The first rounds in the Alpha have made a big impression on Phil. Do Battlefield fans finally have reason to rejoice again?
When I saw the first trailers forDelta Force: Hawk Opswith the mass battles on huge maps with infantry, tanks and helicopters, I was skeptical. Extremely skeptical. Ah, another rather unknown studio trying to crack the Battlefield formula?
Well, World War 3, Beyond the Wire and co. have proven how well this works: Most such attempts end up in the Steam graveyard. After my first few rounds in the alpha, I have to admit: This time I was so wrong
The new Delta Force is much more than “Battlefield ordered from Wish”! My first conclusion is as follows:
Battlefield has a serious problem pic.twitter.com/veS9e3ODdK
– Trusty-Roots (@RootsTrusty) August 6, 2024
Battlefield’s evil twin
I’m not exaggerating: If I squint my eyes just a little while playing Delta Force, I can hardly tell the difference between it and Battlefield. What I’m trying to say: In multiplayer, the shooter is almost a 1-to-1 copy of the great role model.
When I start the Havoc Warfare mode, which imitates the Breakthrough mode from BF2042, the adjustment time is practically zero: from the spawn menu to the HUD, movement, squad management and level destruction, everything seems extremely familiar to me.
I was surprised, however, that Delta Forcefeels high quality almost across the boardand not like a cheap knock-off. The weapons have good recoil and sound powerful, explosions look great, the controls are pleasantly direct and precise and there is always a really intense battlefield atmosphere.
When my team lands on the beach with an armada of gunboats and storms the defenders’ bunkers with a loud roar and the use of smoke grenades, I suddenly almost wistfully remember the time whenBattlefield could still conjure up this dense atmosphereon the monitor.
Cheap mobile crap? No way!
Shooting is particularly important to me in shooters – after all, that’s how I spend most of my in-game time! And this is where Delta Force scores points with me, because the shots have a good sound, hits feel effective and every shot triggers a little adrenaline rush.
The fact that a studio has suddenly come out of nowhere to play at the top of the gunplay league deserves great respect!
In general, the flow of the matches is also very nice and – just like in Battlefield – depending on my weapon and equipment, I can play as an aggressive run&gun soldier, a defensive machine gunner, an agile scout or a medic. Or I can hover over the map at the controls of a helicopter while my colleague Dimi Halley cleans up at the gun!
As a medic, I also feel useful in the second row by shooting healing arrows into my comrades at the front every second and getting fallen colleagues back on their feet while support points pile up on me. Teamwork pays off
Weapon construction without limits
But I like the weapon system even better than in Battlefield, which rivals even Call of Duty with its countless attachments and customization options Because it doesn’t limit me to a certain number of customizations, but gives me absolutely free rein.
If you want, you can even build completely nonsensical constructions and screw a riflescope with 16x zoom onto an Uzi or screw four laser pointers to the M4.
I can even attach additional rails to many weapons, which then (realistically) offer space for even more attachments and thus create my individual dream gun.
And then I can even tune each attachment individually and move the position of the handles, for example. Only hardcore shooters likeEscape from Tarkov have this much depth.
The unanswered questions of the Alpha
And it may sound cynical, but Delta Force already has a few comfort features in the alpha that Battlefield 2042 didn’t even get on the chain at release, for example built-in voice chat or a functioning scoreboard in the match
You mustn’t forget:Delta Force costs nothing!Because the Breakthrough multiplayer and the Hazard Operations extraction mode are both Free2Play. I haven’t tried the latter extensively yet, but the package is already more than decent for the low price of zero euros.
And then there’s the story campaign! It looks fantastic:
Of course, this is not to say that Delta Force is the absolute perfect purple mood land and we guarantee the game a 90 in the GlobalESportNews test.
One of the negative things I noticed about the alpha were the many bots that, for some inexplicable reason, filled up the servers en masse. Or the Specialists system with Hero abilities, which I personally didn’t like in BF2042
The wrong Battlefield has clearly been copied here! Sometimes there are also problems with the vehicle controls and in some places the map balance is questionable.
It also needs to be clarified whether the developers can set up a robust system against cheaters – especially crucial for Free2Play shooters!
I’ll wait and see what the future holds for Delta Force: Hawk Ops, but after the alpha I’ll definitely move it up a few places on my Steam wish list
Editor’s verdict
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Battlefield feeling like this. Even in Battlefield. And that’s saying something! And I’m convinced that Delta Force: Hawk Ops can fill the vacuum that the shooter landscape is currently leaving behind for many players. After all, where can you currently find spectacular military battles with foot soldiers, air force, tanks & Co. for fun after-work rounds?
It feels like the only option is to switch to highly complex military simulations such as Arma or choose one of the many colorful hero shooters that seem to be springing up like mushrooms. A Delta Force is just what I need – and also provides a healthy dose of competition, which the Battlefield series has been in dire need of recently
