Again, I won’t rehash what we said already in our original review, so I’ll shift gears to talk about the console experience itself. First up, the general UI and controller navigation. I’m not a fan of it. I know I’m coming over from PC, but I’ve played many online shooters across platforms where the UI is fine. I mean, it’s not terrible, but it definitely needs more work. Playing on console has made me realize just how many menus there are in this game. It’s not a bother on PC since you can just flick to things with Delta Force Boosting ease, but on console, there’s so much to press through, and on top of that, things just don’t always react to those presses. It’s easy to get confused about where your navigation is going, and it doesn’t fare any better in extraction mode, Operation. That’s somewhat common in extraction games on console, but it’s still not great here and could definitely use more refinement and better user tutorials. The spawn options seem to be bugged, too, with some items not being selectable or even functioning.
In general, the controller support during combat is pretty good. Mind you, I’m talking about how things are mapped and its ease of use, which Team Jade seemed to have at least nailed down there. But it goes without saying that the console version of the game suffers from several issues that make it feel, well, pretty bad.
The latency and general movement feel very “floaty,” almost detached in a way, and it’s quite possibly the worst I’ve ever experienced in an online shooter. Even after tweaking sensitivity and stick deadzones, I found myself overshooting on the aiming because of the noticeable delay in response. This floaty feeling is a consistent issue across all game modes, making precise gunfights and long-range engagements incredibly frustrating. It’s a massive blow to the core gameplay loop, which on PC feels tight and responsive in comparison. Basically, if you decided you wanted to crossplay with PC players, you’re putting yourself at a significant disadvantage. Of course, mouse and keyboard will always reign supreme when it comes to latency, but Delta Force especially makes it an uneven fight compared to many other shooters on the market today. That added latency just isn’t great, and it makes playing on console feel as if you are trying to walk against the raging currents of a river. It’s not good. I might play mainly on PC, but there are a handful of console shooters that feel great across all platforms. Delta Force is not one of them, sadly.
Cheap Delta Force Boost suffers from some major frame rate and screen tearing issues. By default, VRR is turned on, which adds even more latency, and the game supports two modes: quality and performance. You’d think with a target framerate of 60 frames-per-second that VRR wouldn’t be needed, but disabling it in any mode results in endless screen tearing. It’s almost nauseating to experience, and I’m unsure whether the game is dipping in framerates or just struggling at too high a level. I get it when you go from 60 to 120; having VRR makes sense. However, even in quality mode, where the target is 60fps, turning VRR off produces some of the worst screen tearing I’ve ever seen in a game. The latency is better, but that defeats the point if it’s near unplayable. Team Jade needs to address this ASAP. Considering the size of the console market, it’s shocking that it was even released in this state.
