Delta Force Hawk Ops preview: A promising shooter, not a Battlefield killer

Delta Force Hawk Ops is an upcoming tactical shooter from the talented team at Team Jade. The game is currently in its alpha testing phase and is far from going gold. Diving in, players can expect an immersive first-person shooter experience with full-out military warfare. At the moment, players can explore two game modes: Havoc Warfare, which is the typical large multiplayer experience, and Tactical Turmoil, which is the looter-shooter and extraction-based mode.

There is a also campaign mode in the making, but it is not available to play in this alpha build. In this article, we'll only go over the two available modes and explore them briefly to give you an idea of what to expect from the shooter on the day of release.

Unlike my reviews, I won't dive in-depth into all the aspects of the game. Instead, I will share my first impression, as well as the things I liked and disliked about Delta Force Hawk Ops.

So without further ado, let us begin with this preview for Delta Force Hawk Ops on PC

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Delta Force Hawk Ops - My first impressions

Right out of the bat, Delta Force Hawk Ops grabbed my attention with a smooth cutscene showcasing the beginning of the Battle of Mogadishu, with the chopper going down. This was then followed by visuals of full-out warfare, taking things to the future. I was hooked and instantly wanted to play the campaign.

However, I realized the story mode wasn't even in the alpha test. I assumed that there would be a mission or two from the campaign for fans to get a taste of. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't.

So, I started with the Havoc Warfare mode, which is the multiplayer mode featuring large-scale warfare with vehicular combat. The game did a pretty good job of explaining how the mode works, which is then followed by an actual match.

Now, I am pretty sure my first match had a few bots in it, but that is understandable. I got to play my first game on Cracked, a medium-sized map with not many open spaces. Everything was crammed, and CQC was the way to go.

Being the aggressive player I am, I looked for the fastest character (more on that later) and went with him. I was quickly shut down and noticed that my aggressive playstyle wasn't simply going to cut it in this mode; teamwork was a must for me to succeed. You see, since the map isn't that big, enemies will often huddle together to defend their sectors, which makes a one-man show impossible.

I started firing and was blown away by how well the weapons behaved. The guns felt right for me, the audio was on point, and everything about gunplay was quite simply amazing. It doesn't have high recoil, but it wasn't low like the Call of Duty games either. The gunplay just feels right; it's neither too realistic, nor is it too arcady, giving players the perfect balance of a challenge and ease of use.

On top of that, the game ran exceptionally smoothly. I wasn't expecting the alpha build of a PC title in 2024 to run this well. With all the terrible releases in the past few years, I expected my PC to struggle to run, but it did not at all. The game ran smoothly, and there were no severe compromises to the visuals to make it run this well.

Soon, I was done with my match and was quite happy with my experience. Based on my first glance into Delta Force, I wasn't disappointed at all. I wanted more of it, so I played a couple more matches to see everything the game had to offer at this moment.

Overall, my first impressions of Delta Force Hawk Ops were pretty good, and it should be for everyone as well, as long as they don't run into technical issues. Having said that, I noticed a few things that didn't live up to my expectations as I played more.

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Exploring the good and the bad of Delta Force Hawk Ops

Things that Delta Force Hawks Ops gets right

First, let's talk about the things that Delta Force Hawk Ops gets right. One of them, I have already discussed earlier, is PC optimization. So, I will not be going in-depth about it again in this section. Apart from that, two things stand out to me: the gunplay and audio.

Starting off with the gunplay, as mentioned earlier, it provides a realistic weapon-handling experience but doesn't overdo it to the point where shooting a target with a gun can be challenging for casuals. Keeping things simple while catering to both the casual and the veteran crowds of the genre is rarely seen in games nowadays.

Snippert of gunplay in Delta Force Hawk Ops (Image via TiMi Studio Group)

Most FPS titles today tend to be either hyper-realistic or toned down to the point where shooting with a firearm doesn't even feel like one is shooting bullets. In fact, even the snipers are well-designed. I am from Asia, and I had my struggles with the latency when playing in Europe servers. Despite the high ping, sniping didn't feel as bad as I would've expected it to with such latency.

Speaking of gunplay, it is nearly perfect. Although there were some issues with the animation, I will blame it on the latency and give the developers of Delta Force Hawk Ops the benefit of the doubt.

The audio is quite well designed and is one of the major factors that make Delta Force Hawk Ops such an immersive experience. The screams of war as you push to the next sector with your team, the numbing sound effects of explosions in the vicinity, the footsteps of your teammates, the sounds of the guns themselves; everything was on point.

Apart from the gunplay and audio, I was also quite impressed with the Operator system. Each team is divided into multiple squads, and each squad consists of four players. However, none of them can pick the same Operators. And what does an Operator do? The Operators in Delta Force Hawk Ops are essentially roles in the game. i.e., Support, Assault, Recon, and Engineer.

