Review

You are a member of the US Army's elite special operations unit known as Delta Force. Your mission is to take on the scum of the earth… terrorists. These terrorists will stop at nothing to create a world where people are afraid to turn on their televisions, send their children to school, get on an airplane, or go to sleep at night. Your mission is to restore the world back to its natural state of peace and order, so that American boys and girls can sleep at night and not worry about a future of terrorist bombings and biological agents in their drinking water. It's up to you son. America and the rest of the world are counting on you." No pressure, right?

Delta Force 2 is the sequel to Delta Force created by NovaLogic in 1998. For the most part the game has the same look and feel as the original despite some improvements in the graphics. If you prefer games with 3D acceleration, you will more than likely be disappointed with the graphics in Delta Force 2. Delta Force 2 runs on a Voxelspace engine just like the original.

As I mentioned before, if you are a graphics freak, you probably will not be happy with the graphics. At far distances objects are fuzzy and only slightly resemble what they are supposed to be. At medium distances, objects look fairly decent, meaning most gamers can live with the look. However, up close, objects are very blocky and many of the objects do not appear to be to scale.

More critical than the look is the performance. Obviously I did not have any real big performance issues on one of the machines I tested Delta Force 2 on which was a PIII 500 with 256MB RAM And a TNT2 Ultra card. The other machine I tested the game on was a PII 350 with 64MB RAM and a Voodoo 3, with which I did get some questionable performance. However, the overall performance on this machine was pretty decent as long as I ran at low resolution.

You will need a video card capable of 32-bit rendering in order to use the hardware acceleration option. Otherwise, you will have to live with software rendering, which will decrease game performance and only allow you to run at 640x480 resolution. I threw the game in hardware mode and bumped the resolution up to 1024x768. I have to admit the rendering did look pretty good with these settings. Especially when I did an airborne insertion, the terrain looked great in all directions. The topological detail was done really well. However, the performance pays the price at this resolution, so I ended up running at 800x600 to keep from lagging inside buildings and other structures. Even though I am not a big fan of voxel graphics for FPS type games (they are great for flight simulators), I would have to say NovaLogic has done a good job here.

The sound effects are pretty cool in this game. The wind howling through the valley, grass whisking in the wind as you lay in your sniper position, and of course the sound of a frag grenades' metallic ping off a concrete wall in an enemy barracks, followed by the sweet sound of victory! Sorry, I lost it there for a second. Seriously, the sound effects are very precise and well used. Also, the enemy speech in a foreign language adds to the realism of the country you are operating in.

The gameplay is pretty much in line with the original. The missions have change slightly, but the concept of the missions are the same. The missions range from hostage rescue, CSAR, convoy destruction, intelligence, to direct action and VIP protection missions. The friendly AI has been improved a bit, which means you won't be on your own 2 minutes into the mission. In the original, usually all of your team was killed off early, making missions sometimes impossible to finish. With the improvements in Delta Force 2, usually team members make it to the end of the mission.

The enemy AI has not really improved that much. Would you be standing up in the middle of an open field with high ground on each side if your partner just took a 7.62 mm sniper rounds in the chest, or would you seek cover? Well, these computer soldiers don't. For example, in one mission, we stormed an enemy encampment, firing automatic weapons. I spot an open door on a barracks building and decide to check it out. Inside stands an enemy soldier staring at the wall, presumably watching the paint dry or something. I walk up to him a stab him with my knife. Despite no significant improvements in the enemy AI though, the game still presents sufficient challenge and interest.

NovaLogic has added some new features which have added more depth to the gameplay. Environmental elements have been added such as snow and fog. Missions that allow you to swim to objective points that include underwater weapons, really add some new dimension to the gameplay. Climbing is a new feature that allows you to climb up in sniper towers, and in some instances give you an alternate approach to an enemy position.

Another really cool feature is the addition of booby traps. You will have to be even more cautious when approaching the enemy as you may end up impaled by some wooden spikes. Other additions include the ability to fire from stationary weapons emplacements, such as .50 caliber heavy machine guns; parachuting down to your start point; the ability to shoot through some objects such as tents; and shoot out glass windows in buildings. Oh, before I forget there are helicopters which definitely aide the enemy in taking care of you. So beware!

One real positive change is the Commander's Screen. From this screen, you can change your waypoints, check your team members status, and the location of enemies. Using this screen in a multi-player game, you can change you weapons during the game, unlike the original game.

