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Introduction

Novalogic is no stranger to combat simulations. With two previous installments of the Delta Force series under their belt, they have now launched what is essentially Delta Force3, otherwise known as Land Warrior. Land Warrior gets its name and overall theme from the U.S. military’s advanced combat training program of the same name. The idea is to create a futuristic soldier who has multiple capabilities of engaging the enemy with battlefield superiority through the use of advanced technology and greater battlefield awareness. Novalogic has given a lot of weight to the fact that their latest game is based on something so close to reality as the Land Warrior program. Whether or not the game holds up to that comparison is questionable, but Land Warrior makes a strong effort nonetheless.

Delta Force Land Warrior is perhaps best described as a first-person military action game. The game boasts a broad assortment of realistic combat weapons, including various rifles as well as special equipment like anti-tank rockets, mines, and explosives. The most lauded weapon in Land Warrior is the OICW which looks like a modified M16 with a high-tech night vision sight system and a grenade launcher, based on an actual experimental weapon used by the real Land Warrior combatants. Land Warrior has vast outdoor scenery coupled with a fair amount of indoor action thanks to a new 3D engine developed by Novalogic. Additionally, you can choose to play as any of five different characters as you snipe and shoot your way through the single player campaign. If that isn’t enough to satisfy, you can take the battle online through Novalogic’s dedicated servers, with promised support for up to fifty players simultaneously.

In Land Warrior, the player has the option of choosing from five different specialized characters which will be carried through the entire single player campaign. While any of the characters can perform the tasks associated with the campaign missions, certain characters will perform those tasks better than others. The five characters consist of a sniper, a gunner, a grenadier, a close quarters combat specialist, and an aquatic/medic specialist. Each character has a biography explaining their previous training, nationality and background, and each has a unique personality, at least in theory. Many of the single player missions include an accompaniment of one of the five members as a backup to help you out in those situations which might be overwhelming. This wasn’t a bad idea to include an AI player for a little assistance, if only the AI team mate wasn’t such an idiot when it comes to combat. They are usually dead within the first two minutes of the mission, but for a few joyous moments it actually feels like you have some team efforts in play. Still, having command of a full-on squad would’ve been a better implementation of AI team mates.

Your mission as a member of the Delta Force team usually consists of being aerially inserted into a terrorist outpost somewhere in a jungle or desert location with the assignment of locating the terrorists and eliminating them. The insertions themselves add a lot to the game, not only in making the game feel more realistic but making it entertaining as well. One particular mission involves a helicopter insertion into a strongly defended terrorist headquarters. As the chopper makes its way around the building, you and your companion are being shot at from all angles by terrorists running around on the roof of the building below. Some of them even have shoulder mounted rockets, slimming your chances of getting to the landing zone safely. Shooting from the helicopter’s open bay isn’t easy either because of the way the helicopter bobs up and down as it would be expected to. Another unique type of mission insertion that helps invoke realism is the parachute insertion which is used in a couple of missions.