Descent 3 + Mercenary

Absolutely brilliant games, plenty of levels and expansions available online to keep them going. Still being played pvp 10 years later... They should do another one. I loved these games so much I bought freespace and red faction just because of the connection.

After ten years and heaven-knows-how-many Pyro ships destroyed, I still play the Descent series. More so now that they've been re-optimized to take advantage of newer hardware, OSs and graphics capabilities. And the funny thing is, D3 will STILL tax your hardware. The only downside, of course, is the interstitials. The plot is relatively banal and predictable, and the human characters are pretty badly designed and rendered. I usually just hit the Space Bar or ESC to skip 'em -- except for the end sequence, of course, because I'd earned that one. ;)

D3 is all an excellent sequel should be: 1. retain the best of predecessors; 2. add great new things; 3. be just as fun. I say D3 meets those demands. Most of beloved weapons from D1 and D2 are back, so is the Guidebot that has been made more functional. The gameplay is much the same as previous two games: navigate the maze, clear out the enemies, take out your target, go out alive. There are also secret levels. New elements: playing outside - no, it's not just tight corridoors anymore, story-driven narrative and missions - no, it's not your average 'take-out-that-mine-reactor' anymore, some puzzles that add flavour. Good graphics, great music, some in-game subtle nods to D1 and D2. Then comes the Mercenary expansion athat adds extra story-telling in connection to base game story. Overall D3 is a well executed product. But more importantly, if you're a fan of the prequels (D1, one of my first PC games), D3 delivers on your expectations

Maybe it's me but the AI in this game sucks compared to the first and second. The bosses are out of balance to make up for it. But still easier then the second game.

The first Descent shook my world when it released. The second made incremental improvements to a winning formula: adding a Guide Bot and a bunch of very fun weapons. The third? A bit of a letdown. Don't get me wrong; this is a good game, but I don't think it has aged nearly as well as the first two. It has some terribly kitschy cutscenes, and the robot design is more goofy than threatening. The engine was made in a time when 3D acceleration was in its infancy, and in my opinion, it really carries the baggage of this era. The pacing of this game seems to suffer from the scale of the maps in the new engine, too. In contrast, the minimalistic limitations of the original Descent renderer gives it a more threatening and claustrophobic aura. I replayed Descent 2 recently, right after finishing Doom Eternal, and D2 still rocks my world. If you are new to the series, I would recommend playing the first 2 Descent games, then Overload, then leave D3 for when you when you really need a Descent fix.