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In the original Delta Force, you played as a soldier in the US Army's elite<br />
commando and counterterrorist military force. The game overcame its graphical<br />
shortcomings by delivering top-notch action in both single- and multiplayer <br />
modes. Apparently NovaLogic was willing to bet on the same horse again, as Delta<br />
Force 2 uses yet another voxel-based graphics engine, but like its predecessor,<br />
its gameplay is good enough to buoy its less-than-stellar visuals.<br />
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Delta Force 2 offers around 45 single-player missions, including 25 sorties <br />
split between two campaigns and 20 stand-alone scenarios, in which you must <br />
prove yourself against large and heavily armed terrorist armies. In most cases,<br />
you'll work alone or with a handful of computer-controlled support teams. Most <br />
scenarios involve a clandestine attack-and-destroy mission against enemy bases,<br />
though many also include hostage rescue, recovery of stolen assets, and other<br />
commando-style objectives. The game also contains a powerful mission editor that<br />
lets you craft complex scenarios with relative ease and even provides thorough <br />
documentation for it.<br />
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The mission design in Delta Force 2 is generally excellent. Not only are most <br />
scenarios more difficult than the missions in the original, but they also seem <br />
realistic and believable. Although some are definitely influenced by Hollywood <br />
(one stand-alone mission conjured memories of the train attack scene in Lawrence<br />
of Arabia, for example), even these are a lot of fun from beginning to end.<br />
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Gameplay is very similar to the original Delta Force; once again, it emphasizes <br />
lots of long-range sniping punctuated by the occasional close-quarters ballet of<br />
full-auto panic fire. In many missions, you can work your way slowly towards <br />
the objective by moving and sniping until only a handful of indoor defenders <br />
remains. In other missions, time is more of a factor. Direct assaults are almost<br />
always a sure recipe for disaster, despite the game's ludicrously dangerous <br />
default mission waypoints. For this reason, most missions tend to last awhile -<br />
30 to 45 minutes on the average. Also, you cannot save during a mission, so a <br />
lucky shot fired by the final bad guy requires you to start over from the <br />
beginning. Another potential problem is a glitch that lets some enemies see and<br />
shoot you through wooden or even stone walls. Fortunately, this bug only reared<br />
its head on a handful of missions, and always in the same place, but it will <br />
undoubtedly irk some players.<br />
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Yet another possible problem is the graphics engine. By using the enhanced Voxel<br />
Space 32 3D engine, NovaLogic made a design decision that adversely affected <br />
both Delta Force 2's gameplay and its viability on store shelves. Because the <br />
game uses grainy voxels instead of crisp polygons, much of the long-range combat<br />
in the game boils down to hunting for moving pixels. Also, because of the <br />
exclusively 32-bit graphics engine, Voodoo3 owners are left out in the cold: The<br />
game will only take advantage of hardware acceleration (which really only <br />
affects objects like trees, buildings, and vehicles anyway) on 3D cards based <br />
upon 32-bit graphics chips.<br />
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Fortunately, Delta Force 2 looks pretty good on a fast system. Even with the <br />
inherent blockiness of the voxel engine, the settings and characters look fairly<br />
lifelike. In fact, the gently rolling hills and impressive water effects make <br />
many of the maps quite beautiful, especially with 32-bit color enabled. Still, <br />
the frame rate was very choppy at 800x600 resolution on a 450-MHz Pentium II <br />
with a TNT2 card, though it looked fairly good and ran smoothly at 640x480. It<br />
took switching to a GeForce 256 card to make the game playable at 800x600.Unlike its graphics, Delta Force 2's sound effects deserve special <br />
praise, since they are some of the most convincing weapons effects you're likely<br />
to hear in a computer game. The M249 SAW in particular has to be one of the <br />
coolest-sounding weapons ever. Other effects, such as the zing of near misses <br />
and the bloodcurdling screams of your victims, help to create a highly <br />
believable environment that will keep you on the edge of your seat and tuned to<br />
the action at all times.<br />
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In addition to the sound, the gameworld itself is immersive and dynamic; enemy<br />
units respond in various ways to gunfire - some come running, some drop prone,<br />
and some seem to ignore the offending noise completely. These varied reactions<br />
ought to keep you on your toes, since you'll never know in advance. Also, <br />
because many of the missions are chock-full of enemies - dozens in some cases -<br />
you are forced to hide in tall grass as often as possible, which is a new <br />
addition to Delta Force 2. Though the grass looks like little more than big <br />
pixelated blobs on the ground, it does add a welcome element of stealth. It also<br />
works for the terrorists in some cases, as bad guys who drop prone in tall <br />
grass become nearly invisible.<br />
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Other new features include airborne insertions for particular missions. This is <br />
simply an automated parachute drop at the beginning of some of the scenarios, <br />
but it does add a little element of excitement - especially when you find <br />
yourself dropping right on top of an enemy patrol. Also, the game's interface <br />
has been cleaned up and improved; you now have access to a minimap at all times<br />
without sacrificing room on the screen.<br />
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However, much like in the original Delta Force, your computer-controlled allies <br />
are virtually useless if you deviate from your preplanned mission waypoints, <br />
which nearly always take you on a suicide run directly through the heart of <br />
enemy defenses. That's because they move based on triggered events, most of <br />
which require you to walk over a waypoint. Thankfully, you can modify the <br />
waypoints using the new commander's screen. You can also use this screen to <br />
coordinate the movements of your teammates during multiplayer games, which are <br />
one of Delta Force 2's greatest strengths.<br />
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Online sessions on NovaWorld are lively, frenetic firefights that are almost <br />
certain to turn the game's harshest critics into fans. Delta Force 2 is one of<br />
the most exciting and enjoyable online gaming experiences out there, despite <br />
the fact that some of the promised features haven't yet been implemented. The <br />
game supports as many as 50 players at once and features a wider array of <br />
weaponry than before and a new armory building that lets you change your weapon <br />
loadout without logging out. However, the new game modes, including attack and <br />
defend, search and destroy, and team flagball, are not yet available on <br />
NovaWorld. Fixed gun emplacements, which are by far the most intriguing of the<br />
new features, are not yet available either. But NovaLogic plans to roll these<br />
features out over the coming weeks. Performance on NovaWorld is good over 56K<br />
connections and even better over a fast pipe like ISDN, cable, or DSL.<br />
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Delta Force 2 is a great single-player game with an impressive multiplayer <br />
component. Owners of incompatible video cards should make sure the game is <br />
playable and palatable before buying it, but otherwise the game should have a <br />
widespread appeal among fans of tactical action games. While it doesn't deserve<br />
as high a rating as the first Delta Force since the two are so similar, Delta<br />
Force 2 can't be beat for free-ranging commando combat.<br />
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http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/deltaforce2/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;reviews<br />
By Michael E. Ryan, GameSpot<br />
Posted Nov 9, 1999 12:00 am PT<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">If you need a crack(I assume you will) hop over to gamecopyworld and grab one this is a alcohol 120% image of the retail cd.</span><!--bold--><br />
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