Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

This game stinks like butt and heres why.

The problems begin with the weapons, and the enemies. I say both at once, because even though the root of the problem is simple, it spreads in a complex way to the surrounding systems. Put simply, every human enemy dies in one hit. There are several F150s with machine guns on the back, but those are typically static, or chasing you in a vehicle section, and they dont have much health either. If memory serves, 6 9 mm bullets into the body of the truck detonates it like a bomb. There's some alligators capable of withstanding some gunfire who harass you and your squad when you try to get through water, but they're a gimmick, and are used twice.

The rest of the game, you're fighting enemies who die instantly. This may seem 'realistic' but this ruins the appeal of a tactical shooter for several reasons.

Firstly, all finesse in weapon selection becomes nonexistent. Its just ammo and accuracy, and one of those barely matters. Stopping power? Land any bullet from any gun on some guys toe, and he'll twirl like a top and fall over like the big stompy robot from Robocop just tried his hardest to "arrest" someone, so thats meaningless, aside from your TTK on the game's several gators. And most weapons have stupid accuracy, with even the shotgun's pellets landing in a tight, baseball sized pattern at what is "medium range" on most maps. Again, that might be more realistic than most video game shotguns, but it regulates the shotgun to a rifle thats actually better at long range than most rifles, due to its slight spread, and each pellets instant lethally.

Just equip a machine gun, it has the most bullets.

In a tactical shooter, you want to set up right for each situation. Do I check the door first, or go in fast? Who do I have cover here? Flash or Frag? You can do that here, in fact you have more options than most games. It's been a bit, but I remember telling my dudes to space out 5 meters apart, rather than 3, or something, to avoid explosives, it's that detailed.

But you're always dealing with one of 3 scenarios: room, chaotic firefight, and ambush. In a room, you can set up countless ways, but killing enemies is instant, and you can't arrest them. It comes down to flash bang supply, and how good you are at visual hide-and-seek. The AI mostly sucks, so when clearing a room, they're mostly good at flash bang... supplying. There's no enemy variety, wounded enemies, surrendering enemies, bulletproof vests, or even very complex environments. Kill them all, do it fast, it plays more like an arcade game.

If you're in a big chaotic firefight, you can only shoot. Its like in real life first aid: The first step to first aid is making sure the enemy isn't shooting you. In this case, you have no time to lead your squad, until the enemy is dead, as you are easily the most lethal component of the US armed forces in this game, not including helicopters. Ordering people eats at your precious trigger time, and while your allies are okay, just fine, really, at shooting people, they need to be standing still for this to be true. If they're mobile, they have to stop, which usually involves them struggling to decide which cover they want, and getting blasted while they're doing it. Only tactic you wanna use is get to cover, and maybe more flash bangs.

The last is an ambush, where the game throws about 30-100 Somalians at you all at once (like in da movie). Like, a cargo container you're in will open up, and BAM, there's about 50 people to mow down. These parts of the game are good and cool, but there's no tactics at all to be had. Kill or die. Better hope you brought that machine gun.

I remember at the end of the game, you go to kill a warlord, with a golden AK and everything. If this game had a final boss, this is it. I wasnt expecting to use my M4 to reflect his magic balls back at him until Zelda was safe, but... something, right? I remember I shot his shin through a gap between a wall, and a post, before I knew it was even him. This moment I think encapsulates how this game fails not only as the tactical shooter it tried to be, but also as the more action oriented shooter that seems to be distracting it from its primary identity. If this is the true, thrilling face of armed conflict, its not worth the Gamestop bargain bin I rescued it from.

Add to this sloppy squad AI, some spotty visuals, and various other issues stemming from a lack of polish really ruin it for me. The stealth missions are ass, but in the way most were at the time. Its whatever.

But the multiplayer? Ohh boy. A staggering (for the time) 64 players, and it fixes most single player issues. Players have more than 1HP, aren't completely brain dead, and move around the level with variable grace. Choices matter, and its not just a screen centering game. Fun times, for real, the servers are still up.