Buy Delta Force 2 from Amazon.comPrologueBefore there was Counter Strike, there was Delta Force. I'm about to review the sequel Delta Force 2 released at 1999, because that's the game I actually played before Delta Force 1. It's also one of those rare games that kept me hooked almost a decade with great multiplayer action -- until servers "ran dry". The second part was also released same year than Counter Strike mod, which had it's retail version coming out year 2000. Delta Force 2 was developed by Novalogic, previously known for Comanche arcade helicopter shooters and the Delta Force 1, released a year before. Many may argue about this, but to me DF2 was the pinnacle of the series, with DF1 coming close. The series took turn to worse after this.(This article is copyrighted by www.thegamersdungeon.com, if you're reading the article elsewhere then you're reading stolen material. Support us by reading the article at it's original source!)Yes it’s true, company like Novalogic, more recently known of publishing cheap quite trashy games, actually made developed few gems back then! I’m actually only counting Delta Force 1 and 2 amongst those, while part three: Land Warrior was decent and Joint Operations games were (although I’ve not played the series) are said to be ok also. I lost my interest after Task Force Dagger hit the stores (sequel to Land Warrior). Anyway, enough history lesson! Why was Delta Force 2 so great? Well it wasn’t all that great actually, to understand this games greatness and failure we must break it into two separate segments: single player and multiplayer. Delta Force - Isn't that Chuck Norris movie?But first we’re going to check what’s this game about. It was a tactical first person shooter using Novalogic’s “voxel graphics engine”, already presented in the first game of the series. The graphics in comparison were not that hugely updated in part two. If I recall correctly, higher resolutions were supported and also 3d cards were supported, although especially considering multiplayer games, the 3d support failed for having several glitches that gave disadvantage of spotting people while 3d filtering was turned on. It was better played without the 3d card support on, and Voxel engine also didn’t seem to take any sort of advantage in terms of better framerate with 3d card support. But looking the graphics without 3d support back then, they were still quite pleasant if one had decent computer that is. The game required quite much power from the computer hardware for any bigger resolution. Despite pixilation, graphics look allright, with vast landscape of valleys and hills, snow, desert, sand and grass.("Voxel engine" was decent for it's time at looks, although required much hardware power, however it provided great environments gameplay wise)This game played out fairly simple, but had good elements of a gameplay. There were only a few guns mainly with regular and suppressed pistol, M249 Saw and M4 with or without grenade launcher, scoped long range gun Barrett and M50 Sniper rifle (If I remember correctly) – and then MP5 which was hard to detect, but was practically useless for it’s short range and low firepower. It was made mainly only for fooling around and to annoy others in multiplayer game by making them ashamed getting killed by a poor gun such as MP5 – oh yea, lets not forget a knife either for making one ashamed of himself. Also regular Grenades, Satchel charges and Laws (sort of a mini-missile) were included. One could also go for better armor (which didn’t matter much since usually you’d die by one hit anyway), Ghillie suit (very slightly better for making one harder to see in some maps for multiplayer mode) and Scuba diving gear.Delta Force 2 was basically revolved around Saw versus M4 dominating the field, but also taking advantage of grenades and grenade launcher of the M4. Both of these guns were effective from close range to medium range, with Saw obviously having advantage on close but M4 having advantage on medium and possibility to hit far with it’s scope that Saw didn’t have. Skillful player could shoot far with either of guns. Both sniper rifles definitely had their place on very large maps, bringing tactical element. While grenades came handy in rushing, laws were handy also taking out long range targets who were sitting still. Satchel charges were used mainly in some single-player missions to take out certain objectives, as well as in multiplayer gametypes of Search & Destroy and Attack & Defense. For longer range spotting player had Binoculars as his help. Limited ammo made sure that one could not just spray and pray infinitely. Large outdoor maps, Gun ballistics and "Snake in grass"Delta Force 2 had some good elements in it’s gameplay, that made the simple and flowing gameplay stand out of it’s time. Map screen was included to find out where you are at in the large map and was much needed as the maps were quite huge at the best. Although there were only few guns, split mainly into shorter range Saw, mid-range M4 and longer range Sniper rifles, they were hugely different to play. And in multiplayer mode a good team would think what sorts of player they need for a certain map, how many close combat and mid-range player, and was any snipers needed by this map? This brings tactical element to the game. Gun ballistics were also included, and I don’t remember any game previously doing this: when shooting long range, bullet drops down, thus you’re going to have to aim higher the more far target you’re aiming at. Wind had an effect also whether you should aim more left or right. Sounds perhaps little thing, but it made bit difference in the game, at least in my opinion. Other than that, scope was very handy tool, since some maps were absolutely huge for it’s time. (Night missions were not