You are assessed big point penalties for improper use of force, and for the most part, these penalties are levied fairly and intuitively.
At the end of each mission you're graded on how well you did, and more points are awarded for arresting as opposed to killing suspects. The rules of engagement add a good deal of difficulty to the game, and SWAT 4 pulls this off well. This is the primary detail that separates the SWAT games from the military-style action games. Your guns are meant to be a last resort and should only be used if an armed suspect is an immediate threat to your team or civilians. You have to follow the same strict rules of engagement as a real police officer and do whatever you can to subdue and arrest suspects without lethal force. Even when you do run into armed criminals, you don't have carte blanche to shoot them immediately. Those of you who are Rainbow Six and Counter-Strike veterans will need to cool it on your itchy trigger fingers.
In almost every mission, there are innocent civilians mixed in with the bad guys.
These situations range from a botched jewelry heist to high-risk arrest warrants to a raid on an illegal casino. As with the real-life SWAT teams, your job as an element commander in SWAT 4 is to take your five-man team into dangerous situations and defuse them. Your ultimate goal is to arrest suspects, not kill them.
