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Descent 3

Descent 3

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb PC Game
Review: Back in 1999, the third and most likely final chapter of the Descent series released. It was praised and lauded by game reviewers and magazines worldwide. However, due to Interplay's bungled marketing, the game never got the player recognition it deserved. Tragically, it meant the end for the series.

I think it speaks volumes about a game when I can look at it now, three years later, and see what I see. People are still building new levels for it, multiplayer is still fairly popular, and the community is still strong. The DescentBB and Planet Descent are great places to start, so look them up when you get the chance.

Anyhow, regarding the game itself. The hallmark of the Descent series is its gameplay that concerns all three axes of movement, unlike other FPS games like Quake or Unreal that largely limit your movement to the ground. In Descent, you can fly wherever you want to, stop and turn on a dime, and move freely. Descent 3 continues this with its new game engine, which actually consists of two engines - one for rendering indoor areas and the other for rendering outdoor areas with terrain.

Continuing where Descent 2 left off, the game reprises your role as the Material Defender, a mercenary hired by the Post-Terran Minerals Corporation sent to rid their intergalactic mining installations of worker robots gone amuck. As fate would have it, rather than pay you for your efforts, your boss at the PTMC named Dravis decided to sabotage your ship instead. Fortunately, before reaching certain doom by hurtling towards the sun, you are rescued by a team of researchers calling themselves Red Acropolis. It seems they know about Dravis' sabotage and that he was ultimately behind the rogue robot activity in the first place. As the only pilot with enough guts to tackle the situation, it is your duty to gather the evidence to incriminate Dravis.

Of course, this is just the intro movie. The rest of the single-player campaign features 15 gigantic levels. And I do emphasize gigantic - these behemoths are many times the size of the old Descent levels and yet still only load once at the beginning. Inhabiting them, naturally, are a varied assortment of robots arranged in various classes - security drones, miners, and even robots that sweep the floor. These are your obstacles on the way to completing your mission objectives. Unlike the first two games, which were built around gathering keys, destroying a Reactor, then escaping the mine, Descent 3 has objectives for each level that must be accomplished. These include escorting important ships, going on recon missions, and in an ironic nod to the old games, defending the Reactors from destruction.

To carry these out, you find all sorts of neat weapons. There are ten different primary weapons and ten secondary weapons. Primaries include your basic Laser Cannon, chaingun-like Vauss Cannon, railgun-like Mass Driver, searing Napalm Cannon, and shield sucking Omega Cannon. The secondaries are equally diverse and include such hits as the Napalm Missile that bursts into flame, the Frag Missile that bursts into a thousand shards, and the awesome gravity-altering Black Shark Missile that sucks your enemies into a black hole.

Multiplayer is fantastic. New multiplayer levels are always coming out and the action never grows old. Descent 3 comes with many gameplay modes for multiplayer. Anarchy is your traditional deathmatch, and as you might expect Team Anarchy is also present. Capture the Flag is also represented, and built more like other games in this regard as opposed to the bizarre interpretation of it in Descent 2. One of the more intriguing modes is Entropy, a team game where you must collect viruses and infect the bases of the opposing team.

Being that this game will be four years old this year, it is becoming very hard to find it. But, should you come across it, I would strongly recommend a purchase. This is one of the finest PC games ever designed. Just because players didn't acknowledge it back in 1999 doesn't mean you have to. A fantastic game, a fantastic community, and years of playability. Who could ask for anything more?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb PC Game
Review: Back in 1999, the third and most likely final chapter of the Descent series released. It was praised and lauded by game reviewers and magazines worldwide. However, due to Interplay's bungled marketing, the game never got the player recognition it deserved. Tragically, it meant the end for the series.

I think it speaks volumes about a game when I can look at it now, three years later, and see what I see. People are still building new levels for it, multiplayer is still fairly popular, and the community is still strong. The DescentBB and Planet Descent are great places to start, so look them up when you get the chance.

