Descent 3
Descent 3 | ||
---|---|---|
Composer(s) Jerry Berlongieri | | |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux | |
Release | ||
Genre(s) | First-person shooter, shoot 'em up | |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Descent 3 (stylized as Descent³) is a
Unlike in standard first-person shooters, the player must control a flying ship that has a six degrees of freedom movement scheme, allowing the player to move and rotate in any 3D direction. In addition to a single-player campaign mode, Descent 3 features an online multiplayer mode where numerous players can compete against each other in eight different game types. The game features both indoor and outdoor environments, made possible with the use of a hybrid engine that combines the capabilities of a portal rendering engine with those of a flight simulator-like terrain engine.
Descent 3 received positive reviews from critics, holding a score of 89 out of 100 at review aggregate website
Gameplay
Like its predecessors Descent and Descent II, Descent 3 is a six degrees of freedom shooter where the player controls a flying ship from a first-person perspective in zero-gravity.[2] It is differentiated from standard first-person shooters in that it allows the player to move and rotate in any 3D direction.[3] Specifically, the player is free to move forward/backward, up/down, left/right, and rotate in three perpendicular axes, often termed pitch, yaw, and roll.[2] Aboard the ship, the player can shoot enemies, turn on the ship's afterburners to temporarily increase its acceleration and speed, and fire flares or turn on the ship's headlight to explore darkened areas.[4]
In the game's
As the player progresses throughout the game, two additional ships become available for use. Each of the game's three ships offers a different balance of speed, weapons, and maneuverability.[8] Within the levels, the player may collect power-ups that enhance the ship's weaponry.[9] Weapons are categorized into three different types: primary weapons, secondary weapons, and countermeasures.[10] Primary weapons range from a variety of laser plasma cannon and the napalm cannon, which projects a stream of burning fuel.[9] Secondary weapons include different types of missiles, while countermeasures range from proximity mines to portable turrets. Most primary weapons consume energy in different rate, but some, such as the Napalm Cannon, use their own type of ammunition. In contrast, all secondary weapons and countermeasures require their own ammunition suppliers.[10]
The player's ship is protected by a
Multiplayer
In addition to the single-player campaign mode, Descent 3 features an
Plot
Descent 3 takes place in a science fiction setting of the Solar System where the player is cast as Material Defender MD1032, a mercenary working for a corporation called the Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC). The game begins moments after the events of Descent II, with the Material Defender escaping the destruction of a planetoid where he was clearing PTMC's robots infected by an alien virus. He was about to return to Earth to collect his reward, but a malfunction occurred with the prototype warp drive in the ship he was piloting, making it drift towards the Sun's atmosphere. At the very last moment, the Material Defender is rescued via a tractor beam by an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team.[13]
While the Material Defender recovers in the Red Acropolis station on Mars, the director of the team informs him that they have been investigating PTMC, and have uncovered a conspiracy: one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot, and when she contacted PTMC about it, they denied having ever employed such acquaintance, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense (CED), a large police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action, not daring to interfere with such a powerful corporation. The director also tells the Material Defender that, while he was clearing the mines during the events of Descent II, PTMC executive Samuel Dravis was actually testing and modifying the virus and deliberately tried to kill him by overloading the warp drive on his ship. After some persuasion and offers from the director, including a new ship and an AI assistant known as the Guide-Bot, the Material Defender accepts to help the Red Acropolis stop the virus.[14]
The Material Defender is first sent to
Development
Descent 3 is the first project developed by
Originally, Descent 3 was intended to support both a
The new technology also allowed the developers to create both indoor and outdoor environments; one of the biggest complaints of Descent II was the fact that it was considered too "tunnely".[8] To this end, the developers created a new technology which featured an indoor portal rendering engine "hooked to a flight-sim-like terrain" engine, collectively called the Fusion Engine.[23] The portal engine permitted designers to create small rooms with complex geometry. These rooms would later be linked together via shared dividing polygons called portals to create a portalized world for the player to fly through.[21] In contrast, the terrain engine, which was initially planned for another game and whose function is to create more polygonal detail as players get closer to the ground and decrease polygons when they are farther away, gave designers the ability to create expansive outdoor terrains. Transitions between both engines were achieved using an external room (with its normal vectors inverted) that could be placed anywhere on the terrain map.[21] With this technique, developers could create hybrid levels where the player could transit from indoor to outdoor areas in real-time and without loading screens.[21][24] Leighton commented that whenever one of these transitions occurs, "the game code [switches] collision detection, rendering, and so on, to use the terrain engine".[21]
