Invasion Of The Body Snatchers: S.W.A.P. Is A First-Person... Something

"First-Person Body Snatcher" (FPBS) doesn't really roll off the tongue, though "FPS" doesn't seem totally accurate either. You do "shoot" people in S.W.A.P., a new game from Chaos Theory Games, but not to harm them -- instead, you swap bodies with your target.

S.W.A.P.'s single game mode is a form of capture the flag, naturally made all the more chaotic by the fact that you don't just steal the flag from other players -- you steal the other players themselves. It's a cool concept, and sounds like the kind of FP(S) innovation that we got from a game like Portal, where the "shooting" mechanic involved a fundamental shift in how you control your character's movements, rather than simply a way to mow down enemies.

Chaos Theory Games obviously doesn't have Valve's budget, and the game is a bit of a "visual mess," as some have referred to it. And making money isn't CTG's plan for S.W.A.P. The game's totally free, though there's a petition on the site to help raise money for a crowdfunding campaign to remake the game in a more complete form. Whether CTG or some other company capitalizes on the idea, it's an innovative approach that we'd like to see more of.