Descent³

aka: Descent III, Descent³: La saga continue ..., Descent³: The Saga Continues..., Descent³: die Saga wird fortgesetzt
Moby ID: 1051
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

The third installment of the famous 3d shooter Descent. Hop in your Pyro-GX, dive at high speed into the mines and blast hordes of robots without mercy!

Descent³ features the same 360 degrees, three axis action that the players of Descent and Descent II have come to love, but this time the game has far improved 3D graphics, more diversified objectives, more lethal weapons, and 3 different ships you can pilot.

And for the first time in the Descent series, you can actually fly out of the mines and explore outdoor areas.

Descent³ was also designed with multiplayer play in mind, and features a lot of mutiplayer game modes: the classic deathmatch, teamplay, capture the flag, monsterball (a kind of soccer with giant balls) and entropy.

Spellings

  • Descent 3 - Alternative spelling
  • 天旋地转3 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

183 People (83 developers, 100 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 47 ratings with 4 reviews)

Very nice installment in the Descent series, but not the best.

The Good
First of all the graphics in this game are top class! The lighting and the smoke effects are some of the best i have ever seen and the level design is also a fine piece of work. The sounds is fabulous. It has many of the same sounds from the other 2 prequels of Descent.

The Bad
It didnt have the same feeling as the other parts. This one doesn't give you that 'Deep below the surface" feeling and the controls are a little harder than the prequels.

The Bottom Line
This game is a must have if you loved the others. But still the others were better.

Windows · by Goteki45 (323) · 2001

May be the best game out there

The Good
This game is great because it has more detail, and graphics. Like in all Descent games, you can fly up and down, left, and right, all over, and with games like Doom, you're only on the floor. Descent 3 has better detail and graphics than the other two. This one is different than Descent 1 and 2, being that you will always have headlights, a guide bot and an afterburner! What else is different is that you have objectives, rather than find keys, and destroy a reactor or boss.

The Bad
When aiming down or at some angle, it will automatically auto level your ship within a few seconds if you're not moving the ship. So when firing at an angle, fire quickly, or slowly move the stick so it won't auto level. I guess this is good for beginners, but when your ready to fire a missile or a bomb, ESPECIALLY the "Black Shark", you'd hate to fire it when you're being auto leveled, close to a wall! OUCH!!! Also, this isn't really a bad thing, nor any problem with Descent, but some places are VERY COOL, that I don't want to fight any robots, but just cruise around and see what amazing things they came up with.

The Bottom Line
I think overall, it's a great game. You have some great music, great weapons, and very nice detail and amazing scenes. For beginners, you may feel ill from motion. Just take a break, and play a little at a time. Before you know it, you'll be flying in circles, driving very crazy and nutty, and not feel any motion illness. If you want a great game with cool action, and being able to move around freely, this is the game for you!!

Windows · by Jeremy Bailey (4) · 2002

My Favorite Descent "Descentdant!"

The Good
This version of Descent seemed to add a little more purpose to the series. It is very nice that this version has objectives! A Perfect Dark version of Descent, if you will. It explains the plot of the complete trilogy extremely well, and also isn't half as repetitive as the other versions. (In the other ones, you blow up everything and fly out of the mine.)

The Bad
The levels were REALLY long. If you started a level at 11 at night, you could be there until 2a.m. And my computer is from 1997, so its really slow on it. And there is one really fat ship you fly. It sucks.

The Bottom Line
If you found the first two Descents boring, but liked the feel of the game, this is the one to buy. I'd also recommend the Mercenary version. It explains the story from every viewpoint.

Windows · by Peter Hoeft (1) · 2001

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Novels

There are several Descent³ novels in your local bookstore, written by Peter Telep (who also wrote novelization of Space: Above and Beyond, and Wing Commander: The Movie, among others)

Trailer

The 1st disc came with a trailer for the late lamented Star Trek: The Vulcan Fury game. This was to be the ultimate trekkie adventure game, complete with a script by Trek author DC Fontana. The game used photorealistic renders of the cast of TOS. You could even see the drawn eyebrows on Spock! For some reason, Interplay canceled this game.

Information also contributed by Scott Monster

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Related Sites +

  • Planet Descent
    One of the biggest Descent sites around the internet
  • The Descent-Network
    Site Description: "The Descent Network hosts the biggest websites for Descent-related information and download since mid of 97. Since mid of 1998 we are extending our web to cover all other games released or about-to-be released by Volition, Inc. and Outrage Entertainment. This URL, descent-network.com, is there to combine the sites and to serve as a gateway to the Descent Network sites, as well as offering shared resources." My Opionion: Its the largest collection of stuff for the Descent Series that I have ever seen, thousands of levels for Descent 1,2,3 and Freespace 1,2. Numerous contests going on, like level building contests and robot building contests. Also has a whole arsonal of Descent robot and level editing tools for download. If you like descent, you will LOVE this site.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1051
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Cochonou.

Macintosh added by Corn Popper.

Additional contributors: Trixter, Kasey Chang, Zaroba, jean-louis, CaesarZX, Patrick Bregger, Plok.

Game added March 15, 2000. Last modified January 24, 2024.