The company had no
In addition to the changes in the game's engine, the developers decided to improve the
Marketing and release
Descent 3 was presented at the
Descent 3 was initially released for
An expansion pack, titled Descent 3: Mercenary, was released for Microsoft Windows on December 3, 1999.[36] The expansion introduces new features, a seven-level campaign, a fourth ship, and several multiplayer maps. It also includes the game's level editor.[37] Although the expansion was praised for adding more replay value to the game,[37] the level design of the new campaign was considered inferior to that of the base game.[38] A compilation that includes both Descent 3 and its expansion pack was released on June 14, 2001.[39] In 2014, the game was released on the Steam digital distribution service.[40]
On April 16, 2024, Kevin Bentley released the source code for Decent 3, but without audio and video libraries.[41][42][43][44][45]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | 84%[46] |
Metacritic | 89/100[47] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Computer Games Magazine | [5] |
EP Daily | 90%[48] |
GamePro | [49] |
GameRevolution | A−[2] |
GameSpot | 9/10[50] |
IGN | 9/10[8] |
Maximum PC | 8/10[51] |
Next Generation | [52] |
PC Gamer (UK) | 93%[53] |
Descent 3 received positive reviews from video game critics.[47] The most praised aspects were its graphics, artificial intelligence of enemies, and outdoor environments.[2][8][50] Erik Wolpaw of GameSpot felt that the game "improves in almost every conceivable way on its predecessors and reestablishes the series as the premier example of the play style it single-handedly pioneered",[50] while Next Generation praised both its originality and faithfulness to its predecessors.[52] IGN lauded the game's new engine, noting that the transition between indoor and outdoor environments is seamless.[8] GameRevolution remarked that the addition of outdoor environments allows "greater use of the maneuvering capabilities, adds variety to the levels, and ensures that the game never gets dull or boring".[2] The reviewer also acknowledged that the game's six degrees of freedom movement scheme may be difficult to master for some players, stating that the game "can be confusing, dizzying, and even nauseating. This is a game for the pro's".[2]
The music and sound effects received similar praise. GameSpot pointed out that "explosions erupt with lots of satisfying, floor-rattling bass, lasers ping nicely, flamethrowers emit appropriate rumbling whooshes, and there's plenty of ambient beeping, hissing, and mechanical humming".
The gameplay was praised for its variety of weapons and enemies.
Sales
Despite positive reviews and the commercial success of its predecessors, Descent 3 was a commercial disappointment.[57][58][59] According to PC Data, its sales in the United States were under 40,000 units by the end of September 1999, which drew revenues of roughly $1.7 million.[59] A writer for PC Accelerator remarked that this figure was "not enough to keep publishers plugging at long, expensive development cycles in the hope of scoring a Half-Life".[59] By the end of 1999, Descent 3's sales had risen to 52,294 units in the United States.[60] Daily Radar's Andrew S. Bub presented Descent 3 with his "System Shock Award" (named after the 1994 game of the same name by Looking Glass Studios), arguing that it was difficult "to find a better game that under-performed sales-wise, this year".[57] Descent 3's sales were similarly low in the German market. It debuted in 27th place on Media Control's computer game sales rankings, and fell to 33rd, 56th and 78th over the following three months, respectively. Interplay blamed its underperformance in the region on stiff competition in the genre. Conversely, PC Player's Udo Hoffman reported a German retailer's view that "the genre is no longer popular", and that demand for a mission pack was at "0.0 percent".[58]
Other uses
A study published in 2002 used Descent 3 to study hawkmoth flight activities. Using the game's editing module, the researchers created a virtual environment consisting of a flat plane with rectangular pillars, across which the animal successfully navigated.[61] This was one of the first successful attempts at studying insect flight using virtual reality.[62]
References
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TelCom: Sweitzer is positive that S. Dravis illegally ordered modifications to the alien virus without approval. This not only violates internal P.T.M.C. policy but is also a high crime as stated by the Collective Earth Defense (C.E.D.) / We know that Dravis sabotaged your ship to get you out of the way. Sweitzer also believes that Dravis sabotaged his lab to keep him from interfering. When he survived, he was sent to prison. / We need your help for this one last mission. / A backup copy of Sweitzer's work was kept in the bottom of his lab on Tiris. If we can show this data to the president of the P.T.M.C., Dravis will be spending a very long time in a cold cell. / I imagine you'll even get your money from the P.T.M.C. / Recover the data from the ruins of Sweitzer lab.
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TelCom: Dravis may have changed the code, or we may miscalculated. In either case, the antivirus didn't work. / We tracked a shuttle that left from space station Shiva to the surface of Venus. We are convinced that this was Dravis. / You must locate him and find a way to stop the virus.
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- S2CID 39836857.
- S2CID 5439045.