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Duskers

A Truly Great Game

Sitting alone in an empty spaceship. You're the last one alive. Maybe, if you can find what you need in the derelicts of ships and stations drifting through space, you'll make it through another day. That is...if the things hiding in the dark don't destroy your drones - your one lifeline. Duskers takes "it doesn't take good graphics to make good gameplay" to its extreme. All you see is the room layout your ship can scan, and the almost x-ray appearance of what your drones can see. You have a command-line to pass instructions to your drones (or you can maneuver them independently) and that's...pretty much it. However, this simplicity adds to, rather than takes away from, the intense atmosphere of the game. If you play it in a dark room at night, you can really convince yourself you're docked with a derelict ship and remoted into its systems. Throughout the game, you scavenge scrap, fuel and upgrades from drifting ships while avoiding (or destroying) the things moving around inside. You jump from system to system inside galaxies, and from galaxy to galaxy in your attempts to survive. You never really feel "on top" of things. You're always barely getting by and choosing where best to spend your scrap. Should you repair a damaged drone, or purchase more proximity mines to destroy the creatures? Your motion sensors are getting low, but the probability of your scrap gatherer breaking is up to 35%. It's always a struggle to decide what's highest priority that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The upgrades for your drones and ship are many, and varied. The ships and stations you visit are all different, and you never know what you'll find. And on top of it all, you're trying to figure out what happened to everyone else...and why you're still alive. Definitely a must-buy for anyone who likes any kind of strategy and/or Randomized Permadeath Machine games.

53 gamers found this review helpful
Descent 1+2
This game is no longer available in our store
Descent 1+2

...I start to breathe again.

I have very fond memories of sneaking out of bed at 10:00 at night to go watch my older brother play "That violent robot game". I still remember the Christmas that Joseph got Descent 1 and 2: The Definitive Collection. We immediately ran upstairs to the computer and waited for Windows 95 to boot so we could install it. Descent was the first computer game with full 360 degrees of motion, and the graphics at the time were state of the art. I was probably about 9 when I first sat down to play Descent. I stunk! Even on Trainee (the easiest difficulty level) I could only get past about level 3. I stopped playing cause at the time it was just too hard! About 2 years ago I found my old CD of Descent. I pulled it out and started playing it! Man! It's still the best game I've ever played! (Except for the possible exception of Contra for the NES, but that's another story.) Descent's gameplay is still unique, I have yet to find another game that is at all the same. Descent: Freespace (Which is an entirely different game series) is about the closest in terms of controlling I've found, and even that is nothing like Descent. Alot of games like this are loved simply because of their nostalgic value, and if you didn't have the original experiences, you probably won't think much of it. Descent is an exception. I would consider myself an avid gamer, and I still would rather pull out Descent than 90% of modern games. I've let other people play it, and if you can get past the graphics (which aren't that bad if you use DXX-Rebirth or D2X-XL) the gameplay is still something you've got to experience! Many people think that older games are inherently easier than newer ones, not so in this case! I only just recently beat Descent 1 on Trainee, and I still can only get past the 3rd level on Insane. Descent 2 is (in my opinion) overall slightly easier than Descent 1, but I still can't come anywhere near to beating it on Insane. If you've played Descent 3, you've only gotten a tiny taste of the true Descent experience. Many people would say that Descent 3 isn't as good a game as 1 or 2 (I still think it's a great game, but you've got to play the originals first!). If you'd like a better graphics experience than DOSBox will give you, check out DXX-Rebirth (http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/) or D2X-XL (http://www.descent2.de/). They are both modern ports for Descent, you can choose which you like better (I personally am a fan of DXX-Rebirth, but there has already been a whole lot of gas thrown on the fire of which one is better, so go check 'em out, and decide for yourself). So overall I would say that Descent is one of the best games (and probably THE best computer game) of all time, and anyone who considers themselves a true gamer, shouldn't miss the experience!

2 gamers found this review helpful
Descent

...I start to breathe again.

