Somalia 1993 and the UN peace keeping forces are deployed here to try and stabilize the distribution of aid as up to 300,000 people have died after many years of famine and fighting. However with no government and with warring factions at each others throats the region is highly volatile. One of the prominent warlords orders an attack on a peace keeping unit in which 30 Pakistani peace keeping forces are killed. President Clinton decides to send in the US troops comprising of rangers and Delta Force to take down this wanted criminal. Well this is where you step in and although the game shares the same title as the moving Ridley Scott film that is where the similarities end other than the last few missions in the game which relive the famous Black Hawk Down moment. This is you as a member of Delta and your team verses a wide number of insurgence in this first person shooter.

Gameplay:

Delta Force Black Hawk Down focuses heavily on action and at its roots leans more towards an arcade experience more than realistic although the two styles do attempt to cross over. There are two main elements to the game which are Single player campaign and the wealth of multiplayer options.

Looking at the campaign you are thrust into the heat of battle from the offset and once you have selected your weapons load out which can range from Close Quarters weaponry to long range sniper rifles you are ready to roll. What you might notice during the first mission is the fact that you have a wide area you can traverse which means you have enough options to tackle objectives from whatever angle you see fit. I guess this also depends on what weapons you selected because as a sniper it’s probably best to not go charging into the fray guns a blazing! The ever present on screen radar gives you the locations of your waypoint markers as well as intelligence on enemy positions and will also show the direction of fire. There is a larger overhead map that can be viewed at any time which does highlight the scale of some of the maps which are mostly huge.

Missions vary from rescue to assault and even some stealth thrown in for good measure. As is the norm these days, mission objectives update on the fly the further you progress. Some missions can be a reasonable length (depending on your play style) whilst others are actually pretty short. Some missions will require you to mount a vehicle and become gunner using the awesome .50 calibre machine gun but then usually you will get another objective and continue on foot. This feature is actually well realised, especially when riding in one of the helicopters before being dropped off into the hot zone, completing objectives and then extracting via the helicopter pick up. Black Hawk Down really does have a wide sense of scale rather than being confined.

The environments are well designed and have a plethora of features that make each level look suitably war torn such as damaged cars, rubble and such like. There is also a heavy presence of civilians who seem to run away in fear at times. What is good is the fact that your enemies are guerrillas not soldiers and so they blend in rather well with the civilians, making your job a little tougher (you are there to protect the civilians not kill them). The AI is where things start to fall to pieces and whilst at times you can issue commands either via voice or using the game menu (which pauses the game). Sometimes it’s not clear if a command has worked or not especially when ordering the AI to launch a flash bang for example. The team AI also seems to take a lot longer to kill enemies than you do which is surprising considering that you are supposed to be an equal. The enemy AI is even worse at times where by they will simply stand there waiting to be shot. Or simply rush your location yet at point blank range miss you entirely. Then on occasion from nowhere there will be a super AI who will kill you instantly.

You can save the game although you are restricted to the number of saves you can use and due to the random element of being killed by the super AI means that it is extra hard to try and complete some missions without saving. After a mission is complete you get mission breakdown which shows you a score for objectives complete, enemies killed, saves used etc. There are a wide number of stats you can view in your profile for those that are interested and it is here where you can see your rank.

The single player missions are exciting enough especially when faced with alligators in one moment. I think the stand out mission was during a night time raid where stealth was key, armed with silenced MP5’s and your team had to navigate the town using night vision and then enter the building to blow up a radio mast. This mission was classic and really immersive; it’s just a shame that not all of the missions were up to this standard.

If I was to gripe further about the game then it would have to be about some of the weapons accuracy which even with auto aim switched off seemed totally unrealistic. You could almost do a perfect headshot from 1000 meters away using an MP5 or a pistol and with little to no recoil simply let rip on a group of enemies at range.

Graphics:

This is a tough one as my initial impression was one of disbelief that a game in 2005 could look so bad; however giving the game a chance and playing more of it I could see that the levels have their nuances. If you are a graphics junkie then I suggest this game will not please you at all. The character models are horrid looking and some of the textures are very basic. The character animations for the enemies are laughable at best especially some of the death sequences. There was also one animation where civilians would look like they were about to knife you in the face but I think it was supposed to represent their anger or something?

The levels have plenty of objects that can be shot up and destroyed which is welcome yet things like draw distance was simply not good enough for an Xbox title. Overall the levels have much character considering the nature of a desert themed Somalia it’s just the overall look lacked a certain degree of polish that you expect these days.

Sound:

I found the sound to be highly atmospheric and with the crackle of radio chatter almost being constant in your ear provides a highly immersive experience. There are also a lot of ambient sounds from civilians and such like which works extremely well. The only thing that might grate is the constant music that plays throughout which in some cases worked and was fitting to the level where as other times felt totally generic and out of place. Luckily you can switch the music off if you desire. It’s just a shame that the music wasn’t given a little more cohesion with the levels you were playing; because when it was good it was good and when it was bad it was very bad. Shame really! Other sound effects are pretty normal such as gunfire and explosions, screaming enemies etc. The voice acting of your team, which although has a Holly wood feel (like the rest of the game) is reasonable throughout.

Longevity:

The single player campaign won’t take long to beat and really is only half the game. The other half of the game is the wealth of multiplayer options which can be played split screen, Xbox Live or system link. There are a fair number of game types and maps to be played here and what is good is the option to choose a class and perhaps change class during the round. However the multiplayer is full of problems especially over Live. Yes the much touted 50 players has made the cut using the Novalogic servers but there just seem to be a wide number of other problems as well. One major problem is the large scale maps which seem to be infinite in size. This allows one team the chance to take an early lead and then simply run off into the desert for an easy win. Ok well that might be a little underhand but still the option is there for people to do it. Then there are error messages that appear when they shouldn’t; problems with spawning miles away from any action where it’s probably best to suicide so that you can re enter the game closer to the action. It seems that not a whole lot of practical thought was put into the Live multiplayer which is a shame. Either way if you can cope with these issues then there is a fun game to be had here. Sadly there are no bots for multiplayer so you’ll just have to grab some friends but then this loses out as well because 4 players on massive maps is extremely dull.

Overall:

Black Hawk Down feels like a rushed title or perhaps something that would have been acceptable several years ago. As it stands you have a hit and miss campaign which yes, is very Hollywood and fairly engaging but on the other hand can be rather lacklustre at times. The multiplayer is ambitious and has some great features, however again the problems are perhaps enough to annoy some people to the point of returning the game. There are few titles released at this time of the year and although Ghost Recon Summit Strike should be in shops now at least first person fans will have some choice. Whilst both games are similar I think if you’re a fan of faster paced action and shooting then Black Hawk Down could be right up you alley even if it leans more towards the arcade style of play. I enjoyed several key moments in the game and if you are concerned about the entire package then I suggest you rent it out first for a trial run.