Delta Force: Black Hawk Down became cult game for a reason. This shooter gambled on „cinematic” experience
When World War 2 themes dominated FPSs, NovaLogic studio took players to war-torn Somalia. Although Delta Force: Black Hawk Down wasn't perfect, it has developed a cult status over the years.
Delta Force managed to gather a group of devoted fans who, despite its flaws, had a great time playing games from this series. However, the brand never managed to gain a reputation that would allow it to stand on the same level as Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon. In 2003, the studio behind it, NovaLogic, decided to bring a breath of fresh air to the series and make its then-latest representative a more "cinematic" experience. And so the idea for Delta Force: Black Hawk Down was born.
As the brand has been rebooted in the form of Delta Force, it's worth remembering what it had to offer when it was at the peak of its popularity.
Somali hell
Let's start with the fact that although Delta Force: Black Hawk Down was clearly inspired by the movie of the same title (which in turn was based on a novel... also with the same title), wasn't a direct adaptation of it.
Only the last missions could bear the marks of such, in which we saw for ourselves what the titular "Black Hawk Down" was all about. However, in the other stages of the game, there were also references to this iconic work popular in certain circles. The game presented the same events and showed military actions in a similar way.
Like the movie and the book, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down took us to Somalia in the early 1990s, a country ravaged by civil war. After the country was engulfed in chaos, the Unified Task Force, an international group tasked with delivering humanitarian aid and stabilizing the situation, intervened. American forces, codenamed Task Force Ranger, were deployed to the location with the mission of capturing Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the leader of one of the largest Somali armed factions responsible for attacks on international forces, as part of Operation Gothic Serpent.
New Delta Force
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down was the sixth game under this banner. Fans of the previous installments of the series may have been quite surprised after starting playing the discussed game. The devs abandoned non-linear missions on open-structure maps in favor of more linear, largely scripted stages.
The war turmoil, during which we led the Task Force Ranger team, threw us into various corners of Somalia - from the Jubba Valley to the capital of this African country. Throughout subsequent missions, we carried out fairly standard objectives, such as participating in escorts, eliminating indicated targets (first by breaking through their defenses), or destroying specific objects. Sometimes it was also necessary to go stealth.
The locations didn't have a linear structure, so there were usually several paths leading to the destinations. The mission objectives were always visible on the minimap to help us navigate the terrain more effectively. Interestingly, the title created an illusion of non-linearity, allowing us to decide in what order we would complete the missions (most often, we were given a choice of three stages). However, by the end of the game, it became clear that it was a kind of illusion, as completing the story required completing all the operations.
Unlike many modern FPS games, the game allowed you to return to already completed stages. Besides the 9-10 hour-long campaign, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down offered a multiplayer mode, allowing you to play with other players. The multiplayer included modes such as Deathmatch or King of the Hill.
Work tools of every soldier
Before getting our hands dirty, we were able to familiarize ourselves not only with the list of tasks that the command sets for us as part of a specific mission but also with information about the situation prevailing in a given place, starting with the number of enemy forces. Careful study of this data was important because we based our equipment selection on it.
There was plenty to choose from, as the developers provided us with assault rifles like the CAR-15 or the iconic M16, an MP5 submachine gun equipped with a silencer, and even a good, old shotgun. Additionally, grenades and explosive charges could prove useful from time to time. In missions played under the cover of night, a night vision device was indispensable. Concluding the topic of weapons, it's worth mentioning that the game sometimes allowed us to grab a heavy machine gun and use it to fire at enemies.
Problems on the front
This brings us to perhaps the most important element of Delta Force: Black Hawk Down: the firefights. The enemies that stood in our way weren't the smartest; nevertheless, it wasn't at all difficult to get killed, as they usually outnumbered us. Enemies armed with sniper rifles or RPGs posed an additional challenge, as they could inflict even more harm than their regular comrades.
The AI of enemies could not only malfunction at this point. The situation was similar with the artificial intelligence of our team members. Even though we could give the soldiers simple orders, they very often had problems with doing them. This led to situations where, for the sake of "peace of mind," we could decide to do everything ourselves, especially since the game didn't allow us to take direct control over the remaining members of the squad.
Another problem was... civilians, who often put themselves under our guns. Of course, this added realism to the game, but on the other hand, it significantly complicated the game because, in the heat of battle, it was difficult to distinguish them from enemies. The situation was made more complex by the fact that the sight always had the same color, regardless of whether we were aiming at a civilian or an enemy.
Further fate of the brand
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down was released on PC in March 2003. Just over 2 years later, the game launched on PlayStation 2 and the first Xbox. Among the games developed by NovaLogic, the original on PC received the highest ratings, with an average score of a solid 77/100 according to Metacritic. The other platforms had to be content with scores hovering around "six."
In 2004, the game was expanded with the Team Sabre DLC, which took players to Colombia and Iran. The year 2005 brought the release of the next Delta Force, subtitled Xtreme, which four years later received a sequel – Xtreme 2. Then the series fell into slumber, and in 2016 the studio responsible for it, NovaLogic, was shut down.
In August 2023, we learned that the Delta Force series would continue. Its first representative after a long break was supposed to be Delta Force: Hawk Ops from TiMi Studio Group, which was later simply renamed to Delta Force. Although the title was supposed to focus on multiplayer, the developers also promised fans a single-player campaign based on Black Hawk Down.
How to play Delta Force: Black Hawk Down today?
At the time of writing these words Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is no longer available on Steam or GOG.com. Things are different with the Team Sabre expansion, which can be purchased from Valve's digital store. It's worth remembering, though, that it requires the base game.
A used copy of the physical edition of Delta Force: Black Hawk Down costs a few bucks (depending on the condition).