As far as multi-player, this is where things go array. First of all, the game does not have support for starting your own TCP/IP server. You can only play on a LAN using LAN/IPX. The performance is fine, but you cannot play over the Internet with your own server and some friends. Now, there is an option to play on one of the NovaWorld servers and even host a server through NovaWorld on your computer. However, every time I tried to connect to a NovaWorld server, I would receive a message saying I need to update my version. I select the "Update Product" button on the console and a nice little window is launched that displays a status message of "Connecting to update server". Slowly my system would start lagging and I noticed in the task menu that DF2 Update had launched over 50 instances of the Update program.

Thinking this was just a freak occurrence, I attempted the update again and this time it crashed my system. I figured NovaLogic had corrected this bug in the latest update, so I went to their website and downloaded the latest update released on 11/17/99. After installing the latest update, I tried to connect to a NovaWorld server again, but was prompted to upgrade the product again. I suppose NovaWorld does not have any Delta Force 2 game servers running yet. This is the only reason I can come up with to explain the NovaWorld server's motivation for prompting me to update to the version I am running.

I really wish I was able to connect and play on an Internet server, because I am very interested in seeing what latency issues are present with the use of the "Voice Over Net" (VON) feature. The VON feature allows players to send voice messages over the net to selected team members or players using the headset included in the game package, or any standard microphone. They boast to have server support for 50,000 plus players, but I imagine there will be latency issues, especially for dial-up users trying to use the VON feature.

Despite the drawbacks of the lack of TCP/IP support, steep system requirements and no hardware acceleration for 16 bit graphics cards, NovaLogic has delivered a top notched first person combat simulator with Delta Force 2. If the Internet play is only as good as Delta Force, which I am sure it will be, the servers hosting this game will surely be more crowded than its predecessor. Even though Delta Force 2 is based on voxel graphics, they are done in such a way that even 3D accelerator junkies will be satisfied. With over 40 different missions and the ability to create your own with the mission editor, Delta Force 2 will ensure months of exciting play both on and off net. Minus 5 points on the PC Gameworld scale for no TCP/IP LAN support, but a fun filled score of 83 overall.


