SWAT: Urban Justice

Last updated: January 23, 2026

Overview

SWAT: Urban Justice was an ambitious tactical shooter developed by Sierra Entertainment, intended as the fourth installment in the SWAT franchise and the direct sequel to SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle.¹ The game was set in Los Angeles in the year 2006, coinciding with the city’s 225th anniversary celebration, during which escalating gang warfare threatened to engulf the streets.² Players would take on the role of an elite SWAT officer tasked with restoring order and protecting civilians from three rival gangs vying for dominance.³

Despite extensive pre-release promotion and detailed developer diaries published throughout 2002, SWAT: Urban Justice was ultimately cancelled by Vivendi after spending years in development limbo.¹ The game was described as “l’épisode le plus décalé de la série des S.W.A.T” (the most offbeat episode of the SWAT series), suggesting it would have taken the franchise in a notably different direction.⁴ Sierra had positioned the title as featuring “more weapons, more combat gear, more bad guys, and a quicker pacing than ever before,” promising to evolve the tactical shooter formula that had made the series successful.⁵

The cancellation of Urban Justice led directly to the development of SWAT 4 by Irrational Games, with a Vivendi spokesperson confirming that “work on Urban Justice has been ‘discontinued’ in favor of SWAT 4’s development.”⁶ Despite never being released, Urban Justice left a lasting mark on the franchise—an easter egg referencing the cancelled game appears in SWAT 4’s Victory Imports Auto Garage mission, where it can be seen as an arcade cabinet, serving as a company in-joke acknowledging the project’s troubled history.¹

Game Info

Developer: Sierra Entertainment² Designer: Travis Steiner² Publisher: Sierra Entertainment⁵ Engine: Takedown 3D⁷ Platforms: PC⁵ Release Year: Cancelled (originally planned for late 2002)⁸ Series: SWAT Protagonist: SWAT Officer Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra

Story Summary

SWAT: Urban Justice was set in a near-future Los Angeles of 2006, where years of intense gang warfare had reached an all-time high, threatening to overwhelm law enforcement’s ability to maintain order.³ The timing was significant—the city was celebrating its 225th anniversary, and the festivities were being overshadowed by a vicious three-way battle for territorial dominance among the city’s most dangerous criminal organizations.²

Three rival gangs—the Loco Riders, Krazy Boyz, and Compton 187—were engaged in open warfare for control of Los Angeles’ streets.⁷ The escalating violence required intervention from the city’s elite SWAT unit, putting players in the boots of highly trained tactical officers tasked with taking back neighborhoods block by block through 16 planned missions.³

In a notable creative decision, the development team chose to feature a fictional SWAT team rather than the actual LA SWAT, granting themselves what they termed “liberdade poética” (poetic license) to explore scenarios and tactics without the constraints of strict realism.⁷ This approach also allowed for progressive representation, as the team would include female SWAT officers among its ranks—a deliberate choice that distinguished Urban Justice from its predecessors.⁷

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

SWAT: Urban Justice was designed as a first-person tactical shooter that would allow players to experience life as an elite SWAT officer.² The game featured enhanced multiplayer functionality with an improved matchmaking and lobby system designed to streamline the process of connecting players for cooperative and competitive matches.²

Structure and Progression

The game offered multiple gameplay modes to accommodate different playstyles:

• Mission Mode: Individual tactical operations that could be played standalone³
• Career Mode: Progressive advancement through the ranks of the SWAT team³
• Multiplayer Mode: Online competitive and cooperative play³

The full campaign would have comprised 16 missions set across various Los Angeles locations, each presenting unique tactical challenges related to the ongoing gang conflict.³

Puzzles and Mechanics

Urban Justice promised significant advances in tactical gameplay mechanics. Character models featured 5,000 polygons each with 29 differentiated impact points, allowing for precise hit detection and realistic damage modeling.⁷ Players could utilize shields for protection during breaches, customize their weapons with various attachments, and even pistol-whip enemies in close-quarters situations—a new melee option for the series.⁷

The equipment system was extensive, including radios for team communication, infrared visors for low-light operations, gas masks for chemical environments, camouflage and disguises for covert approaches, various armor types, differentiated restraints for suspects, laser sights, and suppressors.⁷ This arsenal was described as “arma suficiente para deixar até o Rambo contente” (enough weaponry to satisfy even Rambo).⁷

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

As a cancelled title, SWAT: Urban Justice never received formal reviews from gaming publications. However, preview coverage was generally positive and anticipated. GameSpot’s pre-release coverage highlighted that “Sierra’s popular SWAT franchise is back with more weapons, more combat gear, more bad guys, and a quicker pacing than ever before,” while declaring “SWAT is back, and it’s badder than ever.”⁵

