Delta Force: Task Force Dagger

The Good
Lots of action // Stealth required at times // Fun locations // Lots of tangos to kill // Lots of weapons to try // Nice multiplayer support

The Bad
Unrealistic weapon performance // unrealistic tactical scenario (one guy vs. the world) // 10 special units actually have almost nothing distinguishing them // most of the weapons are virtually identical with minimal operational difference // most missions can be done with the same weapons // UAV and commander's map too powerful

The Bottom Line
Delta Force / Task Force Dagger is an attempt to cash in on Operation Euduring Freedom (i.e. invasion of Afghanistan) by Novalogic. They came up with some missions based very loosely on the missions actually undertaken by SpecOps troops and Rangers. The problem is, those real missions involved hundreds of people, and these missions are one-man shows where one (or sometimes, two) guys kills dozens and dozens of terrorists in your way.

As long as you keep in mind that you're NOT going to find too much realism in this game, it can be enjoyed quite well. There are a lot of weapons available. Half-dozen or more pistols, a wide variety of assault rifles, sniper rifles, even light and medium machine guns are available. There are even anti-tank rockets and demolition charges, plus grenades for additional firepower. Many of the weapons are silenced, giving you plenty of stealth if you want it. However, operationally, there really isn't any difference between some of the weapons. I mean, an Austeyr is almost the same as SA-80 or M-16, except for magazine size and minor details. Differences don't mean much operationally.

The maps really do give a sense of size, as the maps are measured in square kilometers, instead of often claustrophobic maps in other games. Sniper action becomes very important, and enemy snipers can and will target you.

Buildings aren't really detailed, but that could be forgiven. The hills and such are nicely contoured and organic looking, thanks to Novalogic's voxel technology.

Enemy AI... when set on easy, they are horrible, as they don't attack much if at all. They'll shoot at you if they see you, but that's about it. On regular or HARD, they are more aggressive and more resistant to damage, providing more of a challenge. The problem is all of the enemies look the same. Seems they all wear green camo jackets, bandoliers, eyepatch, and a green turban. Never saw any variation, such as facial hair, turban color, and so on. Guess Novalogic want to keep the enemy ID easy.

Supposedly you can choose from any of the 10 different units, but that just means you gain one of the five special abilities for being in a particular group, and even then those abilities don't really affect play that much, and you can even turn off the special abilities if you wish.

The "campaign" is just all 25 missions played together, and kills are recorded. You can also play specific missions in any order as "Quick Missions".

In the mission you can call upon "Commander's Map", which is like a god's view of the stuff nearby, and it's WAY TOO powerful, esp. on easy, when you get to see the location of every enemy AND THEIR FACING, even if they are UNDERGROUND! With this, you have no excuse to being shot as you have the ability to sneak up behind the enemy and kill them in the direction they do not expect. This feature is WAY too powerful and one must practice NOT to use it.

You can control an UAV's cameras in the mission, but there's really no need to.

The missions are generally man-vs-world type where you're dropped behind enemy lines, kill lots of tangos, find an object or two, and get out. That is NOT the way special operation guys work. They go in as a team, they come out as a team. On the other hand, it is kinda fun. Just imagine you're really a supersoldier doing a whole team's job.

Soem special mission have you riding on a chopper shooting at enemies below. Those are interesting as it provides a new set of challenges, as your shooting platform is constantly moving and you need to adjust your aim a bit. If you can hit someone from the air with sniper rifle, you must be pretty good. However, those special missions are very few.

DF/TFD's multiplayer is supported through NovaWorld, and lots of maps and play modes are supported. This is excellent... If you can find enough good players. By now, most players have moved on to Joint Ops / Escalation, so the cupboard is looking a bit bare.

All in all, DF/TFD is another chapter in unrealistic military shooter pumped out by NovaLogic. Take it for what it is, and you should be happy with it. Don't expect realism and you won't be disappointed.