necessary, but were nice addition anyway)Delta Force 2 (and it’s prequel DF1) were probably first games to present large outdoors areas as maps. They had few buildings here and there, but the main focus was on large terrain with hills and canyons. I really enjoyed how the tactical gameplay focused around form of the terrain and different paths and routes to reach a great sniping spot or get behind enemies. This was phenomenal, and still is cool. Actually, not many other modern tactical shooters other than perhaps Battlefield and Joint Operations (also Novalogic game) remind me of this. The game really combined simple elements into one great game: every gun had it’s different kind of use on large maps, where one had to plan his attack or retreating routes. Another thing that Delta Force 2 did bring into a shooter was, simply: “Grass”. Grass was another nice element, adding additional cover for a sniper, a spot to lay down to if you’re spotted, a place to hide in King of The Hill multiplayer mode. Soldiers did all the basic moves necessary: run, jump, kneel, lay down, crawl. Doesn’t sound much now, but not every game allowed you to lay down and crawl back then. It was fluid action. According to the games graphics, it required sharp eyes because seeing anyone far away would turn into total pixel hunting. Did something move over there? *Bang* -- cactus! Well it was quite tough, but was also one of the games frills, that’s what I think at least. It was hard task scanning enemies around the landscape, but it was not impossible. Let me mention that also sound effects were quite nice for it’s time and they played huge part on spotting enemies, especially those sneaky snipers: left, right, far, close, perhaps behind this hill?Single-player zombie-soldiersWell, lets get on with the single player side. Delta Force two has around 45 single player missions, of which ~25 are campaign missions and 20 are stand-alone scenarios. That is pretty much enough content-wise. I never quite enjoyed much about single player. While game dynamics in this game are good in part of moving, shooting, planning your route – and even missions were average to decent – enemy AI is just plain stupid. Shooting computer soldiers in single player was no much fun in my opinion. They didn’t have any interesting reactions, they walk, spot, notice you, shoot (poorly). But then again sometimes they were pain in the ass, since they could spot you behind a grass spot that no human eye could, but you could not spot them. Well generally, this game was “pixel hunting” from anything more than short range, which could piss off certain people. But it never bothered me, except perhaps against computer opponents where it just didn’t feel fair. Human eye versus human eye was a different story.Grinding single-player scenarios could be fun at first when you're learning the game, but after a while it just comes dull and boring, because they failed to execute anything that would make scenarios interesting -- and different scenarios in campaigns feels like they are not connected by almost anything. Also while these maps were like made for a tactical team strategy planning, it was not so much fun in single player where you were alone. It was far more interesting to have a squad match and discuss how your “team” should approach this large map, and what guns would you need etc. Generally single player was average, but so stale especially with AI side. Missions felt quite repetitive grinding against stupid zombie enemies without much variation whatsoever.(Enemies in single player mode were total zombies, but it was a good place to learn the game - also notice the grass)Massive adrenaline rush-filled multiplayer battlesBut multiplayer is what kept me hooked almost a decade to Delta Force 2, and I still would play it if there was any players, though I’m amazed to see that Novalogic actually still has it’s DF2 game lobby up with whopping ~30 players total. The server lobby and good bunch of the servers were (and still are) hosted by Novalogic themselves, with possibility for anyone owning Delta Force 2 to make up his own game and get it listed on Novalogic lobby thus making joining and hosting process very simple. Fluid gameplay of Delta Force 2 was like made for online gaming, and combined with a maps that did make you think your routes, how to remain unseen, where to ambush and so on combined to this fluid gameplay that required fast reflexes as well as much patience for longer shots, made it totally awesome. Delta Force franchise did also bring large scale online battles in online shooters. Not only in terms of huge outdoors maps, but also in terms of players. while regular server had 8 vs 8 teams, there was also huge 16 vs 16 battles and support up to 50 players all together, with some of the maxed out servers coming online bit later. This was unseen before. It made online battles quite hectic and totally fun. This was backed with varying gametypes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, King of The hill, Team King of The Hill, Capture the flag, Flagball, Search and destroy and Attack and defend. While most of these gametypes are regularly seen nowadays in online shooters, they were quite fresh back then and some of those worked better on Delta Force 2 maps than most games today! Deathmatch was quite hectic running and shooting anything that moves, and was everyone versus everyone where most kills wins. Team deathmatch was the same but most kills scored team wins, and due both teams having their own spawns instead of random spawning anywhere, it was a bit more tactical. “Attack and Defense” and “Search and Destroy” had two teams with both having a goal to destroy enemy objects around terrain with satchel charges or other explosives. They were pretty much related except in A&D