Descent 101:
Descent was released in 1995/1996 as a very ambitious answer to the rising popularity of first person shooters at that time. Such games included Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Marathon, Star Wars: Dark Forces, and others. However, most of these games were limited to a full 360 degree circle, with no pitch control. Those that did have a pitch control, or Y-axis as it is referred to today (such as Star Wars: Dark Forces), had a very primitive control and often took several seconds to aim accurately. Therefore, most of the action was presented horizontally. Many gamers liked this setup, and the standard first-person shooter control scheme would remain essentially the same with only minor changes until about Half-Life and Counterstrike were released by Valve entertainment in 1997. However, Interplay and Parallax sought to do something truly amazing with the technology of that era by creating a game with no directional limits. The premise of Descent is based upon a zero-gravity craft capable of moving forward and backward, banking left and right, turning left and right, pitching up and down, and sliding in all four directions. This allowed the craft to be moved in three different directions and turn upon three axes simultaneously - a first in video game history. The enemies of the game were to be masses of killer robots, which was an unusual twist to a genre that was dominated by a standard "human vs. alien" premise at the time. The objectives were simple to understand but often extremely difficult to complete - arrive inside of a mine, destroy the reactor, and exit before a critical meltdown destroys the mine entirely. These nuclear reactors were accessed by a series of keys and security doors. The first key required was a blue key, which opened a blue door; the second, a yellow key; the third, a red key. Inside of a red door would be an often heavily guarded reactor which had to be destroyed in order to complete the level. Once destroyed, the reactor would begin counting down until a full critical meltdown occurred within the mine, by which time the player must have reached the exit. It was simple - except it was deviously hard to most players because many were not used to the truly three-demensional mazes that were in the game. There were twenty-seven standard levels in Descent, along with three secret levels accessed by secret exits in certain levels. Add in hordes of murderous robots and some of the most unrealistically powerful weaponry ever seen in video game history, and the game was often too complex and difficult for the casual gamer to play comfortably. The game was set with the following five difficulty settings: Trainee, Rookie, Hotshot, Ace, and Insane. Many players were unable to merely finish the game on even the Trainee setting. Completing the game on Insane is an honor that few owners of Descent have earned. However, though the game was both vertigo-inducing and difficult, it was widely accepted by the gaming community and temporarily gained the respect that Doom had held at one time.
Wanting to continue with the runaway success of Descent, Interplay and Parallax immediately began work on a second installment of Descent. Called Descent II: Counterstrike but boxed simply as Descent II, Interplay and Parallax developed a game with such polish and refinement that anyone from the most casual gamer to the most hardcore could sit down, play it, and enjoy it. The game was much less atmospheric than the original, with brighter, sometimes gaudy, textures. The geometry was simplified to make levels easier to navigate without sacrificing the same vertigo-inducing gameplay introduced in the original. However, these were welcome changes to the gaming community from those who considered the original to be too difficult. Ten new weapons were introduced, along with the ten weapons of the original Descent. Many new robots were introduced. The original Descent had only two level's reactors replaced with boss robots, whereas Descent 2 had a total of eight levels with boss robots in them.
Attempting to bring the successful status of Descent to console gamers as well, Interplay and Parallax introduced their original Descent to the Playstation. Unfortunately, the controls did not port to consoles well, since the controls worked best on a keyboard or a keyboard/joystick combination. Two thumbsticks and a few buttons was barely enough to control the player's craft, and therefore the Playstation game was a flop.
Determined to deliver console players the action of Descent, Interplay and Parallax made another marketing blunder by releasing Descent: Maximum for the Playstation, as well. This was to combat Descent's most obvious marketing rival, Forsaken and Forsaken 64. However, while Forsaken was stripped down and made a decent debut on consoles (although the PC market was dominated by the Descent franchise), Descent: Maximum was a gimmicky port of Descent II to the Playstation with levels that were plainly too small to live up to the Descent reputation. Again, it became a marketing flop, and was forgotten about until much later when the levels were rebuilt and ported to the Windows 95/98 version of Descent II, where it was accepted but never hailed.
For a few years Interplay and Parallax had financial troubles; and with first person shooters, real-time strategy games, and role playing games becoming the primary interests to gamers, the companies had to put the Descent franchise on haitus and try to appeal to the masses. Unfortunately, this never happened, and Parallax finally split in two. Interplay remained for a good bit longer, but finally went bankrupt and took the Descent licenses with them in 2005.