Brazilian gaming publication UOL Start expressed optimism in their February 2002 preview, stating “Se o mesmo cuidado que foi investido em SWAT 3 se repetir, Urban Justice será um sério concorrente para as elaboradas tramas de Tom Clancy” (If the same care invested in SWAT 3 is repeated, Urban Justice will be a serious competitor for Tom Clancy’s elaborate plots).⁷

Modern Assessment

The game’s cancellation means no formal reviews exist. However, the gaming preservation community has shown interest in documenting the title’s development history. Unseen64 users rated the cancelled project 3.89 out of 5 based on available materials and the game’s potential.⁶

Aggregate Scores:

• Metacritic: Not Reviewed (cancelled)⁵
• IGN: NR (No Review)²
• Unseen64 User Rating: 3.89/5⁶

Development

Origins

The SWAT series had evolved considerably since its origins, as noted by UOL Start: “A série SWAT já passou por uma infinidade de formatos: começou como Adventure, virou um jogo de estratégia com perspectiva isométrica, e depois amadureceu seguindo o rastro de Rainbow Six” (The SWAT series has gone through countless formats: it started as an Adventure, became a strategy game with isometric perspective, and then matured following in Rainbow Six’s footsteps).⁷

Urban Justice was conceived as the fourth title in Sierra Entertainment’s tactical action series, building upon the foundation established by SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle.² Sierra began advertising the game as “Coming Soon” in 2002 with plans to release it later that year.¹

Production

Development of SWAT: Urban Justice began around 2001-2002 at Sierra Entertainment’s studios.¹ The project lead was Rod Fung, who oversaw the ambitious tactical shooter’s development.⁵ Travis Steiner served as a key designer on the project.²

The development team demonstrated exceptional attention to audio authenticity. Sound designer Evan Buehler traveled from Sierra’s Bellevue, Washington headquarters to Idaho to record realistic weapon sounds at the Gemtech facility.⁹ Using professional studio equipment brought directly to the shooting range, the team recorded over 40 firearms.⁹ Buehler employed a DPA 4011 microphone capable of capturing sounds up to 158dB, necessary given that weapon sounds ranged from 140dB to 170dB.⁹

Development Credits:²⁹

• Project Lead: Rod Fung
• Designer: Travis Steiner
• Composer/Sound Designer: Evan Buehler

Technical Achievements

The game utilized the Takedown 3D engine, which supported detailed character models with 5,000 polygons each.⁷ A sophisticated damage system featured 29 differentiated impact points on character models, allowing for realistic wound simulation and tactical implications for shot placement.⁷

Evan Buehler’s sound design philosophy emphasized authenticity above all else. “Visual and aural realism is the hallmark of the SWAT series and is integral to my sound design for Urban Justice as well,” he stated in a developer diary.⁹ The team’s dedication to realistic audio extended to suppressed weapons: “The sounds you hear in the movies when someone fires a suppressor are quite inaccurate. A suppressed sound is very unique and consists mostly of the sound of the gun mechanics. It’s more of a clicking sound as opposed to the airy sound you often hear.”⁹

Technical Specifications

Planned Specifications:⁷

• Character Polygons: 5,000 per model
• Impact Points: 29 differentiated damage zones
• Missions: 16 campaign missions
• Platform: PC (Windows)

Weapons Arsenal

The game featured an extensive arsenal of authentic firearms:⁷

Submachine Guns: MP5, MP5SD, MP5K, MP5 PDW, UMP45, P90

Assault Rifles: M4 RIS, H&K G3, H&K G36C, Steyr Aug, M4A2, AK-47, AK-74U, AN94

Shotguns: Super 90

Pistols: Glock 21, Glock 19, FN57, Colt 1911, M9, Beretta 93R, USP 40

Cut Content

The entirety of SWAT: Urban Justice represents cut content, as the game was cancelled before release. A trailer for the game was produced and included on Disc 2 of No One Lives Forever 2, giving players a glimpse of what might have been.¹

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
N/A	2001-2002	PC	Development period1
Cancelled	~2003	PC	Development discontinued6

Technical Issues

French gaming site Gamekult reported that the game “Déjà repoussé à maintes reprises” (had already been pushed back numerous times), with development “gelé pour quelques temps” (frozen for some time), suggesting significant internal difficulties.⁴ The game spent years in development purgatory before Vivendi finally cancelled it.⁶

Easter Eggs and Trivia

Despite never being released, SWAT: Urban Justice lives on through an in-game reference:

• SWAT 4 Arcade Cabinet: In SWAT 4’s Victory Imports Auto Garage mission, an arcade game featuring SWAT: Urban Justice appears in the waiting room. The Police Quest Omnipedia notes: “This is a company in-joke; Urban Justice was supposed to be Sierra/Vivendi’s follow up to SWAT 3: Close Quarter Battle (1999).”¹

