Descent II

Gameplay

Like its predecessor Descent, Descent II is a six degrees of freedom shooter wherein the player controls a flying ship from a first-person perspective in zero-gravity. It is differentiated from standard first-person shooters in that it allows the player to move and rotate in any 3D direction. 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. Aboard the ship, the player can shoot enemies and fire flares to explore darkened areas.

In the game's single-player mode, the player must complete 24 levels where different types of AI-controlled robots will try to hinder the player's progress. In each level, the player must find and either destroy a reactor or defeat a boss, depending upon on which level the player is; each level that is a multiple of 4 has a boss instead of a reactor. Once the reactor (or boss) of a particular level has been destroyed (or defeated), the player must exit the level under a time limit, or else lose a life and all points earned on that level, before proceeding to the next level. Each level is composed of a set of rooms separated by white, blue, yellow, or red doors. White doors can be opened by simply firing weapons at them or bumping into them, however the other colored doors require a key of the corresponding color to be opened. Along the way, the player may also find and free a Guide-Bot, an assistant that shows the player the way to a specific target.

Within each level, the player may collect power-ups that enhance the ship's weaponry. Weapons are categorized into two different types: primary weapons and secondary weapons. Primary weapons range from a variety of laser weapons to the Plasma Cannon and the Vulcan Cannon, while secondary weapons include different types of missiles and mines. Most primary weapons consume energy in different rate, but some, such as the Vulcan Cannon, use their own type of ammunition. In contrast, all secondary weapons require their own ammunition suppliers. The player can also collect equipment items which grant special powers. For example, the Quad Laser modifies the laser weapons to fire four shots at once instead of the standard two, while the Afterburner allows the player to temporarily increase the acceleration and speed of the ship. Additionally, there may be human hostages hidden away in many of the stages, which can give an additional point bonus after completing a level if they are rescued.

The player's ship is protected by a shield which decreases when incurring damage from enemies, its own weapons, and collisions. If the shield is fully depleted, the player loses one life, all rescued hostages, and starts at the beginning of the level without any collected power-ups. Nevertheless, the player can reclaim the missing power-ups from the ruins of the destroyed ship. If a player loses all life points, the game will be over. Shield, energy, and ammunition suppliers are dispersed among the levels to help players increase their resources, while life points are gained by reaching a particular amount of the player's overall score. The player's score can be increased by either killing enemies or rescuing hidden human hostages.

Descent II also features a multiplayer mode wherein two to eight players can compete against each other in several game types. Notable game types include Anarchy, where the objective is to kill as many opponents as possible, and Capture the flag, in which two teams compete against each other to capture opposing flags. Aspects such as time limit, number of opponents killed to end a game, and map to play on, among others, can be customized to match player preference. The game also features a co-operative mode that allows players to work together to complete single-player levels. Multiplayer games support the IPX and UDP/IP protocols.

Plot

After the Material Defender has destroyed all of the mines in the solar system in the original Descent, he stops in the Asteroid belt for refueling. PTMC executive S. Dravis then contacts him and blackmails him to accept a new mission: "If you've studied your standard mercenary agreement, you would notice that PTMC reserves the right to keep you on retainer for up to 72 hours, post-mission. If you choose to decline further service, we may consider you in default of your contract, and your fee may be suspended, pending litigation. Good luck Material Defender. Dravis out."

The Material Defender's ship is fitted with a prototype warp core. He is then sent to clear out PTMC's deep space mines in planets beyond the Solar System. The planets are Zeta Aquilae, Quartzon, Brimspark, Limefrost Spiral, Baloris Prime, and Omega. The Omega system is subdivided into the Puuma Sphere and Tycho Brahe, with the latter being the final level of the game. The last mine on Tycho Brahe seems to run all through a planetoid, which is revealed in the final cutscene to be a large spaceship. After the planetoid/spaceship breaks apart, the Material Defender radios in to alert Dravis to his return home, but his warp drive malfunctions and he ends up in an unknown location. The camera then fades to that location and the ship appears, drifting towards the camera, heavily damaged and crackling with excess radiation.

