Blawk Hawk Down
Xbox Live Multiplayer Review

by Remorhaz

Black Hawk Down brings to Xbox Live seemingly lag free fifty player shooter mayhem - now you gotta love that.

Set in Somalia in 1993, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is based upon and around the Operation Restore Hope and Task Force Ranger campaigns and follows members of the elite Delta Force and US Army Rangers as they participate in a number of daring raids against the oppressive Somali warlords in and around Mogadishu.

The first question to be asked when playing multiplayer FPS on Xbox Live is what is the Lag like. Well I have to say that I'm extremely impressed - the lag is barely noticeable even when on 50 player multiplayer. We can only give a very big thumbs up to the Netcode in this game because it is probably the best I've ever seen in an FPS on Xbox Live when playing on an overseas host.

So now that we know it runs well online what has it got...

Game Features:

There are seven different multiplayer game types to choose from including: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Team King of the Hill, Search & Destroy, Attack & Defend, Capture the Flag, and Flag Ball.
Each game has a designated set of maps. There are over one hundred maps (variations of the base maps) that are specifically tailored to each game type and for a certain amount of players (4, 16, 20). Team Deathmatch and Team KOTH seem to be the most popular game types.

There are four character classes in the game:

• CQB (Close Quarters Combat) are the most common in games and are the general soldiers with assault rifles.
• Snipers are, of course the players who can equip one of the long range sniper rifles. In the larger open maps these people can be found camped way up in the hills trying to take pot shots at the mayhem happening below.
• The Medic can of course heal and even revive slain team-mates (as long as they havn't been headshot).
• Gunners are the slowest class however they get to carry around this big machine gun to mow people down with and also have a single shot rocket launcher.

You can actually change character classes and weapon load outs in game by visiting an armory.

Looks and Gameplay:

The actual graphics are on par with Rainbow Six 3 which means they aren't magnificent but they do the job.

A popup map is available by pressing the back button and it is very detailed. You will always be in the centre of the zoomable map, and north always points up. Targets, spawn points, and other areas of interest are also clearly marked. You can mark waypoints and once selected, that point is then vectored in the play screen and a distance (in meters) to the objective point is shown in the HUD. In the bottom right on your HUD is the usual round radar display, with compass, activity detection (a red cone showing direction of shots being fired) all layered on top of a mini local map - it works well.

Vehicles however are simply on rails and cannot be driven. They just cruise around the map. You can hop on or off of the Humvees at any point, whilst the Blackhawks take off and land at designated pads. When you jump into a blackhawk there are 2 miniguns and on the humvee you get the 50 cal. It's great to just hop on the chopper and let it fly up over the city - you see everyone running around like ants and you can start mowing them down with the minigun including those pesky roof top snipers. However you are a sitting duck for the rocket or grenade launcher so vehicles aren't really the safest place.

Pro

If I had to summarise the game simply I'd have to say it is Rainbow Six style game play, with Return to Castle Wolfenstein like character classes and objectives on Ghost Recon sized maps.

Whilst the graphics and vehicle limitations may be nothing to write home about the online game play is actually very fun. There's nothing like the chaos and carnage which ensues when two teams of 16 to 25 players each go head to head.

The action in the game is relatively simplistic but it is a great deal of fun. With full servers the action is fast and furious, with dozens of players running around mowing each other down while they are simultaneously trying to achieve objectives and capture spawn points

Con

Not only can you not drive any of the vehicles so they roam the map on set paths they also cannot be destroyed either.

The power of the explosives in the game (grenades) leads to a lot of abuse of the weapons, particularly the M203 grenade launcher.

I host games a great deal so I am particularly critical of the available hosting options for a game. Thankfully this game has many of the essential components like dedicated hosting, ability for the host to disable any weapon in the game, automatic map rotation, private/friends slots. However notable issues include: (not even the host has the ability to boot players; once a game type has been selected (e.g. Team Deathmatch) you can't change this to another game type without completely shutting down the server and creating a whole new match, the host cannot disable certain maps).

Conclusion:

if you are interested in playing this game online it won't disappoint. 32 to 50 player online games on Xbox Live are a first here in Black Hawk Down so if you like your games large and full of frantic action then this is definitely the game for you.

7/10