Delta Force 2

by Peter Olafson
January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST

Delta Force 2 refines much of what was good about last year's commando shooter Delta Force�but doesn't quite make the jump to greatness.

GamePro Score
User Score
Write your review!

Delta Force 2 is an aggressively difficult shooter that balances thoughtful twists on the original game with problems old and new--a rigorous good time that might have been a great one.

In fundamentals, DF2 is much like last year's Delta Force: the voxel terrain (now generated using the Voxel Space 32 engine), the toggle-able first and third-person views, the blend of long-distance sniping and close-up run 'n' gun. As a Special Forces commando, you undertake 40 missions-divided between two campaigns and stand-alone "quick missions"--that visit hotspots from African desert to Antarctic wastes. You're briefed, you adjust your weapons--including a .50 sniper rifle that can drop a terrorist at 1,500 meters--and you are deposited, either by chopper or parachute, close to your insertion point.

Among the features new to DF2, I especially like the ability to shoot through certain surfaces--it's realistic to be able to nail enemies through wooden walls, tents and, indeed, other enemies-- and the use of tall grass and water for concealment. They look right--the water has a glassy shimmer and the grass fits in nicely with the voxel look--and they work, allowing enemy troops to walk right past by my character's location. These are tangible improvements that have an immediate, positive impact on the game's sense of fun and authenticity.

They also make DF2 feel fair, and that's important, because the game is hard. I've failed at some missions a dozen times or more but returned to them willingly and without the nagging feeling of irritation that accompanies some challenging games--largely, I think, because of the real-world hook and the comparative absence of unrealistic constraints. You're up against real people in realistic places and tense situations--in one mission, you have to jump onto a moving train from a chopper--and you're given a lot of rope and room to get through them.

Multiplayer with up to 49 other players over NovaWorld (compared to 29 in the original game) remains a joyful and largely lag-free experience even at 56K. (Nine types of games are included, but some didn't have any maps available, and I didn't see more than five types live at the same time.) And while I can't claim much experience with the included editor--a recent and happy development in NovaLogic games--it's well documented and it doesn't seem hard to use.

On the other hand, some of the new twists don't work well--the water feature needs some tweaking--and some don't add much. The original Delta Force didn't allow control over your comrades at arms. In DF2, you control only what these Alphas and Charlies do as they follow scripted paths, and even that is limited to three variations on "hold position." Why'd they even bother?

Artificial intelligence is still a problem. With AI set to "normal," enemies whose base had been under continuous fire for some minutes stood in place outdoors (and stared at corners indoors) even as I picked off the guys standing next to them. Sometimes, they walked right by me when I was standing or crouching in plain sight.

I often found enemies trying to run through the sides of tents and buildings-and sometimes they almost succeeded, with parts of them poking through walls. Absurdly, a single bullet, even one fired into the foliage, can take down a whole tree. Animations of an exploding gunboat and SCUD missile launcher unfolded at slide-show speed on a 128MB P II/350 with a TNT card.

Moreover, a single hit to an enemy-even in the hand or foot--is still fatal. The specific location seems to influence only how the enemy falls. (Oddly, prone enemies stand up to perform their death animations.) Aim should be more important in a game with such emphasis on sniping, and wounded enemies performing with diminished capacity would lend it greater significance.

But for all that, I still like Delta Force 2 a lot. Its creators plainly still have some work to do�but it's plainly work worth doing.