From a 3rd or 1st person perspective, you control this 'Söldner' (meaning mercenary in German), who is a part of a mercenary type of army of specialists for hire, that accepts missions for aforementioned rewards. Although single-player wasn't fully implemented, it provided a taste of action with almost all of the aforementioned weapons and vehicles (excluding jets) - each with its own unique control and feeling. What I did play though, was an excellent remake of Operation Flashpoint, and its closest competitor in the genre.

The game became more interesting as we progressed. Another impressive level, entitled "Carrier," showcased an excellent way of using the environment to your advantage in situation when you are overrun by enemies. Huddled in a rather nasty situation and single-handed, your character is required to ward off baddies, while reinforcements are hurrying across bridges in his direction. Without any difficulties, you shoot at the dangling ropes, thereby putting the bridges out of commission. Far Cry allows players to employ different kinds of combat tactics, by using the environment.

But battle-scarred Veterans of last spring will recall that Vietcong is among the most unforgiving shooters ever devised. Tense, nervous jungle warfare that keeps you on your toes from the first step to the bedraggled last crawl. We're not sure what it is about Czech developers' obsession with a) war and b) the need to make the player suffer as much as possible, but it hardly comes as a surprise to note Illusion Softworks' involvement alongside Pterodon. Think of Vietcong as a first-person Hidden & Dangerous in the jungle; complete with all the dread and frustration of one shot kills, psychic enemies, occasionally rank AI, but somehow balanced out by some of the most involving atmosphere any game has managed.

This little campaign adds 8 missions, but Athena Sword also tries to improve the missions already in Raven Shield by adding a Countdown mode. Like the name implies this adds the option to the game to play any mission with a time limit. Most people might think it’s hard enough without, but the most fanatical players are sure to like this.

The developers have looked good at other successful games such as Counter-Strike and Operation Flashpoint, but I personally think it can be best compared to Battlefield 1942.

Soldner will offer everything that Battlefield offers, and more. The most obvious point where it beats Battlefield is the “Advanced Destruction System”. Not only will large explosions leave craters in the ground, but entire buildings can be shot down. If a sniper in one of the buildings annoys you, you can enter the building and take him out, but you can also wait for a helicopter to blow up the whole building.

Though ultimately linear and relatively constrictive, the maps did provide for some tense jungle prowling that I enjoyed quite a bit. Also, when they work right, the scripted sequences further perpetuate the in game ambience and create quite an entertaining and intense experience for the player. Consequently, this means that the add-on is slightly more difficult than the original, which is a good thing in my book. You and your DF squad-mates will be taking over heavily fortified airfields from nefarious druglords while dodging .50 cal bullets and even artillery fire. Then you'll try to keep the area secure as swarms of bad guys attack you from all sides riding in their technicals or trying to blow you away with RPG's.

Having exhausted the Somalia setting of Black Hawk Down in the original game, NovaLogic splits the 11 missions in Team Sabre between fighting Colombian drug lords and defeating a rogue Iranian general. In total, these missions should take most players 15 hours or so to complete. Like the original game, the expansion offers a wide variety of mission objectives, like rescuing hostages on an oil platform, blowing up drug boats, seizing an Iranian airfield, and saving the crew of the occasional downed Black Hawk helicopter. There's little room for subtlety or stealth in these missions; when you get down to it, everything basically devolves into shooting and blowing up virtually everything you see.

You can also order your squad around as well. You can easily order them to follow you or halt, but ordering them to advance is a bit cumbersome and takes upwards of 5 keypresses and a mouse click to order your #4 man to advance to a particular spot on the map. As such, I pretty much only use the "stop" and "follow" commands during a mission. I usually break up into 2 two-man teams, and leave the rear team covering the front team, or in the case of the VIP escort, I left my heavy gunner with the VIP as I moved the squad leader to scout ahead, and took my sniper along for covering fire. Worked like a charm.

One of the primary faults of Black Hawk Down [and therefore Team Sabre - Rush] was the lackluster enemy and teammate AI. They didn't take much evasive action, didn't aim very well, and didn't attack with a sufficient degree of self-preservation. However, these problems were mitigated by the immediacy of the enemy—meaning, the AI didn't have enough opportunity to show its flaws.

