Delta Force Preview
If you’re only a casual shooter fan, you might think that Delta Force sounds like an awfully familiar title. You’d be right. Over the past quarter century, there have been dozens of games loosely based on the Delta Force universe, basically pitting private armies against each other. To me, the best thing about the Delta Force is that no matter which side you’re on, you think you’re the good guys. The newest game is simply titled Delta Force, which I guess positions it as a reboot of sorts.
This newest Delta Force game is a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter now in open beta. It’s looking to capture fans of games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, with a mixture of hardcore military action and chaotic large-scale battles. Currently, there’s no campaign, but it’s coming. The version out now only includes a few modes but what’s there is plenty engaging.
Battlefield Engagements
Delta Force includes two main modes. Warfare focuses on large-scale battles played out on sprawling maps, a la Battlefield. Under the Warfare umbrella is Attack and Defend, an interesting setup with a back-and-forth mechanic. The attackers have limited respawns, but the defenders can respawn indefinitely until the section of the map is seized and then things are flipped. Winning the match essentially requires that all areas of the map are captured and held. With two competent and well-coordinated forces, this can be a protracted and exciting experience. It’s also quite possible for one side to steamroll the other. Like Battlefield, the map is a maze of tactical opportunities waiting to happen, lots of vehicles to drive, and endless mayhem.
I’ll add that currently, Delta Force is playable only with a mouse and keyboard. Those of us who have grown accustomed to only playing shooters with a controller will face a bit of a frustrating re-learning curve. Since Delta Force is coming to consoles sometime in 2025, controller implementation will happen eventually.
Operations is the other main mode. It follows an extraction shooter plan. A three-man squad is tasked with infiltrating an area, grabbing as much loot as possible, and getting out. The squad is under fire from both AI and human enemies in unpredictable numbers. I personally had more fun with this mode. Coordination was easier and the map was explicit with goals and treasure. That’s not to say it was easy. I died. A lot. If the squad is wiped the captured loot is lost. Cue trombone.
Pick Your Role
Players pick their Operator from four main classes: Assault, Support, Engineer, and Recon, with some subclasses under each. Each Operator has a very specific collection of skills and buffs, and a handful of loadouts that can be tailored to the situation. Nothing about this is remotely original but it doesn’t need to be. It’s deep enough to provide lots of variety and options. There’s enough choice for players to become invested in a particular role. There’s no character creation tool but with loadouts and upgrades, you can fashion a fairly unique Operator.
For an Early Access/open beta game, Delta Force is technically in pretty decent shape. Aside from some pretty long initial load times, the performance was good. Getting back into the action was fast and snappy. There’s variety in the maps and they’re interesting to explore, attack, and defend, at least until their novelty wears thin. The game overall needs a bit of balancing. The free-for-all chaos of the Attack and Defend matches seems at odds with the hardcore weapon physics and handling.
Ready Up Now
It’s anybody’s guess how the game’s paid campaign will pan out, but the free-to-play multiplayer suite has a lot to offer for fans of the genre. Especially for anyone who’s become a little disillusioned or disappointed with Battlefield or Escape from Tarkov, Delta Force might be the breath of fresh air they need. As a fairly casual fan, I’m interested in trying out the campaign and seeing how the game feels with a controller.
Thank you for keeping it locked on COGconnected.