Genre(s) Shooter Initial release date 1986 | Mode(s) one player Publisher Mastertronic | |
Platforms Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC Similar Mastertronic games, Other games | ||
L.A. SWAT (also known as Los Angeles SWAT) is a computer game for several contemporary home computers released by Mastertronic in 1987. In this game, the player assumed the role of a Los Angeles police officer fighting rioters. In each level, the player would move toward the top of the screen avoiding or shooting the rioters, who would either lob grenades if at a distance, or beat your character to the pavement with clubs if in melee range.
At the end of each level, a procession of gang members (usually with a single shirt color, marching in formation) would stream down from the top of the screen. After killing all of these gang members, a single gang member would move randomly around the screen with a woman next to him. This functioned a bit like a sharpshooting competition, as shooting the woman would cause the player to lose points, while successfully shooting only the ganger would cause her to "take the arm" of your character.
As the levels progress, the gangers become more frequent and the player will begin to see cars placed perpendicular to the street, acting as roadblocks.
The game can be played only in single player mode.
The C64 disk packaged L.A. SWAT with Panther, another Mastertronic game. The A-side of the disk contained the two programs from C64/128, while the B-side contained Atari 800XL/130XE versions.
Reception
Zzap!64 found the game to be in dubious taste yet undoubtedly enjoyable to play, despite the poor graphics and sound. It was given an overall rating of 74%.