Anyhow, regarding the game itself. The hallmark of the Descent series is its gameplay that concerns all three axes of movement, unlike other FPS games like Quake or Unreal that largely limit your movement to the ground. In Descent, you can fly wherever you want to, stop and turn on a dime, and move freely. Descent 3 continues this with its new game engine, which actually consists of two engines - one for rendering indoor areas and the other for rendering outdoor areas with terrain.

Continuing where Descent 2 left off, the game reprises your role as the Material Defender, a mercenary hired by the Post-Terran Minerals Corporation sent to rid their intergalactic mining installations of worker robots gone amuck. As fate would have it, rather than pay you for your efforts, your boss at the PTMC named Dravis decided to sabotage your ship instead. Fortunately, before reaching certain doom by hurtling towards the sun, you are rescued by a team of researchers calling themselves Red Acropolis. It seems they know about Dravis' sabotage and that he was ultimately behind the rogue robot activity in the first place. As the only pilot with enough guts to tackle the situation, it is your duty to gather the evidence to incriminate Dravis.

Of course, this is just the intro movie. The rest of the single-player campaign features 15 gigantic levels. And I do emphasize gigantic - these behemoths are many times the size of the old Descent levels and yet still only load once at the beginning. Inhabiting them, naturally, are a varied assortment of robots arranged in various classes - security drones, miners, and even robots that sweep the floor. These are your obstacles on the way to completing your mission objectives. Unlike the first two games, which were built around gathering keys, destroying a Reactor, then escaping the mine, Descent 3 has objectives for each level that must be accomplished. These include escorting important ships, going on recon missions, and in an ironic nod to the old games, defending the Reactors from destruction.

To carry these out, you find all sorts of neat weapons. There are ten different primary weapons and ten secondary weapons. Primaries include your basic Laser Cannon, chaingun-like Vauss Cannon, railgun-like Mass Driver, searing Napalm Cannon, and shield sucking Omega Cannon. The secondaries are equally diverse and include such hits as the Napalm Missile that bursts into flame, the Frag Missile that bursts into a thousand shards, and the awesome gravity-altering Black Shark Missile that sucks your enemies into a black hole.

Multiplayer is fantastic. New multiplayer levels are always coming out and the action never grows old. Descent 3 comes with many gameplay modes for multiplayer. Anarchy is your traditional deathmatch, and as you might expect Team Anarchy is also present. Capture the Flag is also represented, and built more like other games in this regard as opposed to the bizarre interpretation of it in Descent 2. One of the more intriguing modes is Entropy, a team game where you must collect viruses and infect the bases of the opposing team.

Being that this game will be four years old this year, it is becoming very hard to find it. But, should you come across it, I would strongly recommend a purchase. This is one of the finest PC games ever designed. Just because players didn't acknowledge it back in 1999 doesn't mean you have to. A fantastic game, a fantastic community, and years of playability. Who could ask for anything more?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent for fans; good for newbies.
Review: D3 is a worthy successor to the first two in the series and certainly takes it to the next level. If you enjoyed the originals, you'll certainly enjoy D3. Newbies are in for a bit of a learning curve, but it's worth trying out

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the BEST GAME EVER!
Review: Descent 3 has a great plot. You work for a futuristic space defender organization. Your job is to foil the plans of the evil Samuel Dravis, the president of the Post Terran Mining Corporation(PTMC). The game has the best graphics I have ever seen in a game. With a wide variety of weapons to use, robots to destroy, and mysterious puzzles to solve, you can have the time of your life. I highly suggest you get this game.

Tifus

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Descent 3
Review: Descent 3 is Interplay's follow-up to the highly acclaimed Descent franchise. You are once again cast in the role of the Material Defender. This time, however, your mission is one of retribution as you battle virally-infected robots across 17 levels (15 normal plus 2 secret). You must prove that the head of the PTMC intentionally contaminated the company's robots with an alien virus. After your rescue in the stunning opening cutscene you learn that the PTMC went so far to modify the virus as well.