Development

Descent II was developed by Parallax Software. The game was originally planned as an expansion pack to the original Descent. Both Descent and Descent II use a software renderer, but Descent II is also able to take advantage of the widening selection of 3D graphics accelerator video cards. Graphics were still 8-bit, but due to the additional CD storage space available, instead of using a single palette set during gameplay, each of the six four-level sets had its own 256-color set, and there were effectively six texture sets, each of which had basically the same textures but optimized them specifically for those colors and textures most used in the four-level set. Furthermore, multiple resolutions were supported. The original Descent uses indexed 8-bit color in DOS's display mode 13h, using 320 × 200 resolution. The Macintosh and later PC versions allow higher resolutions, such as 640 × 480. Descent II allows the resolution maximum to be stretched to 800 × 600, or 1280 × 1024 with the -superhires option.

Like Descent, Descent II operates on the premise of interconnected cubes. Sides of cubes can be attached to other cubes, or display up to two texture maps. Cubes can be deformed so long as they remain convex. To create effects like doors and see-through grating, walls could be placed at the connected sides of two cubes. Descent introduced an elaborate static lighting scheme as well as simple dynamic lighting, another advancement compared to Doom. The environment could be lit with flares, lights could flicker. Newly added for Descent II is that the environment can be darkened by shooting out the lights. The environment is also highly destructable and very interactive. Shooting out certain props, such as control panels and gate switches, would cause for secret doors to be opened.

After its release, a patch was issued to add support for early 3D accelerators running the S3 ViRGE chipset. Patches (also from Parallax) added Rendition Vérité and 3Dfx Voodoo support further down the line, and the Macintosh version could use RAVE-compatible 3D acceleration as well. The Descent II source code, like that of Descent before it, has been released to the general public.

Releases

The base Descent II game was released for MS-DOS, Mac OS and the Acorn Archimedes in 1996. Windows support was also made available. Later in 1996 came Descent Mission Builder 2, a Descent and Descent II level editor from third party developer Brainware. It is also capable of converting Descent levels into Descent II levels.

On November 15, 1996 came Descent II: Vertigo Series, an add-on for Descent II. It contains 22 new levels, two new multiplayer game types, new music, enemies, boss AI and Descent Mission Builder 2. Vertigo series was also released on the same day as a bundle including the base game, known as Descent II: The Infinite Abyss.

On April 30 in the U.S. and May 1, 1997 in the UK, the PlayStation version of Descent II, known as Descent Maximum was released. Instead of a straight port, it included new levels (for a total of 30), textures and FMV over the PC version of Descent II. On October 29, 1997 Descent I and II: The Definitive Collection was released. A compilation, it contains the full version of Descent, Descent II and Descent II: Vertigo Series. In 1998, Descent II was released in a standalone jewel case (as opposed to a box) by SoftKey, with an AOL trial offered on-disc.

Digital distribution

In January 2007, Descent II was re-released in downloadable form on GameTap. On September 9, 2008, it was bundled with Descent on GOG.com (then known as Good Old Games) as Descent + Descent 2. On February 19, 2014, Descent II was re-released on Valve's Steam digital distribution service.

In December 2015, a representative of Parallax Software responded to speculation regarding the removal of Descent, Descent II and Descent 3 from sale on Good Old Games. It was claimed that Parallax- still in existence- owned the copyrights to the first two games, but had not been paid royalties on their sale since 2007 by publisher Interplay. As a result, Parallax had terminated the 21 year sales agreement, meaning Interplay no longer had permission to distribute Descent or Descent II. (This post did not touch on the reasons for Descent 3's removal). Descent and Descent II remained available through Steam as of 30 December 2015, despite Parallax's assertion that this should not be the case. It has been removed from Steam as of 23 July 2016.

Reception

Upon release, Descent II received very positive reviews from video game critics. Chris Hudak, writing for GameSpot, commented: "If you don't like Descent at least a little bit, make no mistake, there is something wrong with you." Todd Vaughn of PC Gamer praised the game's graphics and improved multiplayer features. In a very positive review, Michael E. Ryan of PC Magazine considered the Guide-Bot to be a valuable addition to the game "because the automap is just as confusing as it was in the original game". Geoff Keighley of Computer Games Magazine highlighted positively the enemy AI, but expressed concerns about the lack of outdoor levels, although that feature was later, added in its sequel. Stephen Hill of TotalGames.net concluded: "If you don't own Descent, you'd be a fool to pass this sequel over. If you've played the first game to death and are looking for another challenge, then it is still worth a long, hard look." A reviewer for Maximum assessed that while Descent 2 is not a major advance over the original game, it has a much less frustrating difficulty and a Guide-Bot to make up for the confusion of the wire frame map, while retaining the 3D sensations and "ingenious structural design".