The free-to-play campaign for Delta Force, Black Hawk Down, has finally arrived, transitioning from an anticipated premium release to a free-to-play DLC. This shift raised eyebrows, especially when coupled with developers’ statements that “this will not be a perfect campaign.” These warning signs have materialized in the form of mostly negative Steam reviews, with the game currently sitting at a concerning 35% positive rating that continues to decline.
But what exactly led to this reception? Is the campaign salvageable, or should gamers steer clear entirely? After spending hours in the game’s co-op mode, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about Delta Force’s latest offering.
Visual Excellence Meets Performance Nightmares
The most immediately striking aspect of the Black Hawk Down campaign is its visual quality. Built on Unreal Engine 5 (unlike the base multiplayer’s Unreal Engine 4), the game delivers breathtaking environmental detail. Construction zones feature realistic debris, cement chunks, and exposed rebar. Night missions with flashlights cutting through darkness create genuinely immersive moments that showcase what modern FPS games can achieve visually.
However, this visual fidelity comes at a significant cost. Performance is wildly inconsistent even on high-end hardware:
- Frames can drop from smooth gameplay to 20 FPS without warning. Check this guide for best settings of Delta Force.
- Testing on a rig with an RTX 4080, 64GB RAM, and a 12900K processor still revealed major performance issues
- Lower-end systems will struggle considerably more
As one player noted during a stream: “It’s a typical Unreal Engine 5 game at this point – visually breathtaking but a performance chugger.“
Bizarre Design Decisions and Technical Issues
The implementation of the DLC itself creates numerous headaches for players. Rather than integrating seamlessly with the base game, Black Hawk Down operates as a strange “game within a game”:
- Players must first boot up Delta Force
- Create or join a co-op team
- Start the mission, which then launches a separate Black Hawk Down executable
- This clunky system has resulted in crashes, confusion, and frustration
Several core gameplay features from the base game are mysteriously absent:
- No melee capability whatsoever
- Unable to pick up weapons from fallen enemies
- Cannot scavenge ammo from dead opponents
These omissions feel particularly jarring in a hardcore tactical shooter where resource management is critical. The lack of melee is especially problematic when enemies can instantly down players with kick attacks that often clip through doors and walls.
Hardcore Challenge or Broken Design?
The campaign embraces hardcore tactical gameplay with several challenging elements:
- No checkpoints (death means restarting the entire mission)
- Limited ammunition with no resupply points
- Emphasis on team coordination and communication
While these design choices create tension and encourage tactical play, they’re undermined by questionable enemy spawning mechanics. Enemies frequently materialize:
- Directly behind players in previously cleared rooms
- In the same room as players without warning
- On top of squad members when one player triggers spawn points
This creates frustrating moments that feel less like a tactical challenge and more like a system working against players. The game’s difficulty becomes less about skill and more about dealing with unpredictable spawns and technical limitations.
Solo Players Beware
Perhaps the most significant issue for many players is the campaign’s approach to solo play. While technically playable alone, the game is clearly designed around four-player co-op:
- Enemy numbers and placement assume a full squad
- Resource management becomes nearly impossible solo
- Difficulty spikes dramatically without teammates
As one reviewer noted: “Solo players are in for a meat grinder experience. It’s not just hard; it’s nearly impossible by design.”
The always-online requirement further compounds these issues, forcing solo players to either brave the overwhelming difficulty alone or team up with random players.
Bugs, Glitches, and Rough Edges
Despite being a free add-on, the campaign’s technical issues are difficult to overlook. In just a few hours of gameplay, players encounter:
- Enemies phasing through walls
- Players getting stuck in geometry
- Animation glitches
- Characters floating or teleporting
- Revive mechanics sometimes teleporting players into walls
The frequency of these issues suggests a rushed development cycle that prioritized release over polish.
The Co-op Experience: Finding Fun Amid Flaws
Despite its numerous shortcomings, Black Hawk Down does offer genuinely enjoyable co-op moments when played with friends. The class-based gameplay encourages teamwork, with players sharing limited resources and covering each other’s weaknesses.
Communication becomes essential as players call out enemy positions, request ammo or medical assistance, and coordinate movement through hostile environments. When the game works as intended, moving through alleyways with a coordinated team while enemies converge from multiple directions creates the kind of intense tactical experience that FPS fans crave.
The high-quality cinematics and narrative setup also add welcome context to missions, even if the story isn’t particularly groundbreaking.
Conclusion: Potential Clouded by Problems
The Delta Force Black Hawk Down campaign represents a frustrating mix of potential and problems. Its stunning visuals and hardcore tactical gameplay show what could have been an exceptional co-op shooter. However, performance issues, odd design decisions, and technical shortcomings severely undermine the experience.
For players considering whether to try the campaign, our recommendation comes with several caveats:
- Best experience: Play with three friends, set expectations appropriately
- Avoid: Solo play or matchmaking with random teammates
- Be prepared: For performance issues regardless of your system
- Patience required: For bugs and design limitations
The good news is the campaign’s free-to-play status means there’s no financial risk in trying it. If the developers commit to post-launch support and address the most glaring issues, Black Hawk Down could eventually become the co-op tactical experience many players are looking for.
Until then, it stands as a reminder that even studios with substantial resources can falter when rushing to release an unfinished product. As one player aptly summarized: “It’s almost where it needs to be for me to be really excited about it, but not quite there yet.”
Rating: 6/10 – A promising foundation with serious technical and design issues that hold it back from greatness.
