The vertigo continues as the highly anticipated sequel to Descent I and II takes the mind-bending, pulse-pounding experience to another level! This time around. DESCENT 3 DEMOS - WINDOWS DESCENT 3 DEMO - Version 2 Here is the Descent 3 Demo 2. Demo 2 is a one-level demo of Descent 3 that we created to give everyone a taste of all the great stuff we did since we released the original Descent 3 Demo in 1998.
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.: July 2000,Mode(s),Descent 3 (stylized as Descent³) is a developed by and published. It was originally released for in North America on June 17, 1999. Descent 3 is the third game in the Descent video game series and a sequel to. The game takes place in a setting of the where the player is cast as Material Defender, a who must help an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team to stop robots infected by an alien.Unlike in standard first-person shooters, the player must control a flying ship that has a movement scheme, allowing the player to move and rotate in any direction. In addition to a campaign mode, Descent 3 features an mode where numerous players can compete against each other in eight different game types.
The game features both indoor and outdoor environments, made possible with the use of a hybrid that combines the capabilities of a engine with those of a terrain engine.Descent 3 received positive reviews from critics, holding a score of 89 out of 100 at review aggregate website. The most praised aspects of the game were its graphics, of enemies, and outdoor environments. An official, Descent 3: Mercenary, was released on December 3, 1999. The expansion pack includes a new series of missions, multiplayer maps, and a. After its release on Microsoft Windows, the game was subsequently to and platforms. The player, piloting a ship from a, shoots enemies with the. The left frame depicts the currently selected primary weapon, the middle panel shows the ship's status, and the right frame displays the currently selected secondary weapon.Like its predecessors and, Descent 3 is a where the player controls a flying ship from a in.
It is differentiated from standard in that it allows the player to move and rotate in any direction. Specifically, the player is free to move forward/backward, up/down, left/right, and rotate in three axes, often termed. Aboard the ship, the player can shoot enemies, turn on the ship's to temporarily increase its acceleration and speed, and fire or turn on the ship's headlight to explore darkened areas.In the game's mode, the player must complete a series of where multiple enemies controlled by the game's will try to hinder the player's progress.
The game primarily takes place inside labyrinthine underground facilities, but the player can occasionally travel over the surface of the planets where the facilities are buried to reach other nearby areas. The underground facilities are composed of a set of tunnels and rooms separated by doors. Most of them can be opened by either firing weapons at them or bumping into them, but others require special actions to be performed first before entry is allowed.
For instance, some doors require special keys that must be collected. To finish a level and proceed to the next one, the player must complete a set of objectives that range from collecting items to activating switches, defeating enemies, and destroying objects.As the player progresses throughout the game, two additional ships become available for use.
Each of the game's three ships offers a different balance of speed, weapons, and maneuverability. Within the levels, the player may collect that enhance the ship's weaponry. Weapons are categorized into three different types: primary weapons, secondary weapons,. Primary weapons range from a variety of weapons to the and the, which projects a stream of burning fuel. Secondary weapons include different types of, while countermeasures range from to portable.
Most primary weapons consume energy in different rate, but some, such as the Napalm Cannon, use their own type of ammunition. In contrast, all secondary weapons and countermeasures require their own ammunition suppliers.The player's ship is protected by a which decreases when attacked by enemies. If the shield is fully depleted, the player dies and must start the game again from a previous section of the fight without any collected power-ups. Nevertheless, the player can reclaim the missing power-ups from the ruins of the destroyed ship. Shield, energy, and ammunition suppliers are dispersed among the levels to help players increase their resources. The player can also collect equipment items which grant special powers. For example, the Quad Laser modifies the laser weapons to fire four shots at once instead of the standard two, while the Cloaking Device renders the player invisible to enemies for 30 seconds.
