Black Hawk Down sucks you into a brilliantly directed single player story, and it keeps you there for as long as it wishes. This has to be one of the best modern war simulations created for the PC. But the single player is not what will keep players returning to this game for months to come. The multiplayer part of the game is superb- the BHD computer AI just can’t compete with the brains of human beings.

Delta Force - Black Hawk Down (BHD from now on) sets you in the middle of the American campaign in Somalia in the early 1990’s. (If you like war movies, I would suggest you also watch the movie “Black Hawk Down” made by director Ridley Scott, which is a very good visualization of the these same events). As one of the elite soldiers sent down there, your main goals are to bring order to the region and to eliminate the main source of trouble, namely General Aidid and his nearest followers who together make up the rebel militia plaguing UN humanitarian efforts. Seven large operations work you towards this goal, each with several heart pounding missions, such as convoy security, helicopter raids, and open land confrontations.

Before jumping into battle, you create your player profile, with choices in field of expertise (for multiplayer mode), weaponry and appearance. Each field and weapon has its specializations, with advantages and disadvantages to grasp. This factor becomes especially important in multiplayer mode, where the different fields – gunner, CQB (close quarters battle), sniper or medic- each have a specific role to play. Once these options and your mission are chosen, you find yourself in the midst of an arid landscape, surrounded by fellow soldiers already heading out. Action begins almost immediately as the severity of the situation hits you; you are now in enemy territory, facing opponents used to their harsh environment, as well as to fighting dirty. It becomes extremely difficult to distinguish friends from foe as bullets begin to fly, especially since the enemy likes to use civilians as human shields. But you are trained for this type of work. The Delta Force Elite are fearless in the face of death, able to operate under different and extreme conditions to achieve success. Whether on foot and diving for cover, in massive tanks with devastating weaponry, or winding helicopter patrols, you must secure the mission. With the game’s fast pace and well built story, you cannot close your eyes for one second. Alongside tactics, alertness is the key to victory.

A huge setback to the single player part of BHD is the lack of computer artificial intelligence. Novalogic seems to have put all their effort into the new graphics and physics engine, and just ignored the huge need for AI improvement. Both your soldiers and the enemies seem to never have held a gun before. They aim badly and shoot at friends as often as foe. The lack of good AI is what drags the value of the single player part of the game down.

But the single player mode is only half the story of BHD. With the huge multiplayer maps, 7 different multiplayer modes and up to 50 players on a server at a time, you will find yourself challenging your friends for hours on end. No stupid computer AI here, human brains my friend. People who buy this game and doesn’t try the multiplayer parts are missing out bigtime.

The graphics in BHD, are quite good. The newest graphics engine from Novalogic makes the game take huge leaps away from its predecessors. While the graphics in BHD are perhaps not the greatest, they sure give you some eye candy. I have been running the game on an Intel P4 2200Mhz, with a GForce4 graphics card. I ended up playing with all the graphics set to moderate, and a resolution of 800x600. I have always been a man to choose high frame rates over nice graphics. Of course I have experimented with the highest resolutions and shade effects my card and computer could handle, but again, looks don’t outweigh the benefit of the highest possible frame rate in this game genre, at least not when you look at the multiplayer aspect of the game. Here things have to move at a fast pace or you will end up a corpse way too often.

There are some parts of the game that I noticed the programmers had used a long time on. The player models are very detailed, as well as the water effect and the shading. To get the full graphical experience, get a graphics card that is pixel shading compatible. Overall, the new graphic engine makes the game look very realistic. One downside to the graphics in BHD is the lack of detail on enemy soldiers. They look good enough from far away, but you will find that they are built up with much less detail than your own troops. Also, some of the wall textures could have been done better

The audio experience in BHD is very detailed. With a set of good surround sound speakers, you get the feeling of being in the middle of a war, bullets whizzing by and all. BHD also understands that sometimes less is better: suspense grows at the sound of your own footsteps in the silent surroundings. Voice acting in the game is done well and used well. It seems like Novalogic hired real actors to do the job, something which benefits the game considerably. Atmosphere is fine-tuned by use of music tracks during the missions, though it does not distract you from the game.

The placement of sound is very accurate. Distant gunfire pulls you to the direction of fire, and gives you a good idea as to how near or far you are. I found myself greatly depending on the audio of BHD in multiplayer games. Another player walking alongside you on the opposite side of the wall is just the kind of edge you’ll be looking for as you wait for him to turn that corner. In this game sound is life. Learn to use it or you are in for a lot of surprise deaths.

The interface is very simple, and for those used to this genre of games, it doesn’t take too long to get a hang of. You control your character by the use of both the keyboard and mouse, allowing for very flexible perspectives. You can crouch and crawl by a simple click of a key, and even roll on the ground by using the direction keys. The realism and smoothness on those moves is something to take note of. Throughout the game you are also able utilize vehicles and big(ger) weaponry simply by pressing the “use” button (defaulted to “shift”).

The radar is placed in the bottom right corner of your screen. It displays your friendly units and neutral units. It also displays dead units in multiplayer games. If an enemy shoots at you, you will get a flashing yellow indication on your radar screen, showing the general direction of the shooter. By pressing the Map key you can enlarge the radar screen twice, from your standard radar to a quarter screen one, up to a full screen map. The radar also displays constructions, like buildings and bridges.

Down in the left corner your currently equipped weapon is displayed. You can change your weapon by scrolling the mouse-wheel or by pressing the keys assigned to the different weapons. There is a representation of your character in this corner too, showing you whether he is laying on the ground, kneeling or standing up. When this figure is green, it means that you are unhurt and in good condition, shifting to yellow and then to red depending on how injured you are.

When you aim at friendly target your aim will be crossed out in red, indicating that you should not shoot at this. Yet in the heat of action it is still sometimes hard to avoid this, and you might find yourself confused in that split second between aim and shoot. Still, the game strives to be true to life, and that factor too is realistic.

BHD is a great FPS war game, especially when it comes to the multiplayer part. Novalogic has taken a gigantic technical leap from their last Delta Force games. With a new graphic engine and new physics engine this game rises up along with the best war games out there. I only wish I could play through the singleplayer part of the game with a friend. The graphics are nice, with an easy to grasp interface, and the single player story holds your interest. The multiplayer mode is excellent, with my favourite “Team capture the flag” scoring highest of all the different modes. This is a game packed with action and playability, one that will keep you coming back again for a long time. If you enjoy living through the lives of soldiers in realistic situations and challenging missions, Delta Force Black Hawk Down is definitely a game to own.