CALABASAS, CA (January 20th 2004) – Entertainment software developer and publisher NovaLogic, Inc. is delighted to announce that the expansion pack for Delta Force - Black Hawk Down has shipped and will be in stores on January 21st, 2004.

Developed by Texas based Ritual Entertainment, Delta Force - Black Hawk Down: Team Sabre features two new single player campaigns that take Delta Force deep into the jungles of Colombia in search of drug lords, then on to battle terrorist factions in and around Iran’s island oilfields. Team Sabre also contains new vehicles and weapons, as well as new multiplayer maps.

Following the success of Delta Force – Black Hawk Down, NovaLogic has once again teamed up with the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. A portion of the proceeds from Team Sabre will be donated to the foundation. The SOWF provides college scholarship grants, along with financial aid and educational counseling to the children of Special Operations personnel who were killed in an operational mission or training accident.

Was hat sich denn nun am bewährten Gameplay von "Battlefield" getan? Es sind auf jeden Fall eine Menge neue Features dazugekommen. Fangen wir doch einfach mal bei den Spielmodi an. Da wäre der typische "Conquest"-Modus bei welchem Ihr diverse Flaggenpunkte erobern und die Anzahl der gegnerischen Spawn-Tickets gegen Null drücken müsst.

Other missions are going to involve simple DM-style clashes, while others require you to gain control over a specific territory. One particular map obliges one side to invade an island, while the opposing team is left to defend the area from any assailants. Normally, assaulting the island cannot be an easy task, since your team has to avoid well-fortified enemy positions. Still, the cool thing is that you can use any line of attack you deem fit – players may approach the enemy on water using inflatable rafts or huge speedboats or they can simply lunge forth into action via the helicopter.

HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the game's single player campaigns?

Joel Taubel - There are 11 new missions set across 2 campaigns. The first is Delta Force tracking down a big time drug trafficker in Columbia. Players will engage in several missions aimed at taking the Drug Lord down. The second is set in Iran. Players will be fighting against a rebellious Iranian group. The player will engage in several missions as they attempt to secure a foothold against the Iranian rebels.

Still, don’t mistake the name. This is all very much in the spirit of Delta Force. However, the differences certainly do merit a closer look. The addition of vehicles is a welcome one and a good upgrade from Black Hawk Down, in which there were some vehicles, but they were all automated. Joint Operations looks to be a more easily accessible version of Battlefield, as well as a more appealing take on the Delta Force formula.

In the final analysis, Conflict: Desert Storm II - Back to Baghdad isn't without problems, but it's not the worst squad-based game you'll ever play, and it's decidedly improved over its predecessor. If the game does float your boat, there's unfortunately not a lot of replay value. Unlike the console versions, this version can't even be replayed in cooperative mode, which is a real shame. Despite this omission, if you're really into squad-based military action games, Desert Storm II might be worth a look to tide you over until something else comes along.

Hidden & Dangerous 2 has a few frustrating areas: the game is buggy and unstable in its shipped form (and to a lesser extent, its patched form), the AI is a calamity of micromanagement, and the lack of a multiplayer cooperative mode will ultimately hurt the game's longevity. But despite all my hemming and hawing, I don't want to understate Hidden & Dangerous 2's terrific success in mission design and challenging tactical gameplay. When I look upon my experiences with the game, I don't recall the lousy AI fouling up my mission plans or my computer crashing on yet another bug, but rather the rapt pleasure of planning and executing my plan. The joy of finally finding a shooter which takes Operation Flashpoint's successful, open-ended mission structures and adds still more tactical and strategic play is captivating. I look forward to Hidden & Dangerous 2's expansion pack and its cooperative mode to share my tactical delight with other field generals.

The mostly third-person-perspective shooter, developed by Germany's Wings Simulations (Panzer Elite), Soldner takes place in the near future. The world of 2010 is one in which military efforts have shifted from the more traditional large-army combat to smaller, stealthier operations carried out by secret mercenary platoons.