	\|CAW\| \| home Welcome To \|CAW\| \| Review \| Weapons \| Map And File Downloads! \| Maroon Squad \| Help! Review Everything you need to know Review You are a member of the US Army's elite special operations unit known as Delta Force. Your mission is to take on the scum of the earth… terrorists. These terrorists will stop at nothing to create a world where people are afraid to turn on their televisions, send their children to school, get on an airplane, or go to sleep at night. Your mission is to restore the world back to its natural state of peace and order, so that American boys and girls can sleep at night and not worry about a future of terrorist bombings and biological agents in their drinking water. It's up to you son. America and the rest of the world are counting on you." No pressure, right? Delta Force 2 is the sequel to Delta Force created by NovaLogic in 1998. For the most part the game has the same look and feel as the original despite some improvements in the graphics. If you prefer games with 3D acceleration, you will more than likely be disappointed with the graphics in Delta Force 2. Delta Force 2 runs on a Voxelspace engine just like the original. As I mentioned before, if you are a graphics freak, you probably will not be happy with the graphics. At far distances objects are fuzzy and only slightly resemble what they are supposed to be. At medium distances, objects look fairly decent, meaning most gamers can live with the look. However, up close, objects are very blocky and many of the objects do not appear to be to scale. More critical than the look is the performance. Obviously I did not have any real big performance issues on one of the machines I tested Delta Force 2 on which was a PIII 500 with 256MB RAM And a TNT2 Ultra card. The other machine I tested the game on was a PII 350 with 64MB RAM and a Voodoo 3, with which I did get some questionable performance. However, the overall performance on this machine was pretty decent as long as I ran at low resolution. You will need a video card capable of 32-bit rendering in order to use the hardware acceleration option. Otherwise, you will have to live with software rendering, which will decrease game performance and only allow you to run at 640x480 resolution. I threw the game in hardware mode and bumped the resolution up to 1024x768. I have to admit the rendering did look pretty good with these settings. Especially when I did an airborne insertion, the terrain looked great in all directions. The topological detail was done really well. However, the performance pays the price at this resolution, so I ended up running at 800x600 to keep from lagging inside buildings and other structures. Even though I am not a big fan of voxel graphics for FPS type games (they are great for flight simulators), I would have to say NovaLogic has done a good job here. The sound effects are pretty cool in this game. The wind howling through the valley, grass whisking in the wind as you lay in your sniper position, and of course the sound of a frag grenades' metallic ping off a concrete wall in an enemy barracks, followed by the sweet sound of victory! Sorry, I lost it there for a second. Seriously, the sound effects are very precise and well used. Also, the enemy speech in a foreign language adds to the realism of the country you are operating in. The gameplay is pretty much in line with the original. The missions have change slightly, but the concept of the missions are the same. The missions range from hostage rescue, CSAR, convoy destruction, intelligence, to direct action and VIP protection missions. The friendly AI has been improved a bit, which means you won't be on your own 2 minutes into the mission. In the original, usually all of your team was killed off early, making missions sometimes impossible to finish. With the improvements in Delta Force 2, usually team members make it to the end of the mission. The enemy AI has not really improved that much. Would you be standing up in the middle of an open field with high ground on each side if your partner just took a 7.62 mm sniper rounds in the chest, or would you seek cover? Well, these computer soldiers don't. For example, in one mission, we stormed an enemy encampment, firing automatic weapons. I spot an open door on a barracks building and decide to check it out. Inside stands an enemy soldier staring at the wall, presumably watching the paint dry or something. I walk up to him a stab him with my knife. Despite no significant improvements in the enemy AI though, the game still presents sufficient challenge and interest. NovaLogic has added some new features which have added more depth to the gameplay. Environmental elements have been added such as snow and fog. Missions that allow you to swim to objective points that include underwater weapons, really add some new dimension to the gameplay. Climbing is a new feature that allows you to climb up in sniper towers, and in some instances give you an alternate approach to an enemy position. Another really cool feature is the addition of booby traps. You will have to be even more cautious when approaching the enemy as you may end up impaled by some wooden spikes. Other additions include the ability to fire from stationary weapons emplacements, such as .50 caliber heavy machine guns; parachuting down to your start point; the ability to shoot through some objects such as tents; and shoot out glass windows in buildings. Oh, before I forget there are helicopters which definitely aide the enemy in taking care of you. So beware! One real positive change is the Commander's Screen. From this screen, you can change your waypoints, check your team members status, and the location of enemies. Using this screen in a multi-player game, you can change you weapons during the game, unlike the original game. As far as multi-player, this is where things go array. First of all, the game does not have support for starting your own TCP/IP server. You can only play on a LAN using LAN/IPX. The performance is fine, but you cannot play over the Internet with your own server and some friends. Now, there is an option to play on one of the NovaWorld servers and even host a server through NovaWorld on your computer. However, every time I tried to connect to a NovaWorld server, I would receive a message saying I need to update my version. I select the "Update Product" button on the console and a nice little window is launched that displays a status message of "Connecting to update server". Slowly my system would start lagging and I noticed in the task menu that DF2 Update had launched over 50 instances of the Update program. Thinking this was just a freak occurrence, I attempted the update again and this time it crashed my system. I figured NovaLogic had corrected this bug in the latest update, so I went to their website and downloaded the latest update released on 11/17/99. After installing the latest update, I tried to connect to a NovaWorld server again, but was prompted to upgrade the product again. I suppose NovaWorld does not have any Delta Force 2 game servers running yet. This is the only reason I can come up with to explain the NovaWorld server's motivation for prompting me to update to the version I am running. I really wish I was able to connect and play on an Internet server, because I am very interested in seeing what latency issues are present with the use of the "Voice Over Net" (VON) feature. The VON feature allows players to send voice messages over the net to selected team members or players using the headset included in the game package, or any standard microphone. They boast to have server support for 50,000 plus players, but I imagine there will be latency issues, especially for dial-up users trying to use the VON feature. Despite the drawbacks of the lack of TCP/IP support, steep system requirements and no hardware acceleration for 16 bit graphics cards, NovaLogic has delivered a top notched first person combat simulator with Delta Force 2. If the Internet play is only as good as Delta Force, which I am sure it will be, the servers hosting this game will surely be more crowded than its predecessor. Even though Delta Force 2 is based on voxel graphics, they are done in such a way that even 3D accelerator junkies will be satisfied. With over 40 different missions and the ability to create your own with the mission editor, Delta Force 2 will ensure months of exciting play both on and off net. Minus 5 points on the PC Gameworld scale for no TCP/IP LAN support, but a fun filled score of 83 overall. - Reviewed by Tom Kemp, PC Gameworld www.pcgameworld.com