Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

The Good
Unfortunately the game has only a few good things and even they are nothing special. First good thing you will notice compared to earlier games of the series is that you are not a lone wolf anymore in a game about a squad - there are enough of your allies running around. The game also looks quite good for its time and has a good optimization which can't be said about the earlier titles. It even has some kind of physics modelling with debris flying more or less correctly during fine looking explosions. And here all good things end.

The Bad
And here comes the list of bad things. Narrative is, for the most part, non-existent which is a norm for Delta Force games but this game could've used something like a real story. Mission design is bad to say the least, missions are very linear and have you moving in a very tight corridor - stray off course a bit and the mission is failed which is pretty weird for a Delta Force game. Missions are also full of boring triggers and it shows right from the very first mission where you are riding in the hummer - there are only specific enemies that will ever hit your car, they are always the same and thus you can ignore most of them. The AI is just as dumb as it was in Land Warrior - I can't imagine anyone having a problem putting down hordes of enemies solo even on the hardest difficulty - in fact you will be doing just that because the aforementioned describes friendly AI just as well - it's like they are shooting only to provide some dynamics to the otherwise boring gameplay, because they rarely hit anyone - even if that anyone is just 20 meters away. Being made with a console audience in mind also didn't help the gameplay - the game now has med-kits and ammo crates lying around which are marked on the radar as well as having mission critical items highlighted - providing a handholding that makes the game even easier. Enemies have slowed reaction times which is a common thing in console shooters to compensate for a slow speed of a gamepad.

In my case the game didn't stay on my PC for too long and went right into the trash bin after a very silly episode that was having me clean the village. Trying to play the game like I wanted instead of following a pre-scripted railroad I rushed into the enemy territory together with an allied NPC that had to tag along because of a script - in the end I've killed a whole horde of enemies on my own with my ally never firing a shot - in fact he never even tried to crouch under a heavy gunfire. Seeing how mission progresses nowhere I decided to follow a waypoint - there I found an allied squad which was supposed to help me clean the village. Brave music started to play and suddenly shouts and gunfire could be heard in the absolutely empty village. My ally apparently remembered where he is and started to crouch - only now. And even if that wasn't enough - as soon as me and a squad stepped into a trigger - a new mission objective's script came into life - a boat (now empty because I killed all of the crew before I approached the allied squad) - started to turn and move away on its own. After blowing it up with only 4 bullets from CAR-15 I was forced to quit and uninstall the game. Even after the shooting gallery that was Land Warrior this is a disappointment, NovaLogic.

The Bottom Line
If you are a player who enjoys very railroaded shooters that handhold you through missions while punishing you for showing initiative, have a non-existent difficulty and you won't mind a game that is more like one of those modern Call of Duty games except without respawn and health regeneration - chances are you'll like this game. People expecting something more though will be better off firing up Delta Force 1 or 2. And even considering that there are much better (and more tactical) shooters.