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The play's the thing

However, having said all that, I'll be the first to admit these issues have no bearing on whether or not Novalogic has made a good game. They have. In fact, they've made a good game that, in many ways, makes excellent use of the Black Hawk Down license. In the past, the Delta Force series has struggled unsuccessfully to find its identity on retail shelves crammed with quasi-realistic first person shooters. Novalogic's games have been caught half-way between cartoony and realistic, with only a token nod towards single player gameplay and some ill-fated uses of voxel technology that shut them out of the latest advances in 3D video cards. But now, with Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, the series has finally come in to its own in terms of graphics and gameplay.

Hoo-ah!

Helpfully labeled mine field

When crocs attack

The graphics are based on the engine used for their latest Comanche helicopter flight sim. Comanche 4 was a visual treat that managed to render cities and open terrain with aplomb, sprinkling them with destructible items and fancy effects for explosions, smoke, and water. However, Black Hawk Down doesn't have the spectacular fireworks of Comanche 4. Environmental interactivity consists almost solely of a few objects (cars, barrels) exploding when you shoot them. Smoke and fire are very temporary, as if the graphics have something better to do and can't be bothered to really commit to burning and smoldering. But there is a fantastic amount of flexibility and variety in the type of terrain, especially considering how the game is limited to the North African aesthetic of Somalia. There are very few engines that can jaunt this casually between town and country. One mission will be set on the open sands of a desert with gently sloping hills as far as you can see (the desert setting nicely solves the thorny issue of complex foliage). The next mission will thread through the narrow alleys of a shantytown overlooked by high rises.

’Well, I stand up next to a mountain...’

In fact, some of the more impressive missions do both. The highlight of the single player game is the "Irene" mission, which is based on a sequence from Ridley Scott's movie in which the Rangers and Delta Force embark on their star-crossed mission to capture some of Aidid's henchmen. Beginning at your base, you run out onto the airfield, hop onto an AH-6, fly along the coast and through some hills with a half dozen other helicopters, swoop over the city alive with small arms fire, land on a rooftop, clear out three floors, meet a convoy on the street, and then work your way through the city to reinforce some stranded Rangers, only to see the eponymous Black Hawk being shot down. All without a loading screen to break up the action. It's a spectacular combination of scripting and technology. If only they'd licensed Jimi Hendrix's “Voodoo Child” to complete the similarities to the movie.

On the waterfront

Black Hawk up

Hummer cruise

Unfortunately, it's locked about half way through the single player missions, many of which are perfunctory 'go here to shoot these guys' affairs. The next several missions after "Irene" play out a few more scenarios recreated very loosely from the movie, but without as much cinematic thrill. The whole thing winds down with a silly contrived attempt to resolve everything with the supposed assassination of Aidid.

Because they're so scripted, there's not a lot of freedom during most of the missions. Although there are wide swaths of land laid out before you, you're usually kept on a fairly tight leash. Most of the firefights are simply direct assaults, without any options to flank a position or take an alternate route. Try it and you'll get a reprimand, followed shortly thereafter by the mission ending because you've "gone AWOL".