An almost perfect successor to the SWAT series in every sense.
4/5 but could be 5 if they make the changes needed to suspect AI, skill, and behaviour.
The positives of the game have already been covered extensively, so I'll focus on what needs fixing.
The thing that made the suspect AI great in SWAT 4, is that it was varied and realistic in terms of the mission. Amateur criminals would be far more likely to surrender, or run, and the hardened terrorists more likely to fight to the death. In Ready or Not, however, most if not all fight like former special forces, and the immersion is harmed by a few standout failings:
- The AI suspects have no sense of self preservation, far too many of them will fight to the death even when it's clear they don't stand a chance, or surrender, and then choose to draw a pistol even when surrounded by 5 SWAT officers, which is just silly.
- They never flee, they just find different ways to fight you, when really many of them should be trying to escape the mission area as they would do irl.
- They don't panic or act confused, they are always ready to fight, and their morale is that of jihadis - they never fear death.
- They don't use language to bargain, negotiate, or buy time, they just use their weapons.
- They don't react to others dying around them. They see all of their friends die, and they decide 'yeah I want that too'.
- They have laser/xray vision, and can see you through things that you can't clearly see through, and they always know you are a swat officer and shoot at you, regardless of how little they can see. They have no fog of war in other words, as soon as they detect you, they know your exact location and will shoot you through walls and objects.
If they can fix these issues, then not every mission will feel like a military operation instead of a police operation, and the game will easily be a 5/5.