In a genre as saturated as FPS games, it can be hard to stand out from the pack. TiMi and Team Jade’s hugely anticipated Delta Force bears more than a passing resemblance to EA’s Battlefield 2042, but I still came away from my hands-on Gamescom preview both willing it to – and hopeful that it can – step out from behind the shadow of the genre’s titans.
While I didn’t get to sample the multiplayer game‘s campaign component, which adapts Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, my hands-on preview throws me deep into a debris-riddled skirmish with other Gamescom attendees. Havoc Warfare is the Delta Force mode of choice, and the influence of Battlefield 2042 is already running deep.
A selection of grizzled Delta Force operators with smug facial expressions and cheesy one-liners fill up the screen, each a clear iteration of BF 2042 specialists like MacKay or Paik. Not that you remember them. The game’s color scheme riffs on 2042’s saturated shades of teal and green, avoiding orange at all costs lest things get too close. It doesn’t take long to enter the operator selection screen in-match, and I’m whisked away into the trenches with a camera zoom just like… you get the gist.
But it’s not all derivative. Delta Force regularly threatens to break free of its obvious blueprint with its gadgets, for example, which are much more than simple gimmicks. At one point, I formed a shield out of a goo-like substance to defend against hails of incoming gunfire. Another operator can rapidly propel themselves away from danger or into battle. Sliding is also an operator-specific ability, which saves the game from a plague of slide-canceling try-hards.
Not that slide-canceling would be of much benefit anyway, with other players quickly converging on the map’s capture points to salvage a victory. It’s classic conquest-style action that demands good coordination. The kicker? Delta Force ups the ante with map destruction comparable to Embark Studios’ The Finals. Warehouse buildings are blown to smithereens, players on quads zip past me, and skilled snipers wait in the wings to pick off any stragglers. Lots of shooters have tried to replicate that level of spectacle over the years, but few have achieved it on the level of Delta Force.
My hands-on makes it clear that Team Jade isn’t trying to ride the coattails of Battlefield or Call of Duty; it’s carving out a name alongside them, and maybe, just maybe, putting itself in a position to beat them at their own game. The bones of 2042’s futuristic ambition are here, but the game also looks to pay respect to the franchise’s origins with its narrative-driven campaign, which I look forward to seeing more of.
Team Jade insists there’ll be no pay-to-win elements at launch, and it’s already taken a strong stance on cheaters by publically putting them on blast. The team seems committed to cultivating a strong community around the FPS game, which I can get behind, but there’s still work to be done on defining what else Delta Force does differently or better than the competition.
The Delta Force release date is expected to land early next year. We’ve also got a list of all the playable Delta Force operators.
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