Unlike the modern Battlefield titles, where these roles exist in the game for their namesake, this aspect is important in Delta Force Hawk Ops. As I have stated earlier, it cannot be a one-man show. Each role is equally important. Without players of a certain role, a team simply cannot win. You need all hands on deck.

I, for example, was enjoying my time with Luna, who is a Recon Operator with a special set of bow and arrows, which, when shot, will reveal all enemies in the area for other players to see. It is basically ESP but for a limited time.

Operator Luna in Delta Force Hawk Ops (Image via TiMi Studio Group)

Moreover, not all weapons are accessible to all the roles. For instance, Snipers are exclusive to the Recon role characters. However, the Recon Operator, for instance, cannot go for a typical crouch slide like the Assault character. There's a trade-off based on the different roles you pick, and it's not just your kit or special abilities. Somehow, this too felt balanced and wasn't redundant at all.

Sure, it's not a new system, but this is where I believe the gameplay loop in Delta Force allows these roles to be properly utilized, giving them meaning and actual value in a match rather than existing just for the sake of it.

This isn't an exhaustive list of things I loved in my sessions. There are several other aspects of the shooter that I liked, such as the intuitive looting mechanism in the Tactical Turmoil mode or the sheer amount of customizability you get right out of the box to tune your entire Delta Force Hawk Ops experience.

However, these were my main highlights from the game, and I believe they are things that all FPS fans would care about and enjoy. Now that we have more or less discussed the good, let's check out the things that Delta Force Hawk Ops didn't quite get right.

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Things that Delta Force Hawks Ops doesn't get right

One of the things I didn't like in Delta Force Hawk Ops are the maps. They are terrible, to say the least. Since these are large-scale warfare maps, they should facilitate all styles of play, but it rarely happens.

Liked I mentioned earlier, my first map was Cracked, and if you aren't into the CQC style of gameplay, you will barely get anything done. Since the map is small and cramped, you don't get to explore the different styles of play.

The same goes for the map Ascension. It is a large map with open spaces and that is it. Bring out your Sniper Rifle and camp on a hill or get a tank and keep shooting your enemies until they run out of reinforcements and the match ends.

At the moment, each map in the game promotes only one type of playstyle, and this can get a little frustrating as you play more and more.

Another aspect of the game that I didn't like is limited mobility. Sure, you get your sprint, crouch, prone, side peeking, and other mechanics, but two very simple yet important mechanics are quite limited in the shooter: the ability to mantle/climb over objects and swimming.

For instance, Cracked has a lot of sniping potential if players could reach the top of all the buildings by just claiming ledges or objects on the map. However, the game just doesn't allow it. You would be jumping around trying to mantle or climb certain objects that seem very much doable, but it doesn't allow you to. This limits one's movement and can be counter-immersive.

That said, the movement in general felt a little clunky, and I believe improvements can be made in that regard.

Graphical glitch on the map Ascension in Delta Force Hawk Ops (Image via TiMi Studio Group)

Along with these two, I also noticed a couple of graphical glitches. The one that stands out to me most is on the map Ascension. If you are on the Attacker's side and get off the boat at the beginning of the match, the water just disappears when you walk into the ocean.

There's no swimming. It appears as if you are walking on the sea floor as objects float above you in the air, which again, can take away the immersive experience that the game sets out to provide.

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Delta Force Hawk Ops: Should you be excited about the game?

Despite a few negative experiences here and there, I would say that Delta Force Hawks Ops is a game you should be excited about. It gets many things right and only a few things wrong. For an alpha build, it played way better than I expected it to.

Sure, the movement isn't great, and the two maps I played on are horrible. However, it gets many things right, such as the gunplay, the importance of the roles, the graphics, the audio, the optimization on PC, and many more. It gives you the entire package of a looter shooter extraction mode, a large-scale multiplayer mode, and a campaign mode, all for completely free.

Being a free-to-play shooter, Delta Force Hawk Ops opens up the doors to a larger player base, allowing everyone to participate and keep the game going for a long time. The best part is that the game has something for everyone.

If you are coming from Escape From Tarkov, you will absolutely like the Tactical Turmoil mode. If you are coming from Battlefield games or Call of Duty, Havoc Warfare is your go-to game mode. And if you are just tired of playing multiplayer games, you have a campaign mode to unwind in.

Delta Force Hawk Ops is often compared to the Battlefield series online. if you ask me how they compare, I would say Delta Force Hawk Ops is not there yet. It still needs a lot of work to reach the level of polish and content that classic entries in the Battlefield series have delivered over time.

So can it be a Battlefield killer? As stated, it is not quite there yet. However, if the developers polish their game and fix all the issues it currently has, add more content to take full advantage of the gameplay mechanism, we might finally have a military shooter at our hands that can go head-to-head with Battlefield.

Hence, if the final build is good, Delta Force Hawk Ops holds the potential to be a solid competitor in the military shooter genre.

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Played on: Windows PC

Platform(s): PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Developer(s): TiMi Studio Group, Team Jade

Publisher(s): TiMi Studio Group

Release date: TBA