Descent II

Thumping action in 3-D!

• Descent II
• by Parallax Software
• 486DX-50, VGA, 8MB RAM
• Available in stores now

n the original Descent, gamers were called upon to root out marauding mining robots from The Company's mines...but there is no rest for the weary. The Company has discovered the home base of the robots and has decided to exterminate this scourge once and for all. Now gamers must go on the attack as they descend into enemy territory for a crack at the heart of the robot scourge.

Descent II is closely modeled after the original game, which set new gaming standards with its intricate 3-D worlds and fast arcade action. This time players pilot their PyroGX ship through a series of underground bases seeking to destroy each base's reactor and blow the whole place to kingdom come. In the way stands a horde of robots that fly, ram, claw and shoot. At the player's disposal are a variety of lasers, vulcan cannons, plasma guns, etc., and a plethora of missiles.

All the environments are in zero gravity, so doors can be found on any surface, and whether or not a hallway hangs an up or a down depends entirely on the player's point of view. The game can be played with or without a cockpit view, and players also have the option of opening two small windows at the bottom of the screen that can show other views. One of the best features is a sort of missile-cam, which pops up whenever a missile is fired and shows what the missile sees as it leaps toward destruction.

While Descent II is easy to learn and very fun, it could use a little more style. Each level follows the same pattern: find the keys to open doors -- battling robots all the way -- find the reactor, blow it up, get out. The bases, although colorful and complicated, are rather austere and don't convey much mood. (See more about the robots -- good and bad.)

And the map feature is still not very helpful. The map is a wire-frame representation of the bases which can be rotated, panned and zoomed, but the overlapping tangle of lines is more confusing than useful. This problem is alleviated, though, by the wonderful new Guide-bot. The Guide-bot is a little blue fellow sent by the company (how thoughtful!) to give players a hand navigating the bases. By default, it seeks out the next goal, whether it's a key, the reactor or the exit. The Guide-bot can also be commanded to find items such as a shield powerup. While the bot can be incredibly helpful, it has no notion of finding a safe route to things...

All in all, Descent II is an exciting game with a number of nice features that make it quite fun to play.

This is one of those games that I see whooshing behind my eyes if I play for too long.-- Brooks

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