Games That Matter ~ PC ~ Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

The entire Black Hawk Down incident became pretty popular two years ago when the movie was released. If you havenât seen it, I highly recommend it because it makes the entire war experience very real and not overly âHollywood.â I never really expected a videogame to be made on the subject because there wasnât too much involved. Youâd think that all youâd do was protect some troops and get shot at for what would probably shape up to be a rather dull game. Thank God that wasnât the case. NovaLogic has created a game that, while having its problems, really managed to take control of me.

The gameplay is pretty typical FPS stuff. You are an Army Ranger and you lead your troops into battles with the help of one main weapon and two back-ups. All of the missions tend to stay simple, without any long or un-needed tasks to make things complicated. âDefend the convoy,â âTake out opposing militia,â âGive cover fire to your team.â Fortunately, the kinds of attacks and change in scenery are more than enough to bring some variety to the game.

As seen in the movie, you are often brought into the mission by way of a Black Hawk helicopter. Unfortunately, you never get the chance to fly one or any other vehicle in the game for that matter. This was my first complaint with the game, but you find that vehicles wouldnât add that much more. After all, if you are hanging from a chopper, it sometimes means you get to be using the .50 caliber machine guns. There are few things that bring a bigger smile to my face than mowing down literally dozens of militia with a big ass gun.

So then you land and go on foot for the rest of the level, unless of course you run into another hummer that allows you to once again take the helm of the glorious .50 caliber. Before each mission you have to pick the weapons you want to use. I found that once I found a gun I liked, it was the one I ended up using for every level thereafter. As for the additional weaponry, nothing says fun like a shogun and rocket launcher at your side. Sure you run out of ammo at times, but thatâs when you get to pull out the knife and take out the locals jungle style.

This is where my biggest grievance with the entire game came in. The AI is ridiculous. While it makes knifing a lot easier, sometimes itâs just too much. For example, you can walk into a room of hostiles and it might take them a good 5-10 seconds to even realize you are in there. When you are low on health and ammo, this is a benefit to be sure, but I still would have preferred some more opposition. Then again, there are other times when the AI is too hard. Not smart, just hard. Like when you have to sprint across an open part of town to reach the appropriate building, suddenly there is a hail of gunfire and you die. You try again, this time with your guard up and gun fully loaded. Doesnât matter. You may see the guy before he hits you, but somehow now the guy behind you has perfect accuracy and blows a hole through your head. The best idea is to just run. If they donât see you quick enough, who cares how good their accuracy is?

This problem also stretches over to your own teammates. I can only pray that the real men in our Army arenât this mindless. They wouldnât pass a high school graduation test, let alone survive boot camp. This means little on the missions where everything is up to you anyhow, but the times when one goal is specifically for âall team members to surviveâ are a nuisance. Iâm sorry, but if he canât shoot a local militia man who is standing three feet away, then maybe he just doesnât deserve to live. The only way to get around this is to rush ahead of your guys and clear out the rooms before they arrive. Just NEVER expect to get some cover fire from them.

One tip that will come in handy is saving mid-mission. You only get to use it five times, but itâs pretty sad if you need more than that. But some of the objectives during each level end up being a lot harder than you expect and it takes a few times to get it right. If you finally beat it then die without remembering to save, it sparks some serious anger. If you do remember, then you get to try the next objective time and time again without the pain of starting an entire level over again.

Control-wise, BHD is as straightforward as they come. The numbers are the various guns/tools, and the normal keys do the normal things like âNâ for night vision. Difficult it is not, but it works.

Iâm not running the best computer on the market, but it works pretty dang good. When I first loaded BHD, I was disappointed that the graphics were somewhat lame and simple. Oh how stupid I was. I had gotten so used to me old nVidia TNT2 Pro that I had everything set really low. I bucked up and set everything at its maxâ¦ crossing my fingers my computer wouldnât violently shake and explode. Fortunately, my nVidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 has opened my eyes to how pretty games can be. Black Hawk Down is easily the most gorgeous game I have ever played on my own computer. My PS2 sure couldnât handle what this game has.

Since the game is set in the deserts of the Middle East, there are parts when there isnât much to see. Worry not, it gets good. The moment you enter the cities everything comes to life. There are dozens of citizens just minding their own business along the streets, lots of random barrel fires, then out of nowhere an RPG rocket comes soaring at your chopper. Then all hell breaks loose with the hail of gunfire, massive explosions, and bodies dropping everywhereâ¦ all without any lag whatsoever. Not everything is greatly detailed, but it was more than good enough for me. The thing that most took my break away was the water effects. Nowhere near realistic, but still absolutely stunning. Seeing it ripple as bullets tear into the waves is awesome.

My only beef with the visuals is the lack of creativity in the character animations. Yes the models react differently depending on where you shoot them, but that should be a must nowadays. The problem is that when they die it is about as stiff and boring as possible. Grab your shoulder and just fall overâ¦ lame. Also, you donât die from getting shot once in the foot. The best animation comes when they start to follow you into the water. They swim a little better, and have deadly good aim in the water. Thatâs when you take out the rocket launcher and blow them all to hell and watch as their bodies float atop the water. Call me twisted, but itâs just too cool.

BHD sounds great, but there are no real flares to it. Guns, explosions, and vehicles all sound just as youâd expect. I honestly never even heard the music until just the other day. I guess I got so wrapped up in the fighting that it never stood out to me. After finally sitting and taking it in, there isnât much to say. It is a classical soundtrack that goes well with the idea and fits as well as youâd expect. Iâve always been the type to put in a CD when I play a game, so form your own opinion on this.

Iâve spent the past week playing BHD for several hours a day. It has already become a favorite of mine that will hopefully stand the test of times. Even after you beat the single-player missions several times, I found myself wanting to check some missions again. Also, the game features an extensive and fun map creator that allows you top pretty much make anything you could want. For example, I had a friend make a level for me (I didnât know how to use the editor at the time) that was a huge stadium with two opposing sides consisting of 128 men apiece. They attacked each other by all means necessary while I chilled in a massive tower in the center of the stadium and capped guys one by one with my sniper.

If that doesnât excite you, the online play should. The modes are exactly what youâd expect, but itâs still good old fashion, violent fun. Meet up with your friends on a rooftop and sit around sniping the hell out of the poor bastards dumb enough to walk the streets. It also is great for LAN play, so donât worry about that. If I had one complaint about the multiplayer it would have to be that you couldnât use vehicles. In some of the huge city-scapes, it would have been nice to take the controls of a jeep and plow through the town.

Apparently, the Delta Force series of games have been around for while a while, and word has it that they werenât really that good. I had never played them, so I went into BHD without any idea of what to compare it to. I have to say right now: donât even try to compare. BHD is its own game that brakes free from most previous problems and is exciting and entertaining no matter how many times you play through. Even with its problems, I had so much fun playing through the game that I just didnât care. In the end, arenât games supposed to be about having fun?