During the game, the player may also deploy the Guide-Bot, an assistant that keeps track of the next objective and shows the player the way to a specific target. Multiplayer In addition to the single-player campaign mode, Descent 3 features an mode where numerous players can compete against each other in eight different game types. Notable game types include, where the objective is to kill as many opponents as possible, where two to four teams compete against each other to capture opposing flags, and Monsterball, in which players must shoot and guide a ball into their opponents' goal. Aspects such as time limit, number of players, map to play on, and selection of what weapons are allowed, among others, can be customized to match player preference. The game also features an observer mode which allows players to watch a multiplayer game as a spectator and a mode that allows players to work together to complete campaign missions. Multiplayer games support the,.
Online gameplay was also possible over Parallax Online, an online gaming service which kept track of players' statistics and rankings. Plot Descent 3 takes place in a setting of the where the player is cast as Material Defender MD1032, a working for a corporation called the Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC). The game begins moments after the events of Descent II, with the Material Defender escaping the destruction of a where he was clearing PTMC's robots infected by an alien. He was about to return to to collect his reward, but a malfunction occurred with the prototype in the ship he was piloting, making it drift towards the 's atmosphere.
At the very last moment, the Material Defender is rescued via a by an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team.While the Material Defender recovers in the Red Acropolis station on, the director of the team informs him that they have been investigating PTMC, and have uncovered a conspiracy: one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot, and when she contacted PTMC about it, they denied having ever employed such acquaintance, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense (CED), a large police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action, not daring to interfere with such a powerful corporation. The director also tells the Material Defender that, while he was clearing the mines during the events of Descent II, PTMC executive Samuel Dravis was actually testing and modifying the virus and deliberately tried to kill him by overloading the warp drive on his ship. After some persuasion and offers from the director, including a new ship and an assistant known as the Guide-Bot, the Material Defender accepts to help the Red Acropolis stop the virus.The Material Defender is first sent to to obtain information about the location of a scientist named Dr. Sweitzer who has evidence of the PTMC's actions. He is then rescued in the Novak Corporate Prison on. After recovering the evidence, the Material Defender delivers it to PTMC President Suzuki in before leaving with his reward.
When the Material Defender arrives at the Red Acropolis Research Station, the director tells him that the PTMC president has been killed and that the Red Acropolis Research Team are now accused of being, resulting in the destruction of the then-abandoned station. After a series of missions, the Material Defender and the Red Acropolis Research Team manage to develop an and convince the CED that they are not terrorists. The CED suggest to the antivirus through their strategic platform orbiting Earth, but the results are unsuccessful. The Material Defender is then sent to, where Dravis has been tracked by the Red Acropolis. In the ensuing confrontation in his, Dravis is mortally wounded by the Guide-Bot's flares and the Material Defender deactivates the virus, which disables all of the PTMC's robots. The game ends with the CED destroying the PTMC's orbital headquarters while the Material Defender returns to Earth. Development Descent 3 is the first project developed.
The company was founded when, creators of previous Descent games, decided to split in two: Outrage Entertainment. Volition would focus on creating the games, while Outrage would continue with the Descent series. Development on Descent 3 began in November 1996 with a team of eight people. According to programmer Jason Leighton, one of the major problems during the game's development cycle was a lack of direction and control.
He explained that the team had 'No reviews, no art reviews, and no way of saying, 'This is bad and we should be going in a different direction'. This ' development environment worked for Descent and Descent II because they were developed by small groups that worked closely together and often in the same room. However, as Outrage started to grow from eight people to almost 20 by the end of the project, the developers did not introduce enough management to control the process. As Leighton recalls, 'we literally had to build the team and company at the same time we started production on the game'.Originally, Descent 3 was intended to support both a and a hardware renderer, implying that the process of the game could take place either in the or dedicated hardware like a. However, about six months after starting development, the team decided to go with a hardware-only renderer because it allowed them to create 'visually stunning' and maintain a solid without worrying about the limitations imposed by the software renderer. This was a difficult decision since the team had to scrap many tools and software rendering technology that were already developed.