You will fly a total of three ships in this sequel, including the old PyroGL. Weapons run the gamut from the standard concussion missile to the all-powerful Black Shark. New energy weapons such as the Microwave Cannon add a new twist to decimating enemies and standbys such as the Fusion Cannon and Plasma Cannon make a return. The graphics are breath-taking and the sound is nothing short of immersive.

Descent 3 requires a 200MHz Pentium processor with a 4MB 3D accelerator card that supports Direct3D, Glide, or OpenGL. I recommend a Pentium II or III class machine to get the most enjoyment out the game. Certain details can be turned off to get an acceptible framerate on lower-end machines but it detracts from the overall experience.

If you're a Descent fan or a newbie Descent 3 is a nice to get acquainted with the wonderful world of PC gaming.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: True 3D
Review: Even after 5 years Descent 3 still provides the most unique gameplay of all FPS. Admittedly it has a very steep learning curve to get a grip on the true 360deg environment (move on 4 axis at the same time..) but it's worth the work ! Besides the excellent and huge single player levels, D3 features a wide bunch of multi player modes like CTF, Entrophy, Hyper Anachy etc.
You can find a ton of add-on's at planetdescent.com and there's an online community regulary playing league games. Beware tho, you should have mastered D3 on insane level before going online, else you'll get shot up :^)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Descent 3
Review: First off, if you don't enjoy multiplayer, then this game isn't for you. I have never played the single player version of the game because once I played multiplayer I couldn't get away. This game is freakin addicting and one hell of a ride. Levels are constantly being made for multiplayer, which never makes the game old or boring. By this I mean that people who actually play descent can work on building new levels to play in for everyone around the world. If you like dogfighting with all sorts of missiles, exploding bombs(impact mortars), and a wide variety of guns to fire with on your ship, then this game is for you. Buy this game now... and play descent with thousands of poeple around the world. You won't regret it. I promise!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MY FAVORITE
Review: First off, if you don't enjoy multiplayer, then this game isn't for you. I have never played the single player version of the game because once I played multiplayer I couldn't get away. This game is freakin addicting and one hell of a ride. Levels are constantly being made for multiplayer, which never makes the game old or boring. By this I mean that people who actually play descent can work on building new levels to play in for everyone around the world. If you like dogfighting with all sorts of missiles, exploding bombs(impact mortars), and a wide variety of guns to fire with on your ship, then this game is for you. Buy this game now... and play descent with thousands of poeple around the world. You won't regret it. I promise!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: There is light at the end of the tunnel...
Review: Hailed by PC Gamer as the best entrance into the Descent series since the original (five years ago), Descent 3 hardly managed to please me as a diehard fan.

The gameplay is a spectacular melding of the fluidity of Forsaken with the mood and atmosphere of Descent... at least until you go outside. You open a door, shut down a force field, or blow up a rock outcropping underground and suddenly you will find yourself in a series of canyons or sprawling limited outdoor environs. It actually seems to me at times that Descent 3 is less about "Descent" and more about "Ascent". The graphics are incredible, and you can manage to run the game on anything but a supercomputer (I had it running smoothly on a PII 300 w/ 64megs of RAM and a Voodoo2 without ever loosing framerate at full detail).

As with Descent 2, D3 opens up in an incredibly rendered cutscene showing your disabled ship starting to burn up in a star (right where D2 left off), just to be saved by some group of scientists who need you to work for them. Of course, things go wrong, but you manage to survive, and eventually you end up in a dramatic face off between you and your longtime (enemy?) Samuel Dravis.

The levels are cool, the storyline is mediocre (but who really needs a storyline for a game like this?), the gameplay and graphics are awesome, and it really sounds nifty with four speaker surround sound. ;) It's a good entrance into a great series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: From Doom to Descent
Review: I admit, the best game ever was Doom. Once in a while, I played other games, but not like Doom.
After I got into Descent, that was the end of Doom.
Descent allows you to move around and to be more free.
You're not walking on the ground, but flying.
Soon after, Descent III was and still is my favorite!
Descent III is cool, has nice graphics, and detail.
The one thing that is alright, is that you have objectives now.
Buy now!


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