Having switched to the realm of FPS, SWAT 3 was an innovative game in the world of tactical shooters as well. Of course, tactical shooters have evolved since – with titles like Arma and Escape from Tarkov pushing realism to whole new levels. While that may be the case, games like SWAT 3 are what paved the way for what we have today. Fans of the genre may want to take a trip to the past and revisit this classic. And with mods, you can make the gameplay even more exciting than ever before. We’ve already done a great list of SWAT 4 mods, so now let’s have a look at SWAT 3 to see what’s out there.
10. Realistic Armor Mod
Check Out This Mod Most SWAT fans fell in love with it because of the realism. Tactical shooters are always trying to improve on authenticity including gun mechanics, character appearances, and locations. Same with armor too. The modding community has made their own contributions to improve on the game’s realism, with the Realistic Armor Mod being one of the best. This makes armor behavior much more realistic, as now different bullet types have different effects on armor. Bullet velocity will also play a much bigger role in determining how much damage you’re dealt, depending on whether you’re wearing a vest.
9. RTRT – Officer Movement
Check Out This Mod AI movements have also been tweaked to make the game feel more authentic. AI officers who are idle will no longer stand around frozen. I guess that’s a nice effect, yeah? This mod introduces new idle movements to make them feel truly alive. Crouching has been fixed as well, as officers now kneel properly. Lastly for this mod, strafing and backwards movements were improved as well. Mostly to reflect more realistic speeds if in-game AI behavior.
8. Blood Soaked
Check Out This Mod SWAT encounters are inevitably violent, as you’re dealing with scenarios that are beyond the scope of regular beat cops. And how do we see this in SWAT 3? Well, without some nice graphics mods, we really don’t. This little mod just ups the intensity a bit with some improved blood textures. If you’re careful, not all operations end in shootouts – but when they do, this mod will make it look and feel much more realistic.
7. LAPD Pack
Check Out This Mod Here’s a pack that gives your LAPD SWAT team more realistic uniforms. The uniforms are actually based on real-life equipment used by LAPD SWAT, including everything from recon uniforms to heavy breacher outfits. The skins don’t really add much in terms of utility. But this mod pack adds a good variety in terms of visuals to the game. And it’s perfect if you really look for immersion.
6. BBE Real Element
Check Out This Mod Now if you want to take the character visuals even further, BBE Real Element makes more specific & detailed changes to character design. Also being based on real-life equipment, this mod furthers the sense of authenticity in SWAT 3. BBE Real Element contains skins for three officer types – the assaulter, scout, and rear guard. Each come with their own specific outfits and equipment sets to realistically portray their actual roles within SWAT squads. As an added bonus, there’s also a BBE skin set included. BBE is actually a branch of Dutch special forces, and their equipment is accurately represented here as well. Talk about attention to detail!
5. Weapons Pack
Check Out This Mod Another great addition to SWAT 3 would be some nice weapons packs. Well, this weapons pack to be exact. The vanilla SWAT 3 weapons arsenal isn’t bad by any means, but having expansive inventories and weapon customization options wasn’t really a thing back when this game first game out. Now this weapons pack adds three new weapons with a variety of customization options, including a CAR-15 SMG, as well as the M1 and M14 rifles. How do you like ‘dem apples?
4. Violent Offender
Check Out This Mod Violent Offender makes SWAT encounters feel as realistic as ever, upping the intensity of hostile scenarios to the extreme. This mod adds extreme violence and profanity to AI behavior – making enemy encounters all the more tense. Really this adds a sense of realism as well, as no one really expects all hostiles to surrender peacefully. But it can get old after a while so this might be one you turn on & off sometimes.
3. Angeles National Forest
Check Out This Mod There are a number of custom playable scenarios to check out for SWAT 3, but I found that Angeles National Forest has one of the most interesting premises. It takes us far away from the urban environments we typically see in the base game, this time taking us on a mission into the forest. The scenario plays out as if you have a search warrant for a suspected drug operation at a small cabin within the Angeles National Forest. Classic SWAT premise. You’ll be taking your team into the woods, collecting evidence, and apprehending all suspects in a unique drug bust playthrough. A mod that adds a totally new mission into the game? Sounds great to me.
2. Last Resort
Check Out This Mod Last Resort is one of the most popular graphical overhauls for SWAT 3. Since the game was released way back in 1999, modders have since found ways to make the game more visually pleasing for modern systems. I mean, it has been over 30 years… Last Resort is the result of that work, giving the game a truly fresh look. SWAT 3 can now be played in 1080p, while textures now use the max size of 1024×1024 instead of the original 256×256. This is far from what modern games are capable of graphically. But still, this mod is definitely the best-looking version of SWAT 3 you’ll find.
1. BlueLight
Check Out This Mod Ranking in at #1 we have what is probably the most popular SWAT 3 mod ever made. BlueLight is a project that aims to compile all of the best SWAT 3 mods into one convenient package, so we can all enjoy the best version of the game with one install. It includes everything from upgraded weapon textures, new outfits, updated sounds, and even gameplay updates. This mod even has a few new weapon models totally unique to BlueLight, as well as an improved AI that makes the game a bit more challenging (which is always nice for veteran players). If you’re looking to rediscover this classic of gaming history, then BlueLight is a must-have mod.