In addition, computers with were not common at the time the decision was made. As the developers noted, 'We knew just by looking at our progress on the game under acceleration that we had a beautiful looking game with all the latest technologies — but would anyone actually be able to play it?' Fortunately, as development progressed, hardware acceleration became more popular with each passing year.
The game natively supports the, and rendering for graphics, and the and technologies for sound.The new technology also allowed the developers to create both indoor and outdoor environments; one of the biggest complaints of Descent II was the fact that it was considered too 'tunnely'. To this end, the developers created a new technology which featured an indoor engine 'hooked to a terrain' engine, collectively called the Fusion Engine. The portal engine permitted designers to create small rooms with complex geometry.
These rooms would later be linked together via shared dividing called portals to create a portalized world for the player to fly through. In contrast, the terrain engine, which was initially planned for another game and whose function is to create more polygonal detail as players get closer to the ground and decrease polygons when they are farther away, gave designers the ability to create expansive outdoor terrains. Transitions between both engines were achieved using an external room (with its inverted) that could be placed anywhere on the terrain map. With this technique, developers could create hybrid levels where the player could transit from indoor to outdoor areas in real-time and without. Leighton commented that whenever one of these transitions occurs, 'the game code switches, and so on, to use the terrain engine'.The company had no of level design tools. Leighton said, 'Some people used, some used, and one designer even wrote his own custom modeler from scratch'.
This practice led to an inconsistent quality across the game's levels. For example, one designer would create structures with great geometry but bad texturing, while another would create the opposite.
Once the structures were modeled individually, they were all imported into a custom editor, called D3Edit, so that the designers could 'glue everything together'. The D3Edit editor received constant updates because it initially did not feature an intuitive for designers. It was not until the last third of the development period that the editor improved significantly.
As Leighton notes, 'Even in the shipped game you can tell which levels were made early on and which were made near the end of the production cycle. The later levels are much better looking, have better frame rates, and generally have better scripts'.
Developers also considered the idea of shipping the game with a based on the one they used to create the game's levels. However, due to the constant changes the developers made to their own editor, it was hard for them to design a more user-friendly one.In addition to the changes in the game's engine, the developers decided to improve the to give each enemy a distinct behavior. According to Matt Toschlog, president of Outrage Entertainment and lead programmer of Descent 3, 'It's very rewarding for the player to meet a new enemy, get to know him, learn his quirks, and figure out the best way to kill him. It's great when a game requires both thinking and quick reactions'. Originally, the developers planned to add weather effects that would disorient the player's ship during gameplay, but this feature was ultimately not implemented due to time and technology constraints.
Multiplayer games were heavily tested to ensure their network stability and support,. The actual development of the game took 31 months to complete, with the developers describing it as both a joyful and painful process due to in part of the almost nonexistent management and the rapidly evolving technology at the time. Marketing and release Descent 3 was presented at the in 1998, where developers showed off a demonstration of the game. In the months leading to the game's release, the game's publisher, ran a program that allowed Descent fans to submit a digital photo of themselves along with a pilot name to the company. These photos would later be included in the game so that players could use them as their multiplayer profiles. Outrage also released two that allowed customers to try the game before purchasing it.
The second demo included a single-player level and several multiplayer matches which could be played through a matchmaking service provided by Outrage. From March to August 1999, Interplay held a Descent 3 tournament in the United States consisting of three phases where numerous players could compete against each other in multiplayer matches. The winner was awarded a prize of US$50,000.Descent 3 was initially released for on June 17, 1999. A level editor was released shortly afterwards, allowing users to create both single and multiplayer maps for the game.
A version of the game was released in November 1999. The Mac OS version was by programmer Duane Johnson, who previously worked on the versions of the original Descent and Descent II. Descent 3 was also ported to platforms by after an agreement with the game's publisher. The port, which features a multiplayer mode optimized for 16 players, was released in July 2000.
