Delta Force: Up-close and personal...

Following the trends in the gaming society (remember SoF), ATrip got themselves a military advisor! A three-time war veteran, Lobo served with special forces (not US Armed Forces) specializing in reconnaissance, demolition, counter-terrorist tactics, sniping and other tricks of the trade.

The whole meaning of the article is to provide a view on combat sims as seen by somebody who has actually been in battle. The gravity of the articles will be on the reality of the game in question, and how well the developers have depicted the military hardware and its performance. Except ground tactics and Infantry hardware, you can expect a few pieces on air combat and naval simulations as well.

Delta Force 2

Eat my dust...

Returning from a long field-day...

Any game that is to be used as training "tool" for U.S. Army Land Warrior training program, and among the top ten bestsellers on every chart, should be automatically considered "as realistic as they get". Well, the game is excellent, probably the best in its genre, but as far as the realism goes, the Army is using a customized version of the Nova Logic's Delta Force 2, one that has those little untrue (read: unrealistic) aspects of the game made over. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed playing DF 2, well, the first two hours or so, but then it got kinda, well, predictable. Again, compared to other combat sims, and some of them tend to over-elaborate the tactical aspect making the game too complicated, and hence boring. DF 2 has this fine ratio of tactics and gung-ho, but it is still predictable. It didn't matter whether I tried to infiltrate quietly the enemy compound, or went in Rambo style; the outcome was usually the same. Shoot enough bad guys, and you'll probably complete the mission. Sure, there were subtle differences --- if the guards just around the corner heard you shoot, they would displace the "entire" 50 meters, but of course, they where still sitting ducks.

The whole premise of this game is that you are a highly trained professional --- one of the few, one of the proud; Delta Force Operators, trained to be deployed anywhere in the world and kick ass. The most elusive unit in the U.S. Armed Forces, involved in most of covert operations. Ironically, each time you hear of the Deltas, it is in context with a fiasco --- an operation gone sour. In 1980 Iran, Operation Eagle Claw, 1983 Granada, 1993 Mogadishu, Somalia... My guess is that for every publicized fiasco, there are at least a dozen that are successful. But we never hear a peep about them, and the recent questioning of three Delta Operators in Dallas connecting them with the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in 1994 (which was allegedly a ATF and FBI exclusive involvement), only adds to that theory.

The Deltas were founded, and originally commanded by Col. Charles Beckwith, who was stationed, back in '62 in Fort Bragg --- home to the even more (in)famous U.S. Army Special Forces, the Green Berets. In that same year, he was a part of a NATO officer exchange program, which allowed him, for some time (62/63), to be stationed with the British SAS. The experience profoundly affected him, since in those days, the Green Berets still nurtured a formal military discipline among their ranks. The SAS had an approach that gave their professionals ample autonomy that proved stimulating to the "creativity" needed in the field. On his return, he was given the opportunity to create a unit based on the SAS model --- U.S. Army Delta Forces (catchy name, eh?). Delta Force was founded in 1977, and shouldn't be confused with Delta Project that Col. Beckwith was the head of during the Vietnam War.

Sniping away...

Say cheese!

As I said, the game is excellent, and what better actual unit to name the game after. Except the whole concept of trying to simulate war without actually being in life threatening situations (not counting your girlfriend wanting to kill you for giving more attention to your computer than she) is like trying to (pardon me) have sex without actual penetration. There are some minor flaws, reality wise, in the game, which don't spoil the general mood, but can irritate... (A seasoned veteran - Ed.)

Right off the bat, the game's intro, has a few discrepancies. There are very few pictures of the actual Operators, but from what I saw, they don't care much for the Army dress code. Usually, besides the camouflage uniform parts, they have a tendency to wear civilian garments, which make their life in the field a whole lot easier. Since they are experienced Operators, they consider themselves above the tedious military formalities, such as wearing the complete Army issue uniform. The guys in the Intro are in pressed, new, standard issue, all-alike, fatigues. That's A-OK if they are of the 1st or the 25th U.S. Army Infantry Division, but we are talking Deltas, man! Also, the weapons and the gear are not completely authentic. The 'chine gunner is carrying an ordinary M-60 machine gun, and the last time anybody heard of Deltas packing the M-60 was in 1980. The guys in the Special Ops usually carry Stoners, which were, if I am not terribly wrong, developed for them, or (less often) Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW). Also, I hadn't noticed a single CAR-15 (M4) among them. The one authentic detail in the intro was the Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter at the LZ. The unit in charge for the D-boys air mobility and close support are the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment), the Night Stalkers. They often fly the Deltas in their Black Hawks in and (if they don't crash into a third world clay hut) sometimes out of missions.

Oh yeah... And why did they arrest those terrorists? It looked like they were arresting them. Shouldn't they be capping them? (Play the intro again. What a ruthless attitude brrr... - Ed.)