When Descent came out, I was greatly impressed by this vertigo-inducing game with every single feature it had. And finally, Outrage Entertainment has put a large exclamation mark to this vehicular shooter series by improving the visual effects, continuing the attractive story line, and polishing every level with some amazing cinematics, a useful map, and several other features. Even though Descent 3 takes quite a while to get the hang of, the gamer can easily become addicted to this space action game. The levels are diverse and have expanded outward to the outdoors and to many other beautiful planets. Also, the AI is absolutely stunning and has proven to be a formidable enemy. In all, Outrage Entertainment and Interplay has taken the Descent series to a completely different level by making drastic improvements and one awesome storyline.

Descent and Descent 2 were both games that linearity shone from it. All missions had the very same objectives and became the killer of its success. The gamer must discover several keys to unlock sections of mines and then destroy the reactor. These two games were extremely fun, but the lack of complexity destroyed its success. In addition, the graphics, maps, enemies, and multiplayer all cried for improving. Finally, Outrage has satisfied those people looking for the next Descent.

When the game was first opened, a great movie appeared showing some background of the gamer's pilot. The music was the most significant part of this movie, and my mouth hung wide open because of the graphics. From this five to ten minute movie, the events prior to the gameplay was shown, and it was a great hook. Immediately, I was taken into the world of Descent and in that famous vehicle where I spent hours at a time soaking in the rich story. Outrage Entertainment did a magnificent job integrating Descent and Descent 2's basic story into the in-depth, epic plot Descent 3 offers. The gamer's pilot has agreed to work for a company against the PTMC, a mining company that has found a virus that can reprogram machines within seconds. The pilot must complete missions to obtain enough information to destroy the army of machines that have been infected with this virus. The plot in Descent 3 is brilliantly created, and allow this game to be so addictive and interesting.

One of the most notable features in the Descent series's levels are the long and in-depth missions that take at least an hour to finish. Outrage Entertainment has kept that feature constant in Descent 3, but made some drastic improvements. The first one was the addition of the GuideBot, a little robot that will be the "R2D2" of Descent 3. This guy will find powerups, enemies, pathways to objectives, even extinguish fire on your ship at any time. In the previous Descents, navigating through levels was very difficult and tedious, and Outrage took that into account. They inserted the GuideBot mainly to show the gamer the way to certain areas of the level to speed up gameplay. To make it even easier, the gamer can command the GuideBot by hitting some buttons. Descent 3's best improvement is the addition of the GuideBot, no more navigational problems whatsoever.

Descent 1 and Descent 2's maps were made of wireframes and were atrocious to translate. Outrage has kept the same format of the map, but added textures and colors to it to make navigation even more easier. Adding color and textures to the map to make the map movement much easier. Overall, Outrage Entertainment has taken the problematic features of the previous Descents and improved them a great deal.

The instruction booklet is an extremely helpful source to learn things in Descent 3. Sometimes this vehicular shooter can be complex, but the gamer can quickly flip the pages of the instruction booklet to discover the answer to their question. Most people will need to refresh their memory on the weapons and multiplayer options, as well as some strategies and control options. Outrage has put a great touch on this booklet to explain Descent 3's physics and features.

The weapons in the Descent series has been an incredible section which shows balance and fun. With the large array of over twenty different projectile and explosive weapons, Descent 3 is a whole bunch of fun. The Smart, Homing, Concussion, Mega, and Cyclone are just some of the missles given out to players in the single and multiplayer options. Even though these weapons are the same as the Descent's and Descent 2's, it is pertinent to bring this section up because it is so great.

One of the downsides to having 360-degree action is the controls. The learning curve makes this game difficult to get into, unless a gamer already has a talent to wield complex controls in a short amount of time. It took me around one hour to completely get my controls down, even the advanced ones. I used a joystick, which is recommended for these types of games, while I used my left hand for strafing. The controls are not bad, but the learning curve is. The practice tutorial does not help too much, however, it will take actual gameplay to master the controls. Expect at least an hour's worth of getting used to the controls in Descent 3 because the learning curve of this 360-degree vehicular shooter is steep.

Type:
3D-Action

Developer:
Outrage Entertainment

Publisher:
Interplay

Requirements:
Pentium 200
32MB RAM
3D accelerated supporting Glide, OpenGL, or Direct3D
4x CD-ROM
Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0

Multiplayer:
Yes

Overall Grade:
92%

Graphics:
94%

Sound and Music:
89%

Storyline:
90%

Multiplayer:
91%

Replay Ability:
90%

Innovation:
85%