In 2014, the game was released on the digital distribution service. Reception ReceptionAggregate scoresAggregatorScore84%89/100Review scoresPublicationScoreA-9/109/108/109/1093%Descent 3 received positive reviews from video game critics. The most praised aspects were its graphics, artificial intelligence of enemies, and outdoor environments. Of felt that the game 'improves in almost every conceivable way on its predecessors and reestablishes the series as the premier example of the play style it single-handedly pioneered', while praised both its originality and faithfulness to its predecessors. Lauded the game's new engine, noting that the transition between indoor and outdoor environments is seamless. Remarked that the addition of outdoor environments allows 'greater use of the maneuvering capabilities, adds variety to the levels, and ensures that the game never gets dull or boring'. The reviewer also acknowledged that the game's six degrees of freedom movement scheme may be difficult to master for some players, stating that the game 'can be confusing, dizzying, and even nauseating.
This is a game for the pro's'.The music and sound effects received similar praise. GameSpot pointed out that 'explosions erupt with lots of satisfying, floor-rattling bass, lasers ping nicely, flamethrowers emit appropriate rumbling whooshes, and there's plenty of ambient beeping, hissing, and mechanical humming'. Game Revolution praised the graphics for their 'modeling, colored lighting, incredible special effects, wonderful animation, and sheer overall feel'. Victor Lucas of stated similar pros, but also admitted that the game's hardware requirements were relatively high. Criticism was leveled at the game's story.
GameSpot considered it not compelling, while Jason Cross, writing for, felt that it 'really doesn't have much to do with actual gameplay'. Reviewer Stephen Poole also criticized the Guide-Bot's efficiency, remarking that sometimes it can get lost or trapped while leading the player to a destination.The gameplay was praised for its variety of weapons and enemies. Game Revolution said that each enemy is 'unique both in ability, structure, and behavior so that each requires a specific combat approach'.
Reviewer Josh Norem praised the levels for their interesting objectives, stating that the missions 'vary widely, ranging from finding lost colleagues to defending strategic structures against enemy assaults'. Computer Games Magazine praised the fact that the developers replaced the of previous Descent games with flat-shaded polygons because they 'provide more detail and make it easier to recognize where you are and how to get where you want to go'. The multiplayer was highlighted positively due to its and variety of game types. Computer Games Magazine also credited its 'rock-solid performance on standard dialup modems and easy connectivity', while GameSpot praised it for being 'fun and stable'. The game was a runner-up for 's Action Game of the Year and a nominee for GameSpot's PC Action Game of the Year. Sales Despite positive reviews and the commercial success of its predecessors, Descent 3 was a commercial disappointment. According to, its sales in the United States were under 40,000 units by the end of September 1999, which drew revenues of roughly $1.7 million.
A writer for remarked that this figure was 'not enough to keep publishers plugging at long, expensive development cycles in the hope of scoring a '. By the end of 1999, Descent 3 's sales had risen to 52,294 units in the United States. Bub presented Descent 3 with his ' System Shock Award' (named after the 1994 by ), arguing that it was difficult 'to find a better game that under-performed sales-wise, this year'. Descent 3 's sales were similarly low in the German market. It debuted in 27th place on 's computer game sales rankings, and fell to 33rd, 56th and 78th over the following three months, respectively.
Interplay blamed its underperformance in the region on stiff competition in the genre. Conversely, 's Udo Hoffman reported a German retailer's view that 'the genre is no longer popular', and that demand for a mission pack was at '0.0 percent.'
Expansion pack Descent 3 features an official developed by Outrage and released for Microsoft Windows on December 3, 1999. The expansion, entitled Descent 3: Mercenary, introduces new features, a seven-level campaign, a fourth ship, and several multiplayer maps. It also includes the game's level editor. The expansion received mixed to positive reviews from critics. IGN reviewer Rich Rouse gave Mercenary a rating of 8.8 out of 10 and praised it for its lasting appeal, stating: 'With hordes of new missions and battlefields on the CD, as well as the included level creation package, you won't be uninstalling for a long time'.
