After four years of development, multiple alpha releases, and a bevy of name changes, Delta Force has transitioned from wishlists to the libraries of over two million Steam users as it enters into open beta. Despite still being in development, Delta Force feels remarkably finished, offering balanced gameplay, polished aesthetics, and stable servers. It’s even gone live with a purchasable season pass, in-game currency, and an active storefront already up and running.
Delta Force is a hero-based shooter that currently offers two ways to play: Warfare, a 64-player objective-based skirmish, and Operations, an extraction-style adventure. Though still in development and with room for improvement, both options offer a refined take on their respective fan-favourite genres—albeit, at times, a take that can feel overly familiar.
Delta Force is a fascinating franchise — an iconic series from the late ‘90s and early 2000s that laid the foundations for one of the most prolific subgenres in gaming history: the military shooter. For players of the era, titles like Delta Force: Land Warrior and Black Hawk Down evoke the same misty-eyed nostalgia as classics like Half-Life or Deus Ex. Yet, despite its groundbreaking legacy, the series has largely faded into obscurity.
It’s easy to understand how it happened though, as franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Medal of Honor transitioned from their World War II settings into the era of modern warfare, Delta Force struggled to keep pace with the ever-raising bar for cinematic action set by its competitors; nor could its publisher Novalogic keep pace with their budgets. The Delta Force series slowly petered out, culminating with 2009’s utterly forgettable Delta Force Xtreme 2. Xtreme 2 would be Novalogics’ last release before shuttering, and eventually selling their remaining assets to THQ Nordic in 2016.
NovaLogic’s IP remained in THQ’s portfolio until TiMi Studio Group—the creators of the wildly successful Call of Duty: Mobile—acquired the rights to Delta Force. Their aim was to revive the franchise as a mobile-friendly, AAA online shooter, taking on the industry giants in a way that NovaLogic never could.
After spending some time with the beta’s Operations and Warfare modes, it’s clear that a lot of work has gone into transforming Delta Force into a multiplayer experience that’s meant to go toe to toe with one series in particular: Battlefield. Specifically Battlefield 2042. At times, Warfare perhaps draws too deeply from that well, but overall, it stands as a competitive and mobile-friendly alternative to its rival.
Warfare pits players against each other in a war of attrition, with two teams of 32 battling to capture or defend a series of control points. Maps are divided into zones that attackers must secure before their limited supply of respawn tickets are depleted by the defenders. Each team is broken up into squads of four, and if a squad is well composed, it will have one member assigned to each pillar of combat, whose classes include: Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon.
“…it’s clear that a lot of work has gone into transforming Delta Force into a multiplayer experience that’s meant to go toe to toe with one series in particular: Battlefield.”
This model of online warfare was made popular in the Battlefield series and has been repurposed to great effect by a wide variety of titles over the years. Squad, Verdun, Rising Storm, and Hell Let Loose take the Battlefield framework and add a level of realism while Battlebit took the opposite approach with their low poly take on the formula. Delta Force is more direct, appropriating not just the formula of Battlefield but also specific elements of Battlefield 2042. The titles share almost identical UI, styling, setting, kill cams, and selection of weapons and equipment — which are even distributed in the same way amongst the classes.
The key difference is that Delta Force has opted to tweak the role selection by adding a roster of heroes to choose from, each which enters the battlefield with a unique ability. For example, an assaulter who has an arm mounted grenade launcher and robot legs, or a recon specialist who fields a bow that fires high-tech arrows which can detect or shock enemies.
At this point in the Delta Force beta there are eight heroes to choose from, two for each class. In a similar fashion as Team Fortress 2, each team consists of the same set of heroes. The limited pool of characters makes battles streamlined, fair, and competitive. It also creates a battlefield that’s easy to read; having a limited amount of silhouettes to identify makes it possible to judge the enemy team’s composition at a glance.
However, more choice for characters would be a welcome addition. A meta has already formed that has the 64 player lobbies being populated by a mix of the same four heroes. Competitive as a match may be, this meta can transform a battle from thrilling to goofy. More than a few times, I rounded the corner of a trench to find 12 teammates playing as the medic Roy Smee, all shouting the same cringe-inducing quips at each other in the character’s Australian accent.
