Descent³

The Good
First of all the graphics in this game are top class! The lighting and the smoke effects are some of the best i have ever seen and the level design is also a fine piece of work. The sounds is fabulous. It has many of the same sounds from the other 2 prequels of Descent.

The Bad
It didnt have the same feeling as the other parts. This one doesn't give you that 'Deep below the surface" feeling and the controls are a little harder than the prequels.

The Bottom Line
This game is a must have if you loved the others. But still the others were better.

The Good
Descent 3 is the last game produced in the award-winning series by Parallax. The storyline continues form the first two games, and throws some spins on the backstory of the Descent world.

The Graphics in this game are extremely well done. Gone are the days of jagged rooms and blocky hallways. Arches, round tunnels and circular portholes are abundant in this game. Also, you are no longer confined to the interior of a mine or building. In almost every mission, you break the boundaries of the building, and soar outside in the terrain. And the transistion is flawlessly executed. The game gives you a real good feel of switching environments when you are flying around. The graphics engine is very smooth, and most of the cutscenes within the game are done with the in-game engine (with the exception of the introduction scene - a really nice work of CG in my opinion). The robots are very detailed, and some even have non-standard weapons (you'll love the napalm weapon), and the AI of the bots is pretty good, although I've only played the game on easy level. Environmental effects are abundant as well. For instance, when you fly out into the open and it's raining, water droplets splash on your "windshield". Electrical effects and fire are rendered very nicely as well.

The sound in incredible as well. Explosions, alarms, ambient sounds, laser fire - all done in great stereo sound. And if you are lucky enough to have a nice sub-woofer system as well, it really enhances the gameplay.

The controls are so-so, depending on what you are used to. I like playing space sims with a joystick, but with Descent 3, you need to adapt a different style of flying. I use the classic WASD for forward, backward, and sliding left and right, while I use the joystick for pitch and yaw, but not rotation. For rotation, I use the hat switch on the top of the joystick. But this setup works for me, and if you can find an easier one for yourself, go for it. Every control is completely customizable.

The gameplay is very cool. It's very much a combination of a twitch shooter like Quake 3 Arena, but has the grace and precision flying you'd need in games like X-Wing or Wing Commander.

Also, Parallax has released the incredibly powerful (and complex) Descent 3 Level Editor, which is downloadable at their website - www.descent3.com. If you ever wanted to design maps for the game, this is the tool to do it with.

The Bad
The only gripe i have with this game is the Extremely Steep system requirements for the game. I originally got this for my P3 1gz, and with 128MB of RAM the game was chugging. Real bad. After upgrading my RAM, the game still stutters occasionally, but it's a hell of a lot better than before. I don't know what the programmers were thinking, but the mininum they say is required to play is ridiculous. Make sure you have a fast machine and plenty of free RAM loaded BEFORE you start playing.

The Bottom Line
I'll say one thing - had I reveiwed this 2 months ago, before I got my RAM upgrade, I wouldn't have gived this a thumbs up at all. The steep system requirements alone can scare you from trying this game. But if you have the hardware available, by all means, pick up Descent 3. In fact, you can probably pick up Descent 3 and its expansion pack - Mercenary - for about $10-15 dollars at you local Wal-Mart or K-Mart. So if you got the hardware, it's worth the purchase, and it's a blast to play.

The Good
This version of Descent seemed to add a little more purpose to the series. It is very nice that this version has objectives! A Perfect Dark version of Descent, if you will. It explains the plot of the complete trilogy extremely well, and also isn't half as repetitive as the other versions. (In the other ones, you blow up everything and fly out of the mine.)

The Bad
The levels were REALLY long. If you started a level at 11 at night, you could be there until 2a.m. And my computer is from 1997, so its really slow on it. And there is one really fat ship you fly. It sucks.

The Bottom Line
If you found the first two Descents boring, but liked the feel of the game, this is the one to buy. I'd also recommend the Mercenary version. It explains the story from every viewpoint.

The Good
This game is great because it has more detail, and graphics. Like in all Descent games, you can fly up and down, left, and right, all over, and with games like Doom, you're only on the floor. Descent 3 has better detail and graphics than the other two. This one is different than Descent 1 and 2, being that you will always have headlights, a guide bot and an afterburner! What else is different is that you have objectives, rather than find keys, and destroy a reactor or boss.

The Bad
When aiming down or at some angle, it will automatically auto level your ship within a few seconds if you're not moving the ship. So when firing at an angle, fire quickly, or slowly move the stick so it won't auto level. I guess this is good for beginners, but when your ready to fire a missile or a bomb, ESPECIALLY the "Black Shark", you'd hate to fire it when you're being auto leveled, close to a wall! OUCH!!! Also, this isn't really a bad thing, nor any problem with Descent, but some places are VERY COOL, that I don't want to fight any robots, but just cruise around and see what amazing things they came up with.

The Bottom Line
I think overall, it's a great game. You have some great music, great weapons, and very nice detail and amazing scenes. For beginners, you may feel ill from motion. Just take a break, and play a little at a time. Before you know it, you'll be flying in circles, driving very crazy and nutty, and not feel any motion illness. If you want a great game with cool action, and being able to move around freely, this is the game for you!!