In contrast, GameSpot editor Erik Wolpaw, giving the expansion a rating of 6 out of 10, criticized the expansion for its bland level design and lack of new features. A compilation that includes both Descent 3 and its expansion pack was released on June 14, 2001. References. 'Piloting Your Craft'.
Descent 3 (Instruction booklet). CS1 maint: others. ^ JohnnyB (1999-07-01). From the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-01-17. ^ John Callaham (1999-06-14).
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'Descent 3 Menus'. Descent 3 (Instruction booklet). CS1 maint: others. ^ Jason Cross (1999-07-03).
Archived from on 2003-02-28. Retrieved 2003-02-28. 'The Descent Universe'. Descent 3 (Instruction booklet). CS1 maint: others.
'TelCom System'. Descent 3 (Instruction booklet). CS1 maint: others. ^ Jay Boor (1999-06-14). From the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
^ Trent C. Ward (1999-03-05).
From the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2014-01-25. ^ 'Payload and Supplies'. Descent 3 (Instruction booklet). CS1 maint: others. Tim Stone (2010-10-16). From the original on 2014-03-14.
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(1999-06-17). Scene: Introduction. (1999-06-17).
Scene: Opening. Level/area: Chapter 1 - Missing Persons. (1999-06-17).
Scene: Briefings. Level/area: Chapter 3 - Solving the Puzzle (Piccu Station and SRAD Research). TelCom: Sweitzer is positive that S. Dravis illegally ordered modifications to the alien virus without approval. This not only violates internal P.T.M.C.
Policy but is also a high crime as stated by the Collective Earth Defense (C.E.D.) / We know that Dravis sabotaged your ship to get you out of the way. Sweitzer also believes that Dravis sabotaged his lab to keep him from interfering. When he survived, he was sent to prison. / We need your help for this one last mission. / A backup copy of Sweitzer's work was kept in the bottom of his lab on Tiris.
If we can show this data to the president of the P.T.M.C., Dravis will be spending a very long time in a cold cell. / I imagine you'll even get your money from the P.T.M.C. / Recover the data from the ruins of Sweitzer lab.
(1999-06-17). Scene: Opening. Level/area: Chapter 5 - Red Acropolis Research Station. (1999-06-17).
Scene: Briefings. Level/area: Chapter 15 - Final Countdown (Dravis' Stronghold).
TelCom: Dravis may have changed the code, or we may miscalculated. In either case, the antivirus didn't work. / We tracked a shuttle that left from space station Shiva to the surface of Venus. We are convinced that this was Dravis. / You must locate him and find a way to stop the virus.
(1999-06-17). Scene: Closing. Level/area: Chapter 15 - Final Countdown (Dravis' Stronghold). ^ Craig Derrick; Jason Leighton (1999-10-08). From the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-03-17. From the original on 2014-02-22.
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![Descent 3 Descent 3](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126339449/665688058.jpg)
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August 5, 1999
Web posted at: 8:47 a.m. EDT (1247 GMT)
by Andrew S. Bub
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(IDG) -- Descent was one of those rare games that's totally unique. It took the innovations of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom and turned their action style on its head--literally. Descent's 360 degrees of nausea-inducing movement, level design emphasizing players' spatial-awareness skills, and killer AI made the game a looker and a fighter.
Yet, after one sequel, the legend just seemed to disappear, and last year Forsaken almost eclipsed the Descent games with its competence and modern looks. Now Outrage and Interplay offer us Descent 3, a title that so brilliantly resurrects the series that it promptly snatches the crown from Forsaken's head--and sends the upstart tumbling into a deep, dank hole.
Gameplay
The story--and amazingly, there is one--is so woodenly and poorly related via rendered cut-scenes that you'll be glad you can end them with a keystroke. Look, the Material Defender (you) has to fight the virus-infected robots in the tunnels again! That's all you need to know or care about.
