Referport
Tower of Babel, 12 p.m.: The ray tracing sun literally shoots into our cockpit as our Delta Forces in the Black Hawk approaches the majestic skyscraper.
We rappel down to the roof, it’s still quiet and no shots are fired. Our snipers get into position and we stalk the door in star formation.
The code is quickly cracked, the steel door opens, three security guards who have been shot are lying in front of us. Code Red – all teams prepare for multi-floor access.
Cracking bank safes, hacking security systems, confronting bosses: the co-op campaign is very varied – demanding like a tactical shooter, but explosively staged like Call of Duty.
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The enemy Ahsarah Guard forces attacked the high-tech complex, killing security officers and killing Dr. Rometheus captured – the Elon Musk of this universe, who developed a brain implant with Reolink. Whoever controls it controls the world.
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These first minutes already show what Delta Force Hawk Ops ahead of all its competitors: it tells stories, has really high-quality cutscenes, and gives the fight a meaning.
Battlefield 2042 was originally supposed to have a campaign – when that was canceled, the atmosphere of its multiplayer maps no longer worked.
How much more epic BF 2042 would have been if we had known why we were fighting in a huge freighter in the middle of the desert. We’re defending a corporation’s high-tech lab, but we don’t even know why.
In Delta Force directly establishes what we are fighting for and each sector is fun because it feels different.
Where DICE simply delivered the next Battlefield, Level Infinite and the Timi Studio Group use staging tricks from Hollywood and Call of Duty campaigns: The tactical shooter works heavily with colors to create atmosphere – red light, for example, to build up his threat backdrop.

The Delta Force series used to be a tough tactical shooter, which we can feel directly in the co-op: we lean out of cover, move forward slowly and methodically and place our hits very well.
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Sometimes there’s a real bang when helicopters are hit by rockets and their rotors tear up half the floor – like in CoD. Sometimes there are special challenges, such as flamethrower units, as if we were experiencing The Division 3 here.
Sometimes we attack the headquarters of a high-tech company, where robots and self-shooting Gatlings give us a surprise reception. At level 15, Space City unlocks a complete set of new maps – a huge Hawk base, including laboratories, weapons testing centers, centrifuges, missile launch towers.
This is a completely different level than BF 2042 because everything is staged with CoD-level dialogue and cutscenes.
A shooter with a love for campaigns and co-op

Delta Force delivers on a Call of Duty level: a kind of Elon Musk wants to improve the world with brain implants; Military corporations threaten to dominate the earth.
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XDefiant also had a chance to unite the fan bases of The Division, Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon, but Ubisoft didn’t capitalize on that potential. We do play the attack on Third Echolon’s headquarters, but it doesn’t feel like it because there are no cutscenes.
We may be shooting in Washington DC and have a downed Chinook in front of us, but whether we win or lose the fight doesn’t matter – there is no story, we can’t take back the White House, the Capitol or the Pentagon. There is no reason to continue playing.
Just a few XP and the level grind for the next weapon are waiting – Delta Force Hawk Ops On the other hand, the production really accelerates.
Delta Force also has classic multiplayer modes – if you want Battlefield 7, you get it with the 64-player mode Havoc Warfare and yes, that’s a lot of fun. Going tank hunting in an Apache helicopter and coordinating large-scale attacks on strategically important positions in squads is always fun.
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We will dedicate a separate special to this part. But Delta Force offers so much more, in its co-op scenarios – the Operations – which play like a mixture of the old Rainbow Six parts, The Division and the Call of Duty campaign.
We discover traces of blood in corridors, tank gates suddenly close, self-firing systems are activated and we have to sprint for cover.

The market is flooded with multiplayer shooters, none of which have anything to say. Delta Force Hawk Ops plans to tell its story in seasons like a TV show and constantly release fresh co-op campaigns.
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We fight against crazy African warlords like Khalil Reis, who are reminiscent of their counterparts in films like Lord of War with Nicolas Cage, and raid their private bank. In general, the game invites you to explore – we can find security passes to unlock secret security tunnels that enable surprise attacks via underground bunker networks.
We have to crack safes, hack security doors, decrypt digital pads on weapon containers and fight against lots of NPC squads and sniper units that are positioned on all roofs. We can capture heli pads to unlock new spawn points for our team.
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The studio has secured the full Black Hawk license, so we actually play as the delta snipers who secure the crash site.
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What surprises and impresses us the most: Every operation feels different. Sometimes we’re standing in front of a gigantic high-tech complex like Space City, with 10 different buildings, each of which conveys its own atmosphere and has damn cool ideas – like flooded facilities to test torpedoes.
Then again we play Ridley Scotts Black Hawk Down in detail – so really very close to the film and just as dense and depressing in the production. BF 2042 also had its retro maps with Portal, but DICE didn’t do anything with it.
Don’t worry: If you want Battlefield 7 and mass battles, you’ll get this:
In Delta Force, the Black Hawks operation feels like we’re experiencing a Call of Duty mission on XXL. We fly in in the Black Hawk, flanked by Little Birds – the film’s music gets us in the mood for the scenery.
When the helicopter is shot down, we fight our way to the crash site with the Delta Forces who also take the lead in Ridley Scott’s masterpiece. Behind Level Infinite is Tencent, which can hardly run on money – basically the Chinese Microsoft.
They staged Black Hawk Down accordingly, letting us experience every minute – the ride in the completely shot-up Humvee; the attacks on the convoy; the counterattacks of the US Marines.

Battlefield 3 had one of the best single player shooter campaigns of all time. And the Black Hawk Down missions are a pleasant reminder of that. So Tencent gives us what DICE and EA no longer want or can offer.
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This feels different because we aim with simple M4 assault rifles using the rear sight and front sight instead of going into battle with high-tech equipment.
And we are a few GIs against a superior force of NPCs with machine gun trucks, AKs and tons of rocket launchers. For our taste, the Delta Force studio is welcome to add a little more when it comes to the destruction engine – that would turn millions of Battlefield enthusiasts into fans.

That’s exactly what we want to play: next-gen shooters that capture the atmosphere of popular Hollywood blockbusters 1:1. Tencent might like to do the same with George Clooney’s Three Kings.
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But it’s impressive to see how this new studio, which delivered the best mobile shooter of our time with CoD Mobile, but has never published a triple-A game for PC and consoles, wants to develop the shooter of all shooters .
A game that combines the Hollywood action of Call of Duty with the huge vehicular battles of Battlefield and multiplayer at the same time; Picks up co-op and campaign fans. Now we have to see whether the monetization is completely out of line or whether the studio finds a good balance here too.
We live in wild times, with Chinese newcomers showing elite studios like DICE how it’s done.
Delta Force Hawk Ops is now available in Early Access on PC, Xbox Series X/S as well as PS5 and PS5 Pro. The full release is planned for Q1 2025.
Source: German