Descent

It's Descent! Do I really need to say more into??? Okay I guess I will. Descent is one of the first true 3D FPS games to release, and thanks to GoG. Anyone can relive this. However I should point out that there is the D1X-Rebirth/D2X-Rebirth or D2X-XL project which provide a more modern experience for those not as versed in DOS gaming. Regardless of which you choose. Play Descent and enjoy an awesome game!

The Descent series should rank near the top of any all time great list. I've lost many hours exploring the mines, and many more battling my friends.

I was pleased and at smoothly these ancient games installed and ran on my machine. Of course, it never heard of the exotic buttons and hats on my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 - forcing me to play all keyboard - but nonetheless the game is here in its old fury. One of the great shockers of the first two entries of Descent was in how truly 3-D the levels were - all notions of ceiling and floor were completely upset, forcing players to visualize their situation in completely new terms. No game since has dared challenge players with such mind twisting situations, and the freedom may have cost the game players with its steep learning curve (there are a lot of keys to learn with 6 degrees of movement). It may also have been a bit too much for nauseous stomachs, as Descent 3 was a lot more careful about establishing up and down and replacing the exotic (and somewhat frightening) alien menace with more prosaic Earthly foes. Nevertheless, action simply does not get more intense than it did in this series.

I remember playing an old Shareware version of Descent years and years ago. At the time, I hadn't played many games of the sort (save for a bit of Doom here or there), and I remember being floored by the concept of being free from gravity. As time went on, I purchased the full version of Descent, its sequel, and the tragically under-appreciated Descent 3. Since then, my attention has turned to other more modern games, but once the GOG.com beta opened, I figured exercising my nostalgia was a worthwhile investment. Boy, was it ever. It's stunning how I can return to a thirteen-year-old game and still be shocked at the experience it provides. It certainly shows its age--it's not really that pleasant to look at--but I'm struck by how much I missed having six degrees of freedom. No other game that I've played in recent memory feels so liberating. In video games anymore, we're tethered to the ground and pushed through linear hallways to get where we're going. Being able to fly anywhere, running circles around my enemies while the air fills with lasers and missiles is nothing short of a breath of fresh air. If you didn't grow up with this game like I did, or even if you have and you've just forgotten about it, you owe it to yourself to play it. I guarantee that you will not experience anything else like it.

I've waited quite a long time for an opportunity to play the Descent series once again. Thirteen years ago, the first Descent game was the game that made me the gamer I am today. If it wasn't for this game, I am certain I would not have taken to games the way I have. For years I've been searching for a way to relive my original experience, even going so far as to restore the original computer (which failed miserably) I played it the game on for the first time when I was 7. All I can say now is, I wouldn't be surprised to see my grades start to slip and my friends to start worrying. I haven't been this excited about a game in a while, and this one is more than a decade old. If you're like me and you want to relive your old school gamer-dom, by all means do it! It's a nostalgia overdose! Now to find a way to get my ancient Sidewinder joystick to work again...