From there, you go from mission to mission (15 in total) solving minor puzzles, scrapping rabid robots, and solving problems. The challenges are much more diverse this time out: Whereas the first two Descents focused entirely on finding colored keys, destroying reactors, and escaping, this time you'll be hunting for keys in missions that have their own specific requirements, such as defending structures, downloading info, destroying machinery, escaping, or simply killing all the robots you encounter.
Fifteen missions is only half as many as Descent II had, but D3's brilliant design makes up for it. Should the intricacy of these sprawling levels prove daunting, the designers have added a Guidebot that can do anything from put you out if you're on fire, to lead you to the next objective.
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The Guidebot is also supposed to fight for you: it's a weak combatant at best, but at times it can reprogram enemy robots to battle on your side. Overall, this sidekick is incredibly useful for pointing you in the right direction to find enemies, power-ups, and the next puzzle clue/objective. Brilliant addition, guys.
Control remains unique and frantic. Joystick support is broader than before (the previous installments being DOS titles) and the game supports force feedback for those with power-sticks. Best of all, stick players will have an easier time with support for all those nifty buttons, throttles, and hat switches.
The better mode of control is the mouselook function, which works as well as it does in your standard shooter, except that down is a more useful axis with this particular title. In short, all controls can be remapped with a cumbersome, non-intuitive, but workable interface.
Perhaps the best thing about D3, and the thing that raises its metallic head above the pack, is the absolutely wicked enemy AI. These corridors are crammed with tubes, pipes, and other obstacles, and you'll find your enemies dodging, hiding, ambushing, and flanking you at all times. With action as thoughtful, freewheeling, and frantic as this, the game excels like few others in the pure-gameplay department.
Graphics
Lovely, just lovely. Everything is well-rendered and offered in multiple video modes, with support for all the cards you can think of. My Voodoo2 caused a few crashes, but my TNT card gave me a perfect experience all the way through the game.
D3 has all the lighting effects you could want, plus fire effects and some cool weaponry.
One gripe you could levy is that while your fire can mark the walls, not much is destructible or interactive in the levels: shooting neon signs, for instance, causes nothing to happen at all. Fortunately, the game's hyperkinetic pace precludes your firing at everything just to see if it'll explode, so you likely won't notice this deficiency.
The game's indoor environments are strikingly different from each other--you'll zoom through caves, prisons, a subway, and otherworldly mineshafts. The new outdoor environments feel a bit weak--it's painfully easy to dodge in the open air--but they do provide a nice alternative to the claustrophobic tunnels that make up the majority of the game.
Sound
The music is just plain weird, and offsets the oddness of the environments perfectly. Because you're fighting robots, you wouldn't expect D3's sound effects to be overly elaborate, but they're pretty good: Some of the bots make a chilling growling noise as they spot you, and the noise of their weapons fire adds to the tension.
Also, the game's voiceovers are generally decent. You won't have a problem with the sound at all, provided you skip the FMV sequences.
Overall score: 8.5 out of 10
Descent 3 doesn't really take Descent to the next level, but it adds enough to the old formula to make it very worthwhile. Even the multiplayer suite proves stable, distinctive, and fun (even if some of the old-school Descent players are inhumanly talented). Descent 3 is pure action and unique combat at its best, with improved AI, some decent puzzles, and excellent level design to boot. Sure, the story may stink, as do the intro sequences, but all is forgiven once that first shot is fired and your first foe dispatched.
TIPS
Try out the stick and the mouse modes of control. I recommend remapping the keyboard keys and using the mouse: control is much more precise that way.
If you're using the mouse, drop the sensitivity to about 60 percent, or you may find things a bit jerky.
When in doubt, charge the enemy without a thought of self-preservation. The AI is so good that you may find yourself on the losing end of a cat-and-mouse contest.
Use your Guidebot well, and pay attention to what it does, where it goes, and what it can do for you.
If you're nauseated, I've heard that Dramamine helps.
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