• NOLF2 Trailer: A 2002 promotional trailer for Urban Justice was included on Disc 2 of No One Lives Forever 2, preserving early footage of the cancelled game.¹

• ESRB Rating: The game had received an ESRB rating of M for Mature with content descriptors for Blood, Strong Language, and Violence, indicating it had progressed far enough in development to undergo ratings evaluation.³

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

SWAT: Urban Justice never reached market, but its cancellation had significant implications for the franchise’s direction. The project’s discontinuation led directly to SWAT 4’s development by Irrational Games.⁶ A Vivendi spokesperson emphasized that “SWAT 4 is both a different game and a true sequel, so it will retain the series’ gameplay elements, albeit in a refined form.”⁶

Collections

The game was never released and therefore did not appear in any compilation packages.

Fan Projects

Due to the limited availability of development materials, no significant fan projects have attempted to reconstruct or complete SWAT: Urban Justice.

Related Publications

• Developer Diary Series: Multiple developer diaries were published on IGN in 2002, including detailed coverage of sound design by Evan Buehler⁹
• UOL Start Preview: Extensive Portuguese-language preview from February 22, 2002⁷

Critical Perspective

SWAT: Urban Justice represents a fascinating “what if” in tactical shooter history. The game was being developed during a transformative period for the genre—as IGN’s Aaron Boulding noted regarding the similar SWAT: Global Strike Team, “in the time since it was announced for PS2 and Xbox and its recent arrival on those systems, other titles like SOCOM and Rainbow Six 3 have surpassed and improved on what SWAT: GST set out to do.”¹⁰

The cancellation of Urban Justice and the subsequent commissioning of SWAT 4 from Irrational Games represented a strategic pivot by Vivendi. Rather than continuing with an internal Sierra project that had spent years in development difficulties, the publisher chose to hand the franchise to a studio that would go on to create one of the most critically acclaimed tactical shooters of its era. SWAT 4 received an 8.5/10 from GameSpot and was described as “the best tactical shooter ever… With AI and levels that put rainbow 6 to shame.”¹¹

Urban Justice’s legacy is primarily as a cautionary tale of ambitious game development derailed by delays and shifting market conditions, yet the easter egg in SWAT 4 ensures the cancelled title is remembered by fans of the franchise.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• Not available (cancelled)

Download / Preservation

• Unseen64 Documentation

Manuals & Extras

• 2002 Trailer (included on No One Lives Forever 2, Disc 2)¹

Series Continuity

SWAT: Urban Justice was planned as the direct sequel to SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle, which had been released in 1999 and subsequently updated with Elite Edition and Tactical Game of the Year Edition versions.¹² The game would have continued the franchise’s evolution from its adventure game roots through isometric strategy and into the first-person tactical shooter space.⁷

Following Urban Justice’s cancellation, the series continued with two separate projects: SWAT: Global Strike Team (2003), developed by Argonaut Games for consoles, became the first SWAT game to ship on console systems using the OKRE engine.¹⁰ This was followed by SWAT 4 (2005), developed by Irrational Games, which effectively replaced Urban Justice as the PC-focused sequel to SWAT 3.⁶

• Previous: 1999 - SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle
• Cancelled, replaced by: 2005 - SWAT 4

References

Footnotes

1. Police Quest Omnipedia – SWAT: Urban Justice – cancellation details, easter egg documentation, development timeline ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. IGN – SWAT: Urban Justice – game setting, designer credits, feature descriptions ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

3. GameSpy – SWAT: Urban Justice – mission count, game modes, ESRB rating, gang warfare setting ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. Gamekult – S.W.A.T. Urban Justice – development delays, “most offbeat episode” description ↩ ↩²

5. GameSpot – SWAT: Urban Justice – publisher info, promotional quotes, project lead ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

6. Unseen64 – SWAT: Urban Justice – Vivendi spokesperson quote, cancellation confirmation, user rating ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

7. UOL Start – SWAT: Urban Justice Preview – Takedown 3D engine, technical specifications, weapons list, gang names, equipment details ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

8. Gamatomic – SWAT: Urban Justice – planned September 2002 release date ↩

9. IGN – SWAT: Urban Justice Developer Diary #5 – Evan Buehler sound design details, weapon recording methodology ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

10. Wikipedia – SWAT: Global Strike Team – console SWAT development, IGN review quote, genre context ↩ ↩²

11. HardForum – SWAT 4 Discussion – SWAT 4 GameSpot score, Urban Justice replacement ↩

12. GameFAQs – SWAT 3 GOTY Edition Review – SWAT 3 version history ↩