Black Hawk Down Team Sabre (PC)

By PETER ELEY

Herald rating ( * * * )

The original Black Hawk Down game came out hot on the heels of the movie, which raised the bar in graphic violence. And the game was bloody, too. It didn't dwell as closely on body parts, and bits of the anatomy usually covered by skin, but the number of dead Somalis quickly reached four figures.

Had it been a game without a contemporary historical context, Black Hawk Down would be much less interesting, but its intensity and the way it captured the terror and unpredictability of urban warfare illuminated the reality of such conflicts.

The movie and game were based on an incident during the Clinton Administration's ill-fated incursion into Somalia in the early 90s. An American helicopter was downed in Mogadishu, and the movie followed the subsequent attempts to rescue the crew.

The expansion pack, Team Sabre, moves into Columbia and Iran, and introduces 11 new levels, new weapons and raises the quality of graphics. You play as part of an elite US force, but this time you have to secure oil supplies, or destroy drug barons.

The gameplay is similar, and much of the action involves searches of buildings and streets, where bystanders may or may not be enemies. It's as violent as the original and sometimes it seems like everything will blow up at the slightest provocation. And the body count soon ratchets up, a trend helped by enemies standing around and being blasted with high-tech American weaponry.

Multiplayer fixes this, and playing against human opponents is much more satisfying.

(EA Games, MA15+)

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