Set in Somalia in 1993 and based upon and around the Operation Restore Hope and Task Force Ranger campaigns, players will take on the role of an elite Delta Force Operative as they participate in a number of daring raids against the oppressive Somali warlords in and around Mogadishu. Developed by Climax in the UK, Delta Force Black Hawk Down brings the intensity of Modern Warfare to your living room with a range of intense single player and multiplayer missions.Genre: Action
Publisher: Novalogic
Developer: Climax
Release Date: July 2005
The game Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is based upon the actual historical events that took place in 1993 when warlords in Somalia were keeping United Nations vehicles from delivering supplies and food to the area, causing the civilians to starve. The cause of these events would end up making United States military strike back by sending several units and vehicles to that area to end the suppression of the Somali people.
The game will contain several modes of play, including a campaign mode that can be played single player or co-op, and multiplayer skirmish mode, which will be playable by up to four players via split-screen on one Xbox or PS2 game console. The game will also feature online support and will be playable with up to 32 players on the PS2 and up to 50 players on Xbox Live. We were told that the Xbox version would only support 50 players if you were connecting to the specialized game server hosted by Novalogic. If a player hosted his own game, the number of players allowed in a skirmish would be limited by the internet connection of the person hosting the game. However, 32 players would be the maximum number of players allowed for a game not hosted on the Novalogic server. System linking is also supported with a maximum allotment of players being capped to 32, and also through the use of at least 16 Xbox or PS2 systems.
In campaign mode, you are given several missions to complete, like escorting and protecting a convoy from one place to another, or invading and taking control of key military structures. While the game's roots lie within the first-person shooter realm, it still contains a squad-based element. Besides controlling the main character, you also control three other soldiers that can be commanded with a headset or by pressing a button on your controller. Some of the commands you can give them are: "Fire at will," "Clear room," "Hold position," and "Follow me."
There will be several different weapons featured in the game, most of which can be picked from before starting each mission. Also a new feature to the console version of this game is the "Last Weapon" button, which is used to quickly access the last weapon you were using before changing to a different one. A good use for this would be having a knife equipped so that you could run faster and be able to quickly tap your "Last Weapon" button when you ran into a group of enemies, allowing you to quickly retaliate fire against them.
Another key feature of the game is that enemies aren't marked the way they are in other games. The enemies are actually camouflaged to look like normal citizens, and you have to decide who is an enemy and who is not, based on sheer luck or being fired upon. Since the focus of the game Delta Force: Black Hawk Down seemed to be based around multi-player aspects, it did not seem to present much of a challenge on the single player campaign, as the AI was not yet up to par for the average gamer.
Consoles definitely do not have a need for a new FPS currently, especially a sub-par PC port. We wouldn't go to the extreme of saying the Xbox or PS2 doesn't have the power to run this game, but with its outdated graphics, the game seems that it will rely solely on its multi-player aspects to entice gamers into buying this one.
John Curtis also contributed to this preview.
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