Please tell me I'm not the only one here who has only ever heard of this game from the magic 8 ball in Fallout 2...?
WiiWare Takes a Descent Into Gaming History
- Thread starter John Funk
- Start date
I feel like an old fart knowing a game that came out 15 years ago, but that's also how I feel with all these Wiiware releases. While I won't be downloading it (as with many of the other ones, except maybe ogre battle 64) I'm happy to see a classic getting another shot at life.
great the wii is going to ruin another game with its stupid ass motion senseing bullshit. There was nothing wrong with this game when you could use a joystick or even a keyboard.
If its even possible i will lose even more respect for the wii if it fucks up descent
If its even possible i will lose even more respect for the wii if it fucks up descent
Here is my (somewhat relevant) review of a Descent 2 replay, using the opengl engine mod.
From http://muyuubyou.com/
originally published on http://thegamechair.com/
Descent 2 Replay
The year was 1995, two years after the release of ID's Doom FPS. I was a senior in high school, still reveling in the pure joy of owning my very own Pentium 75. On Feb 28, Parallax's Descent 2 completely blew away all my preconceptions of the infant FPS genre. Taking advantage of the brand new Pentium architecture, Descent 2 was rendered in true 3d, with polygonal enemies replacing Doom's sprites, and *gasp* a real-time lighting engine with destructible lights and moving light sources. I still remember with perfect clarity the first time I fired off a flare into a long dark tunnel, watching the tiny speck of light plummet into the abyss. Like the murder of Aeris, it was one of those gaming moments that would be with me for a life-time.
I was recently thumbing through my old CD-ROMs and pulled out Descent 2 on a hunch . . . that a game that good would have modifications available to make it playable on a current Windows computer. My hunch paid off. Thanks to Parallax releasing the source code for the game there is an OpenGL mod that upgrades the game fantastically, including support to run the game at 1600x1200, using Windows USB joysticks, Windows sound, and as much anti-aliasing and texture filtering as your graphics card can handle. Fantastic. I was ready to again venture deep into Descent's robot infested mine shafts.
Besides being the first PC game to make lighting an integral part of gameplay, Descent 2 was also one of the first games to make use of a Red Book audio soundtrack. This meant that the game was playing licensed audio tracks off the CD in an era when top of the line PC music meant purchasing a better MIDI card. The music itself was fantastic (albeit cheesy), inspiring my younger self to purchase a virtual deluge of industrial rock. I'll even admit that the Descent 2 soundtrack has somehow found its way into my current Itunes (and Xbox 360) playlist.
I'm happy to report that Descent 2 is as difficult and enjoyable now as it was eleven years ago. On my first play-through of the game, I was already familiar with the concept of strafing from Doom. Descent added the delicious ability to strafe vertically as well as horizontally, opening up a crazy assortment of maneuvers that have not been replicated to this day. For example, in Descent, it is possible to do a looping maneuver, while firing at targets inside or outside of your loop.
I think that part of the reason Descent's famous six degrees of freedom haven't been duplicated is the diversification of the gaming market. To obtain mass market appeal, games now have to pass a pick-up-and-play test. With a learning curve of 2 or 3 hours, Descent simply doesn't make the cut. Another big reason Descent hasn't been duplicated is that the PC joystick is virtually extinct. No, I don't mean the gamepad, I mean the heavyweight force feedback flight stick monstrosities that every serious gamer used to have. The precision of a good flight stick is comparable to the optical mouse, while adding the ability to perform a smooth constant turn. To do the same maneuver with a mouse is impossible (unless you have a very long arm).
Descent had no shame in blatantly replicating the color coded doors and keys from Doom. However, they did add the guidebot character to prevent you from getting lost in their twisted underground mines. The guidebot would gently guide you to your next destination, issuing a series of cooing beeps reminiscent of R2-D2. This mechanic allowed them to go absolutely over the edge in their level designs, creating passages so intricate and unworldly they inspired vertigo and confusion in the most seasoned PC gamers. The deep rivers, waterfalls, and lava flows of Descent 2 held a mystical beauty for me as a 17-year-old, and I'll admit that Parallax's level designs still pack an emotional punch to this day probably because their intricacy has yet to be duplicated.
