Delta Force Xtreme 2
Score: 65% ESRB: Teen Publisher: NovaLogic Developer: NovaLogic Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: First Person Shooter
Graphics & Sound: It is not hard to have high expectations for a game that comes from a company with a great reputation like NovaLogic. What is hard is the letdown that comes when this expectation falls way short of that high mark. It is never good to have expectations as a reviewer. But hey, it happens as we are only human. The only thing left is to deconstruct the monster. Delta Force Xtreme 2 has a few sparks of entertainment, but not enough to make it a noteworthy game. Suffering on many levels of play, this game will need a major overhaul to see a "3" added to the end of it. The game looks like it is straight out of the late 90's. The first thing I thought of was, had I actually started Black Hawk Down by mistake? But no, I had started a newly created game. Something just seems really off about the look of the game, given that it is a new game. No amount of anti-aliasing could cut down on the pixelation. There was also a noticeable difference between the character features that appeared in your HUD, compared to everyone else around you. The limited voice acting is par for the course. The actual sound effects are not very fulfilling, however. I never expect a sweeping soundscape from war. In fact, all things being equal, if it were "realistic," all war games would sound identical and we would all be deaf.
Gameplay: Delta Force Xtreme 2 is an FPS that is geared to play more for online gameplay, rather than just the single player experience. The single player portion of the game is only two campaigns, with each campaign having five missions. You can finish one in a 20 minute sitting. There is a weak storyline to the campaigns about a clichéd terrorist drug lord named Desert Rat. Gameplay consists of one directive; shoot them all and let God sort them out. If it doesn't blow up shooting it once, then shoot it again. The scenery may change from jungle to snow to desert, but this comes off as a very bad gimmick to break up gameplay monotony. Most of the time, the NPCs stay the same anyway and look unprepared to fight in their surroundings. This is also by no means an open world. If you disregard an objective or accomplish it in a way that the designer did not have in mind, then it is back to the beginning for you. If you die, you either return to Start, or the closest checkpoint. The few vehicles in the game felt very lackluster and unrealistic. If you have ever played Halo or Mass Effect, you will get that same plastic and unreal response from them. They also suffered from massive glitches that would teleport you to weird areas when you exited vehicles. As for the online experience, there were plenty of options to create massive battles. But the weapons are hyper-accurate and they have thrown realism out the window, which makes for a very fake game. Combine the hyper-accurate weapons with barely populated maps, and you have a sniper fest in every online game.
Difficulty: I have no idea where the "Xtreme" in Delta Force Xtreme 2 came from. No need to be more snide than that. The game is very easy in principal. Its difficulty came from trying to think while playing. If you just shut down your mind and run and shoot, you may get something out of the experience. If you try to apply to much effort into staying alive, you will find yourself spending most of the game sitting, because it isn't like the A.I. is going to help out. Trying too hard to creatively solve a problem or complete the mission will reward you with starting over. Operating vehicles also proved difficult based on their non-realistic and robotic responsiveness. Unfortunately, what proved to be the most difficult was finding enough players online to make for an interesting multiplayer experience.
Game Mechanics: Delta Force Xtreme 2 suffers from trying to please everyone. The problem with this is that in the attempt to do this, they have failed to play to their strengths. Players who want a well thought out and tactical game are given a straight line game-on-rails with no tactics to speak of. Run and gun shooters are given a very bland and plastic-looking experience with nothing "Xtreme" to speak about. Players who want a some feeling of simulation are given nothing. You are provided with some A.I. squadmates, for what it is worth. They are good for absolutely nothing more than getting into your line of fire. The A.I. all around really did not help the game through its many other difficulties. When the dust clears, there are few redeeming qualities left. In order to get anything from this game, you would need to have a ton of your closest friends playing with you. Then, this would have to be the only game they own. This is so they wouldn't be tempted to quit the game on you and go play Tetris instead. I have all of the faith in the world that NovaLogic can bounce back from this title. They have not shaken my faith in their games. Hopefully, this will be the lesson they needed to get back on track.
-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd
Minimum System Requirements: Video Card: Direct3D video card with 64 MB or greater, Windows XP, VISTA (32 & 64), Pentium 4 Minimum CPU, 1 GB or greater, 2 GB available, DirectX 9.0c or greater Windows compatible sound card, Internet connection required, broadband recommended, DVD-ROM drive   Test System: Dell XPS DXP061, XP Pro, Intel Core Quad, 2GB Ram, Gforce 8800GTX
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