Delta Force

What is it with NovaLogic and their 'Voxel Space' games? Somebody please tell them: the Voxels don't work they don't look any good. Why don't they get themselves a 3Dfx programmer like everybody else? It's almost the year 2000, for heaven's sake. They'd certainly sell more games.

I could harp on about the graphics in Delta Force, but there's no real point. If you're not already familiar with Voxel Space, all you need to know is that it's great for creating landscapes that stretch for miles into the distance and wonderful for running games on PCs that were bought from the second-hand pages of Loot, but it's useless for any kind of close-up work, as everything becomes so pixelated you might as well be using a 16-bit computer from the late '80s. Some of the enemy soldiers in Delta Force, when viewed through a sniper's scope, even bring to mind the Spectrum classic Ant Attack.

Ready... Aim...

But that's not the point. Although we're hardly talking Half-Life or Rainbow Six here, you can live with the graphics for the most part (particularly if you shove the resolution up all the way to 800x600). No, Delta Force's real problem is that at no time do you feel as though you're in command of an elite fighting force. Rather, you tend to feel like (John) Rambo - wading through the bodies of an entire army with just a machine gun at your hip.

The background to the game sets you up for a dizzying array of stealth and infiltration missions: rescue hostages, blow up SAM sites, escort diplomats through the jungle... It all sounds great. And then you start playing. And you soon realise that although the objectives for each mission f change, the procedure for completing each one is practically the same: Hk kill everything that moves. And you appear to be alone as you battle your way through. Each mission throws a touch of support your way from secondary teams providing covering fire, but you just seem to wander your way through the waypoints as though you're out for a Sunday stroll.

Now I'm no soldier, granted. I've never worn camouflage pants or got excited about large weaponry. But I can't help but think that most of these elite fighting forces tend to work in teams. There's no planning involved in Delta Force, and consequently no feeling of depth. Games like Rainbow Six or Spec Ops, perhaps Delta Forces closest rivals, really make you feel as though you're in charge of an elite unit, issuing orders, making plans, relying on team-mates and so on. Delta Force simply feels half-hearted from start to finish.

Fire....

Having said all that, there are some nice aspects. The online game isn't bad (but not stunning). When things start getting hectic the contusion of war is nicely portrayed, and the sound effects are particularly good, especially as bullets smack into the ground.

But it just isn't detailed enough to appeal for long, either as a heavyweight sim or as an engaging arcade romp. You'd be better advised to wait for Spec Ops 2 or Team Fortress II.