Delta Force: Black Hawk Down - Team Sabre

Format PC

Developer Novalogic

Publisher Novalogic

Genre First Person Shooter

"Ladies and gentlemen - we got him." The proclaimed war on terror has taken some dramatic turns in recent weeks, but as we're constantly reminded, it's never over. This also holds true for the world of games, as this timely reminder looks set to prove. The original Delta Force: Black Hawk Down concentrated on the USA's 1993 incursion in Somalia, and it was an unexceptional yet playable addition to the FPS stable. Our major complaint was the very linear, arcade tone of the game, which had about as much tactical depth as Pong and all the novelty of a Tetris clone. As such, when the Team Sabre expansion pack was announced back in June, we have to admit our excitement was wholly controllable - it was akin to us learning that Graham Norton is to have a new show.

However, our interest was recently piqued by the news that development responsibilities have now fallen to Dallas-based veteran Ritual Entertainment, who's been knocking out high-quality shooters for years, including the likes of SiN and Star Trek: Elite Force II. Ritual itself was also quite excited at the news, with hirsute level designer Richard 'Levelord' Gray reportedly "delighted" at the prospect. Let's hope Ritual can redeem itself for its workmanlike efforts on Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Colombia Necktie
Reflecting the online focus of the Delta Force series, Team Sabre offers a whopping 30 new multiplayer maps and a modest ten solo outings, the latter split into two self-contained campaigns. Taking your boys to the hypothetical near-future flashpoints of Colombia and Iran, the single-player missions are set to offer more pseudo-tactical action, concentrating even more on vehicular combat. We've been dabbling with some of these and have come away mildly impressed. The Colombian episode predictably involves hunting down drug-runners, and while the extreme body count does seem a little harsh for the sake of a bit of sniff, it's an intense
affair with many different approaches.

For instance, in the first mission you can commandeer a riverboat by killing the drug-runners and threatening the captain. However, attack it too vehemently and it'll sink, leaving you with a long walk through some dense foliage, where you'll need particularly keen eyesight to spot the enemy. As for the Persian Gulf, it's suitably sandy, with the wide-open spaces offering little in the way of cover.

As in the original game, you're generally accompanied by three squad-mates (until they get killed) and can bark rudimentary orders at them. Some of the more glaring AI issues seem to have been ironed out, with enemies showing a bit more in the way of self-preservation.

There's still plenty of work to be done here, but Ritual has been around long enough to know what its doing. Team Sabre may be aimed primarily at multiplayer fans, but if Ritual pulls its finger out, it could well prove to be a reason to buy the original game.

PC Zone Staff