Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is the fourth game in the NovaLogic's famed Delta Force series. The original Delta Force was a great game for its time; unfortunately Black Hawk Down is just not up to the challenge once you put it through the ropes. It is an average tactical shooter without much innovation or fun to bring to the table.

Black Hawk Down starts off by showing you some conflict areas and the whole opening movie gives you a pretty good idea of what you're up against. The game doesn't really have much of a story per say and your progress is made through missions. You basically play a soldier who has to fend off militants, protect UN convoys and secure installations. You also get to ride on cool vehicles like Helicopters and Humvees but I'll touch on the major flaws with that part of the game a little later. The missions in BHD seem kind of disconnected in a way especially at the beginning of the game and the backbone for a great story is simply non-existent.

The main interface of the game features options to change keys, graphic details and update the game. From here you can also start a multiplayer game or begin the single player campaign missions. The whole presentation of the game is fairly basic but it is clear and fits in well with the military theme of the game.

The first mission of the game is to protect a convoy of UN trucks and other Humvees, get to another part of your camp and then get on a helicopter back to the main base. The mission consists of shooting militants and trucks from a Humvee, then later on sniping them, and when aboard the helicopter, using the helicopter's guns to fend off more trucks and militants. While the idea of boarding vehicles does sound like fun, you cannot actually drive any of the vehicles. There's always someone piloting the vehicle for you and you have no say on where to go. All you do is shoot from a turret gun. In that sense, there's no difference in playing from the Humvee or the Helicopter.

While the game can be fun for a while at the beginning, you'll soon realize many of its flaws. The enemy AI in this game is horrible, not much has changed from the days of Delta Force: Land Warrior. At times, enemies will shoot everywhere except in your direction. Also, your team is basically useless most of the time as their aim suffers from the same problems as the enemy AI if not worse, and they will often shoot at other teammates or even you in the process. Although most of the missions are fairly easy, some missions are just downright frustrating and you'll have to reload the game several times to complete it. And that's not fun when you get a limited amount of saves, and a huge level to go through.

As far as graphics go, this game is very decent. Although it doesn't measure up to some of the newer titles, the game does a pretty good job in the graphics department. Helicopters produce dust effects, the character models are convincing enough and the vehicles also look great. There are some weird chopping effects and some of the textures don't look like they belong, but these moments are few and far between.

Sound in this game is average at best. The classical gunfire and vehicle sounds are there but none of them sound really compelling. Voice acting in this game is also terrible and the dialogue in between characters is boring and does little to enhance the experience.

Multiplayer is probably where the action is going to be for most people. The game offers multiple modes for multiplayer and gives you a variety of maps to choose from. You can also use vehicles in multiplayer but as I said before, you don't get to control them. It's more like a means of transportation of sorts or just to have fun being in a helicopter. It's pretty clear that the vehicles will get old rather quickly in multiplayer.

Overall, Black Hawk Down is an average game that fails to impress for the most part. The shortcomings of this game are just difficult to ignore and the variety of gameplay just isn't there. The story is also all over the place and the whole feel of the game just isn't compelling enough to keep playing it for very long. With so many great military shooters out there, the Medal of Honor series for example, Delta Force: Black Hawk down simply doesn't compete unless you're really desperate for a new shooter.

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