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/ Genres / Action / Delta V

Delta V

DOS - 1994

A precursor of Bethesda's much later X-Car Experimental Racing, Delta V is an example of a game designed to take advantage of industry capabilities rather than being too concerned with presenting a satisfying, intelligent gaming experience.

In order to fully appreciate the performance of the game when it was released in 1993, you had to have a fast, leading-edge computer to enjoy the arcade flight sequences and it seems as if that?s what the designers had in mind. And therein lies the rub: Delta V designers focused too much on "pushing the envelope" of technology that they forgot the most impotant element: gameplay.

The premise is decent, although a thinly disguised attempt at intrigue set in the 24th century. In this cyberpunk world, you are a "netrunner," meaning that what you do for a living is to cruise the virtual reality world where mega-conglomerates battle each other for world supremacy through accumulation and exploitation of data. As the game starts, you are being blackmailed into working for the Black Sun corporation, and must run the dangerous pathways of the vast Global Internet (literally transformed into a virtual environment where data and information are depicted as solid objects and mistakes can kill you), infiltrating competitor's heavily guarded systems, and defending Black Sun's database from intrusion by other netrunners like yourself. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the action in Delta V is so repetitive that you will quickly lose interest in the plot. Although considered a flight simulation with adventure overtones, Delta V is basically an arcade game at heart that forces you to fly into innumerable trenches and battle the same endless enemies. Your Trace (the virtual flying machine you're in) rockets down the selected paths or trenches with options only for flying up or down or side to side. You can never turnaround so if you miss enemies or important objects you're destined to run it again, and again, and again. From a technical standpoint, though, the game is much prettier and advanced than most games of the period, with object shading and flashy effects.

In the end, Delta V is a bore-- definitely one of Bethesda's worst releases, a game that focuses far too much on visual and sound components that gameplay suffers as a result. The game's "extra" elements of upgrading your Trace fighter and earning credits help make it a bit more interesting, but not by much. Great graphics, poor gameplay-- not unlike many games today.

Review By HOTUD

Added the fix made by Steven Henk Don, check his website www.shdon.com.

Comments and reviews

Crossman 02 Jan. 2023

BTW Blaster...
IF you read the system requirements, IT SAYS 386 OR ABOVE???
Maybe you should practice reading :-D

1
Crossman 02 Jan. 2023

And in response to HOTUD...
Not everything needs to have a storyline. Sometimes it's nice and relaxing to just sit down and shoot up stuff without the need to follow any type of details, just sit in the cokpit and shoot up stuff, especially on a day's wrap up of tense work. Afterward I can continue with my daily routine feeling better that I vented on the pixels on my comp LOL :-D

1
Crossman 03 May. 2022

@Blaster THIS is what @HOTUD said, and I quote...
"In order to fully appreciate the performance of the game when it was released in 1993, you had to have a fast, leading-edge computer to enjoy the arcade flight sequences and it seems as if that?s what the designers had in mind. And therein lies the rub: Delta V designers focused too much on "pushing the envelope" of technology that they forgot the most impotant element: gameplay."

WHERE in that paragraph do you see the word "PENTIUM"...
HUH????
It says a " fast, leading edge computer "!!!
Many 386 were CONFIGURED TO BE FAST!!!
See what I mean when I say you're NOT - UP TO PAR, with many of the commentators here? :-D

1
Crossman 03 May. 2022

Blaster - Not necessarily. I went through a period in my life from the years 2000 to 2005 when all I did was buy old computers from the thrift shops such as Out of the Closet and other ones and I racked up over 37 computers of all kinds form the ancient 8086 all the way to Pentiums and also bought commercial video games for 5 dollars or less and had 7 of them running at any one time. They were a Macintosh, IBM 8086, a 286, 386, 486 a Pentium running Windows 95 and a seventh computer where I partitioned it in three ways to run OS, Windows 3.1 and dos systems from 1.1 to 6.0 and I had my share of experiments with programs and utilities. And I can honestly say that compatibility is a relative thing. Meaning that depending on your computer's configuration, doesn't matter if the computer you have is a Pentium or an old 8086, if you have the setup, you CAN run Pentium based games on earlier systems such as a 486 or a 386. BTW Blaster, no one named you the page's moderator or any such thing, so please refrain from "calling out" anyone here, you're not up to par with many commenters here, OK? :-/

1
blaster 23 Sep. 2018

@iby
either you or the reviewer are not telling the truth, the reviewer said you need a state of the art computer , by the mid 90s that was a pentium , the opposite of what you had - 386

0
iby 06 Apr. 2016

wow can't believe it - havnt seen this game since the 90's. I use to play it on a 386 computer and loved it, tough game almost got though it a few times. Glad you made it available been looking for this game forever so I can finally beat it lol!. Downloading! thanks a bunch!

2

No comment nor review for this game at the moment.

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Downloads

DOS version
Game file
United Kingdom English
7 MB
ISO Version
United Kingdom English
66 MB

Extras

Manual Manual 1
Extra file
DOS 375 KB English English
Patch Patch 1
Extra file
DOS 1 KB English English
Fix Fix 1
CD Version Fix for Copy Protection
DOS 106 KB English English
RefCard RefCard 1
Extra file
DOS 2 MB English English

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