both teams had their objects in their bases, thus focusing on base defence & attack. Both gametypes worked fine, but the largest gaming community focused around other gametypes. Personally I enjoyed the most Team King of The Hill, Flagball and Capture the Flag. Team King of The Hill had a “zone” in middle of the map, and both teams in the zone would try to clock specific amount of time (5min, 10min etc) with at least one player resuming in zone whole time. If other team cleared out last player of the other team from zone, then the clock would start from zero again. This gametype was pure fun with squad matches especially, and very tactical. Who would defend against enemy close range attackers, who would watch flankers getting behind own spawn, who could assault, who would try getting behind enemy zoner or base, who would snipe and counter-snipe? Totally awesome team gameplay in this gametype, that was place of hundreds of adrenaline filled matches for me. In Capture The Flag, both teams had their base as a spawning point, with flags to get on enemy terrain. This was also about tactical knowledge as well as map knowledge of the team, and ability to combine those, much as individual skills. But no one player could win the whole map for a team. Team would think which flags were easiest to get, could there be an element of surprise with a certain flag, which were essential to defend and what were the spots for players in the map to do this effectively. I remember dozen great matches, going in pairs with someone for a flag, trying my best to defend a flagrunner with M4 while he has just got a hold of a flag, but enemy M4 has spotted him and he’s gotten stuck behind a hill while getting out would mean running on open terrain with a flag. Flagball was quite similar but with one flag only, to be scored specific times. The flag would respawn into middle of the map every time it was scored until other team scored, say, ten times.Online and cheatersOnly downside of the multiplayer game would be common cheaters running around servers, mostly freely, unless the server was well observed by the host, which means Novalogic servers and majority of free hosted ones let them run pretty much free anyway. There was such cheats, that would pretty much ruin tight game for anyone. The Delta Force 2 community came out with their own anti-cheat patches, since Novalogic could not be bothered with the issue after several years of the game's release date. It was, at least, slight way to prove that you were not cheating yourself, as this patch disabled pretty much majority of known common cheat programs, and players that had anti-cheat (ACP) turned one would be listed on internet site with the player name showing whether one had it turned on or off. This would get rid of those who were trying to cheat silently, but of course the clowns who just cheated anyway to ruin it for everyone (flying, auto grenades from the sky etc.) didn't bother much. Later on there were also servers that not only listed users of ACP, but also required this to be turned on or get kicked out. The system was not perfect but it did indeed increase lifespan of the Delta Force 2 community at least to some extent. These anti-cheat patch thingies are most likely very outdated now though. But the thing was, that Novalogic was never very supportive to Delta Force 2 community for anti-cheat matters, so the community had to take steps themselves. I don't see this affecting my given "multiplayer rating" much though.(Oh the memories of dozens multiplayer squad matches!)EpilogueA Short bio about myself as a Delta Force 2 player. It would show how much fun I had with this game online. When acquiring the game at 1999, I almost immediately moved into online playing as Single Player was only average, if not less, experience. This revealed truly flowing and great game mechanics of this game, and advantage of large hill-filled maps. I skilled many schooldays to be able to play late, and to be able to compete also with American players. I started my first squad =THE= (Thunderhawk Elite) somewhere at 2000 I think, and year after I joined *DEA where I played (excluding short breaks) perhaps until 2006 or 2007. Best online gaming time of my life perhaps. The servers started to be empty at this period of time and I then continued to play only rarely, but I still remember the once great community revolved around this game with great squads like *FF, tm, atv, *DEA, sub7, =KOH=, Mbn, Jag.. and so many I’ve forgotten. Doesn’t say much to most of the readers perhaps but what the hell! To make it short, teamplay was very tactical and gametypes worked fantastically with big outdoor maps. Squad matches in Delta Force 2 were almost always very adrenaline filled events with lots of going on. This was also the heart and soul of Delta Force 2 in my opinion. Single player mode was average even for it's time, but multiplayer mode was fantastic back then, and would still be great it there was any players around. I’d give it a shot any day now!Buy Delta Force 2 from Amazon.com(Some single-player action provided by "katkid2405")The GoodThe BadAdrenaline filled multiplayer gameSounds work well in spotting where enemies areGrassy terrain and large outdoor mapsBallisticsSimple yet sharp controlsSingle player campaigns are dullAI soldiers are zombies (Singleplayer)Graphics engine is rather grainy3d cards support is a jokeNot many different gunsOnce great community is pretty much dead now and servers are quite emtpyNovalogic's bad support against cheat programsSingleplayer Rating: 71 | Multiplayer Rating: 92 System requirements: Intel Pentium II, 64MB RAM, Cd-rom drive (But in reality you should have something like decent computer from 2003-2004 to play high resolutions)

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