Again, it’s early days for Delta Force, the choice to move in the direction of a hero based shooter may remain controversial, but adding more compelling characters to choose between, and adding special abilities that aren’t available in other games will undoubtedly help Delta Force stand out as a unique experience.
The hero system is visually less jarring and also more creatively implemented in Operations mode, which is Delta Force’s take on the extraction genre. In extraction shooters, players venture into a war zone either alone or with a squad. The objective is to gather treasure and extract before the time limit runs out. Maps are inhabited by AI enemies and rival squads that can serve as either predator or prey depending on your skill level.
“…adding more compelling characters to choose between, and adding special abilities that aren’t available in other games will undoubtedly help Delta Force stand out as a unique experience.”
Pilfered goods and gear can be brought back to a post-mission base where it’s used to craft new gear, put towards base upgrades, or sold on an auction menu to other players in exchange for Delta Forces non-premium, in-game currency. However, gear that’s lost in the zone is gone forever and must be repurchased.
Each mission is a gamble with high-risk and high-reward. For a player with my skill level, each mission is the story of a defenceless piñata who roams war torn North Africa, waiting to be cracked open and robbed. Regardless of my ability to retain my firearms, each venture into the fray was absolutely thrilling. It’s my opinion that Delta Force’s Operations mode is shaping up to be the best example of an exraction shooter on the market.
Operations also wears its inspirations on its sleeve, most notably in how close the home base and menu system resemble Escape from Tarkov’s. Delta Force manages to differentiate itself from its sources more thoughtfully in Operations though, finding a nice balance between the punishing realism of Tarkov and the more approachable elements of Call of Duty’s DMZ extraction mode. There’s no magazine packing and permadeath like the former but also higher stakes than the latter. It’s a great middle ground that makes Operations accessible without falling into the realm of casual.
In line with Warfare mode, a good squad is a varied one. By using the different abilities of each hero, the map can be explored in new ways. Luna Kim’s shock arrows can activate cranes and lifts or open locked doors by overloading their electric locks, while Terry Mursa’s engineering tools can cut through fences or break down walls, clearing the way to shortcuts and hidden rooms.
“It’s my opinion that Delta Force’s Operations mode is shaping up to be the best example of an extraction shooter on the market.”
In both Warfare and Operations mode, no system is deeper than Delta Force’s weapon customization. I’ve never played a game with so many options for attachments and tuning. Each gun comes with an astonishing array of odds and bobs to choose between. My M4 build had two red dots, a scope, a laser on each side, a top mounted flashlight, combat foregrip, silencer, comfortable handle, combat stock, and a drum magazine. Was it functional? No, but that was never the point.
From the length of an adjustable stock to the eye relief of an optic, everything can be tuned to your liking. There’s a cost benefit analysis that players must consider when choosing an attachment, but no limit–other than your imagination–to how many parts you can add to the build.
After digging into the open beta my impression of Delta Force is that it’s an incredibly well-balanced game with no clear deficiencies—but has one glaring omission—and that’s Delta Force. Other than some superficial references, the multiplayer is wholly unrelated to the series it’s purportedly meant to reboot.
Both Warfare and Operations place players into the roles of elite international operatives from a coalition known as G.T.I., who’s tasked with taking down a terrorist network called Havoc; note that neither side of this conflict is called Delta Force. In fact, If not for the upcoming Black Hawk Down DLC, the Delta boys wouldn’t even be making an appearance in this Delta Force game.
No one is going to be heartbroken if Delta Force doesn’t end up being a nostalgic return to form, the series hasn’t been popular since Hoobastank’s The Reason was on the billboard charts, which is to say, a while ago. But, the marketing team’s insistence that this is a revival of a classic series is belied by the actual content of the beta. It’s a cynical approach that was hard to ignore, and added a sense of “ick” to the seasons pass and storefront reminders that constantly appear in the menus.
Delta Force is shaping up to be a competent alternative to other fan-favourite shooters, it’s fast, fun, thrilling, and addictive, but will need more than a few heroes to build a character of its own. It’s a promising start that’s a little unfocused, but I look forward to fast-roping into Team Jades take on Black Hawk Down.\