Overall, I'm very pleased with my little trip down memory lane. I'm glad that some of the gaming experiences I've enjoyed over the years still hold value to me, and I'm sure it won't be long before I go thumbing through my dual 300-disk books again, searching for gems from gaming's colorful past.
From http://muyuubyou.com/
originally published on http://thegamechair.com/
Descent 2 Replay
The year was 1995, two years after the release of ID's Doom FPS. I was a senior in high school, still reveling in the pure joy of owning my very own Pentium 75. On Feb 28, Parallax's Descent 2 completely blew away all my preconceptions of the infant FPS genre. Taking advantage of the brand new Pentium architecture, Descent 2 was rendered in true 3d, with polygonal enemies replacing Doom's sprites, and *gasp* a real-time lighting engine with destructible lights and moving light sources. I still remember with perfect clarity the first time I fired off a flare into a long dark tunnel, watching the tiny speck of light plummet into the abyss. Like the murder of Aeris, it was one of those gaming moments that would be with me for a life-time.
I was recently thumbing through my old CD-ROMs and pulled out Descent 2 on a hunch . . . that a game that good would have modifications available to make it playable on a current Windows computer. My hunch paid off. Thanks to Parallax releasing the source code for the game there is an OpenGL mod that upgrades the game fantastically, including support to run the game at 1600x1200, using Windows USB joysticks, Windows sound, and as much anti-aliasing and texture filtering as your graphics card can handle. Fantastic. I was ready to again venture deep into Descent's robot infested mine shafts.
Besides being the first PC game to make lighting an integral part of gameplay, Descent 2 was also one of the first games to make use of a Red Book audio soundtrack. This meant that the game was playing licensed audio tracks off the CD in an era when top of the line PC music meant purchasing a better MIDI card. The music itself was fantastic (albeit cheesy), inspiring my younger self to purchase a virtual deluge of industrial rock. I'll even admit that the Descent 2 soundtrack has somehow found its way into my current Itunes (and Xbox 360) playlist.
I'm happy to report that Descent 2 is as difficult and enjoyable now as it was eleven years ago. On my first play-through of the game, I was already familiar with the concept of strafing from Doom. Descent added the delicious ability to strafe vertically as well as horizontally, opening up a crazy assortment of maneuvers that have not been replicated to this day. For example, in Descent, it is possible to do a looping maneuver, while firing at targets inside or outside of your loop.
I think that part of the reason Descent's famous six degrees of freedom haven't been duplicated is the diversification of the gaming market. To obtain mass market appeal, games now have to pass a pick-up-and-play test. With a learning curve of 2 or 3 hours, Descent simply doesn't make the cut. Another big reason Descent hasn't been duplicated is that the PC joystick is virtually extinct. No, I don't mean the gamepad, I mean the heavyweight force feedback flight stick monstrosities that every serious gamer used to have. The precision of a good flight stick is comparable to the optical mouse, while adding the ability to perform a smooth constant turn. To do the same maneuver with a mouse is impossible (unless you have a very long arm).
Descent had no shame in blatantly replicating the color coded doors and keys from Doom. However, they did add the guidebot character to prevent you from getting lost in their twisted underground mines. The guidebot would gently guide you to your next destination, issuing a series of cooing beeps reminiscent of R2-D2. This mechanic allowed them to go absolutely over the edge in their level designs, creating passages so intricate and unworldly they inspired vertigo and confusion in the most seasoned PC gamers. The deep rivers, waterfalls, and lava flows of Descent 2 held a mystical beauty for me as a 17-year-old, and I'll admit that Parallax's level designs still pack an emotional punch to this day probably because their intricacy has yet to be duplicated.
Overall, I'm very pleased with my little trip down memory lane. I'm glad that some of the gaming experiences I've enjoyed over the years still hold value to me, and I'm sure it won't be long before I go thumbing through my dual 300-disk books again, searching for gems from gaming's colorful past.
God, i loved playing Descent. I still remember my dad telling me all the commands to type in in DOS so I could start playing this awesome game when was about 4 or 5. If I still had my Wii, this would be on the top of the list of games to get. Oh well, I guess I'll dust off my old copy then.
