorted yet there is nothing happening at the base. No phones no alarms, no PEOPLE, other than the quartermasters who also don’t say a word. The Base just felt empty and lonely.

If you are searching for a S.W.A.T game that is better than S.W.A.T 4, you may need to keep looking. The game has a lot to live up to, however, it failed to keep me immersed. Apart from searching down every last enemy and eradicating them, the quiet spots when traversing the map were too quiet and lacked something to hold my attention.

Ready Or Not does feature some nice gunplay, armory, and visuals, but without a fully immersive atmosphere, I found it hard to play for extended periods of time. I’m sure the game would be a lot better if you had a full communicating squad, but unfortunately playing with the lifeless droids of AI in your team was iffy. Not being able to run was traumatizing, the only things it seemed you could do were walk and slow walk, and walking sounded like you were running which again ruined the immersion.

Written by: Bigfoot