I have very fond memories of sneaking out of bed at 10:00 at night to go watch my older brother play "That violent robot game". I still remember the Christmas that Joseph got Descent 1 and 2: The Definitive Collection. We immediately ran upstairs to the computer and waited for Windows 95 to boot so we could install it. Descent was the first computer game with full 360 degrees of motion, and the graphics at the time were state of the art. I was probably about 9 when I first sat down to play Descent. I stunk! Even on Trainee (the easiest difficulty level) I could only get past about level 3. I stopped playing cause at the time it was just too hard! About 2 years ago I found my old CD of Descent. I pulled it out and started playing it! Man! It's still the best game I've ever played! (Except for the possible exception of Contra for the NES, but that's another story.) Descent's gameplay is still unique, I have yet to find another game that is at all the same. Descent: Freespace (Which is an entirely different game series) is about the closest in terms of controlling I've found, and even that is nothing like Descent. Alot of games like this are loved simply because of their nostalgic value, and if you didn't have the original experiences, you probably won't think much of it. Descent is an exception. I would consider myself an avid gamer, and I still would rather pull out Descent than 90% of modern games. I've let other people play it, and if you can get past the graphics (which aren't that bad if you use DXX-Rebirth or D2X-XL) the gameplay is still something you've got to experience! Many people think that older games are inherently easier than newer ones, not so in this case! I only just recently beat Descent 1 on Trainee, and I still can only get past the 3rd level on Insane. Descent 2 is (in my opinion) overall slightly easier than Descent 1, but I still can't come anywhere near to beating it on Insane. If you've played Descent 3, you've only gotten a tiny taste of the true Descent experience. Many people would say that Descent 3 isn't as good a game as 1 or 2 (I still think it's a great game, but you've got to play the originals first!). If you'd like a better graphics experience than DOSBox will give you, check out DXX-Rebirth (http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/) or D2X-XL (http://www.descent2.de/). They are both modern ports for Descent, you can choose which you like better (I personally am a fan of DXX-Rebirth, but there has already been a whole lot of gas thrown on the fire of which one is better, so go check 'em out, and decide for yourself). So overall I would say that Descent is one of the best games (and probably THE best computer game) of all time, and anyone who considers themselves a true gamer, shouldn't miss the experience!

1 gamers found this review helpful
Descent 2

...I start to breathe again.

I have very fond memories of sneaking out of bed at 10:00 at night to go watch my older brother play "That violent robot game". I still remember the Christmas that Joseph got Descent 1 and 2: The Definitive Collection. We immediately ran upstairs to the computer and waited for Windows 95 to boot so we could install it. Descent was the first computer game with full 360 degrees of motion, and the graphics at the time were state of the art. I was probably about 9 when I first sat down to play Descent. I stunk! Even on Trainee (the easiest difficulty level) I could only get past about level 3. I stopped playing cause at the time it was just too hard! About 2 years ago I found my old CD of Descent. I pulled it out and started playing it! Man! It's still the best game I've ever played! (Except for the possible exception of Contra for the NES, but that's another story.) Descent's gameplay is still unique, I have yet to find another game that is at all the same. Descent: Freespace (Which is an entirely different game series) is about the closest in terms of controlling I've found, and even that is nothing like Descent. Alot of games like this are loved simply because of their nostalgic value, and if you didn't have the original experiences, you probably won't think much of it. Descent is an exception. I would consider myself an avid gamer, and I still would rather pull out Descent than 90% of modern games. I've let other people play it, and if you can get past the graphics (which aren't that bad if you use DXX-Rebirth or D2X-XL) the gameplay is still something you've got to experience! Many people think that older games are inherently easier than newer ones, not so in this case! I only just recently beat Descent 1 on Trainee, and I still can only get past the 3rd level on Insane. Descent 2 is (in my opinion) overall slightly easier than Descent 1, but I still can't come anywhere near to beating it on Insane. If you've played Descent 3, you've only gotten a tiny taste of the true Descent experience. Many people would say that Descent 3 isn't as good a game as 1 or 2 (I still think it's a great game, but you've got to play the originals first!). If you'd like a better graphics experience than DOSBox will give you, check out DXX-Rebirth (http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/) or D2X-XL (http://www.descent2.de/). They are both modern ports for Descent, you can choose which you like better (I personally am a fan of DXX-Rebirth, but there has already been a whole lot of gas thrown on the fire of which one is better, so go check 'em out, and decide for yourself). So overall I would say that Descent is one of the best games (and probably THE best computer game) of all time, and anyone who considers themselves a true gamer, shouldn't miss the experience!

1 gamers found this review helpful