This did not stop Parallax from taking the reigns of another Descent project. One of these companies, Volition Inc., met brief success with "Descent: Freespace," which was titled as such simply because "Freespace" was apparently a licensed title for a computer system tool. However, it did not last long before it sat on the ten dollar shelves in superstores around the nation. Fortunately for the Descent fans in 1999, The other company split from Parallax, Outrage Entertainment, took the reigns of their most ambitious Descent project to date.
Descent 3 was released in 1999 with little fanfare or hype - which was typical of Tantrum (a division of Interplay) and Outrage (Parallax). However, they turned the game on it's end and desperately tried to make the game a radical departure from the first two and yet still make it one-hundred percent Descent. Very few argue that they failed, as Descent 3 is commonly held as the best Descent ever made. At the time, the graphics were astounding - very few players had the computer technology required to take advantage of the lighting and textures used. Outrage entirely disposed of the collect-keys-destroy-reactor gameplay that standardized the first two, instead opting for a new objective based goal system which made the levels more interactive and involved more storyline. Many people appreciated this; some did not, but almost all agree that Descent 3 still had game. And lots of it, with seventeen massive levels (often two to three times larger than Descent 1 and 2 levels) to play through. The difficulty was finally rounded to the place where it belonged - anywhere from casual to ridiculously hard - and Descent 3 was a winner all around. Where Descent 3 shines, however, is its robust multiplayer system. Before it was dissolved entirely, Outrage kept a service affectionately known as PXO (Parallax Online). It kept track of multiplayer games and even ranked its users on a world-wide scoreboard - even down to separate game types. While better services may be offered today, PXO was genuinely ahead of its time in quality and robustness.
With all its glowing reviews and devoted fans, one would expect to see Descent 3 succeed greatly and propel Outrage and Interplay to the place of honor they once held. Alas, Descent 3 was a lost cause before it began. It was far undermarketed, and some fans without readily available internet access were even oblivious to its release at all. Also, the fanbase for video games had grown into other genres and had left the sci-fi space sim and 6DOF genres to die a natural death. An expansion to Descent 3, called "Mercenary," was released afterwards as an attempt to breath new life into an already dying project. The seven new levels were large, detailed, and fun to play; but it just was not enough to bring any attention to the series again. Another marketing slip was the fact they mentioned some features on the back of the Mercenary box that simply were not to be found on the disk, or, as it were, not enough to even be noticeable. As mentioned earlier, Interplay finally went bankrupt in 2005 after other marketing blunders left them with no hope, and Outrage was dissolved after a somewhat anticipated but undersold console game by the name of "Alter Echo."
Volition, Inc., however unable to produce another Descent, is still very much alive and active. After moderate successes with Summoner, their fabulous "Freespace 2," and the critically acclaimed "Red Faction" series, Volition came into new life producing third-party titles for the Microsoft Xbox 360.
A fan-based Descent game, entitled "Descent 4: Invasion" was proposed at one point, eventually reaching almost one-quarter completeness. An interactive demonstration was nearly released, but because of financial difficulty Interplay and Parallax pulled the licensing. The licenses went down along with Interplay when they went bankrupt; but recently hopes of a new Descent have arisen yet again.
As of September 2008, however, Interplay has released a new website with news about development on an Earthworm Jim game, but has pages and forums dedicated to other intellectual property franchises such as MDK, Fallout, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and of course Descent. Also the website includes an advertisement for Freespace 2 "coming soon to DS" which could mean work with Volition on another Freespace is a viable option soon.
However speculative claims of a new Descent being released may be, the Descent community has long been dedicated to making the series better through new breakthroughs in the Descent 1 and 2 engine, as well as building bigger, better, and tougher missions and modifications to keep even the most hardened Descent gamer on his toes. Clans have organized fight nights every week; dedicated servers with anti-cheat technology are open for battles 24 hours; and small groups of developers stay up late hours for no pay accomplishing incredible feats with nothing but a couple of computers and plenty of time. The Descent community shows no signs of slowing down, and with hopes of an all-new project coming up over the horizon, expect a revival of Descent to hit the internet within just a few years.
Gear up, material defender! Prepare for Descent!
Article by Clifton Gardner, all rights reserved.
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