It was the summer of 1994 at CES when Parallax Software unveiled their first game, Descent, under new publisher Interplay. Before that, their pet project had been picked up and later rejected by another publisher, but nevertheless, they plowed along for over 20 months making Descent what it was.
And yes, it certainly was something. In fact, it was Number 1 on the PC Games list on the Internet for a byte-shattering 35 weeks in late 1994. For what was a project that seemed doomed from the start, Parallax turned dust into gold as Descent turned out to be the surprise hit of the 1994 Christmas season.
The phenomenon kept growing into a sphere of excitement, almost like that blue thunder-sphere on the game's box. Parallax had a hit, and began work on the sequel. March 13, 1996 was penned by Interplay as D-Day, the day when the Descent franchise would re-emerge.
The sequel, now hyped with a multimillion dollar TV ad campaign featuring Rodney Dangerfield among others, still employs the same basic engine and principle that made the first game the success it was, but at the same time, adds numerous gameplay enhancements based on user input.
As the game opens with a well-produced cinematic sequence, you take on the role of a bounty hunter who assumed his job was finished, until he learns it's time for active duty again, or he can kiss his paycheck goodbye. Warped into the Zeta Aquilae System, it's time for even more intense mine action across 5 different planets and over 24 levels of metal-sheering action.
The five worlds include themes such as fire and ice, along with the alien mothership, where the game reaches its climax. All of the levels are housed below the surface in mineshafts, one aspect I was hoping the design team would expand upon for the sequel. If there was the ability to fly outside on the planet's surface, similar to Terminal Velocity, it would have added even more variety to the game.
As it stands, the control still takes some getting used to, but fans of the original should be happy to hear that they can simply install the game and play, as the interface is unchanged from the original. With cramped corridors and shallow pathways, there's no question that players will sometimes get lost among a sea of vibrant textured walls, but thankfully Parallax has a solution...
The guide-bot is probably the biggest feature in terms of usability. This sleek little ship can be found on all the levels, and acts as your brains in the mine, finding everything from the next colored access card to the reactor core. By pulling up a menu to command the bot, if he becomes too much of nuisance, simply command him to "Go Away" and he's history.
On the same tier, a new thief-bot has been added, who is, in essence, the evil cousin of the guide-bot. This little devil often approaches your ship at lightning fast speeds and can steal your weapons and power in an instant. This feature adds another layer to the gameplay, elevating it above other games where you simply "point and shoot." The strategy element of avoiding the thief-bot can become extremely important in the later levels, where the enemies become even more menacing.
Speaking of enemies, there are over 30 new bots to combat in the game, significantly more than the one or two new enemies you usually see in sequels to games these days. They are gradually introduced over the course of the game, and some enemies have unique abilities, such as splitting up into multiple parts before destruction to avoid an impending death.
In terms of gameplay enhancements on the ship, there is a new afterburner which will double your speed at the click of a button, particularly appropriate for long stretches of seemingly desolate corridors. If those corridors happen to not be illuminated, call upon the new headlight on the ship to aid in level navigation (be aware the headlight uses up power, however).
It appears that the developers were well aware that many players of the original often became confused and dis-oriented in the mines. Hence, they have added the ability to launch marker beacons and flares from your ship to aid in mapping out the level.
Perhaps the prime jewel of the Descent franchise is the ability to hook up with friends and foes over the network or modem for fierce multiplayer action. The network game supports up to eight players, and a new feature is a capture the flag game with teams that is intensely enjoyable. For the modem mavens in the crowd, a really impressive feature is the ability to launch security surveillance cameras from the ship to map out the level and keep track of the enemy's ship.
Parallax seems to have realized that many of the single-player levels are much too large for fast multiplayer action, and hence, they have created a series of anarchy levels which are smaller and more intense missions for multiplayer games. Furthermore, on their web space at http://www.pxsoftware.com, each week they will release a new "Panic" level to keep the game fresh even to those who finished the single-player game.
The game is visually intense, more so than the original, thanks to incredible cut scenes. It's stunning to see well done animated cut scenes which don't need to employ expensive live action video actors to effectively convey a certain ambiance. Although they are significantly better than most efforts along such lines, the SVGA modes are a bit slower than the plain VGA mode even on a Pentium machine; for the fast reactions required in Descent II, regular VGA is still the way to go.
The final result is a game that maintains the atmosphere of the original, yet improves on it in many ways to enhance gameplay for new players as well as experienced Descent dogfighters. Although it would have been more impressive if outdoor levels were added, one can hardly fault the developers, since they have added over 10 new weapons and 30 new enemies. Some sequels such as Doom II get away with adding one new weapon and a few new enemies. Descent II is no doubt more of the same, but there's no question it is much more fun to play than the original, thanks to added navigation tools. In the end, for 360-degree flight action games, Descent II reigns supreme yet again.
