Descent II

aka: Descent 2
Moby ID: 694
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

The second Descent game features new levels, new weapons and new robot enemies. It also comes with helpful ideas for the player like the Guide-bot, the ability to fly with afterburner or energy-to-shield converter that many times they become a must!

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Credits (DOS version)

77 People (63 developers, 14 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 85% (based on 28 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 74 ratings with 4 reviews)

A great FPS with a cool twist!

The Good
Most of all I like the fact that I picked up this nifty game at EBGames for only $4. The gameplay of Descent 2 is similar to that of a different first person shooter, but the flying controls are awesome. For example, you can flip your ship upside-down and fly around using the ceiling as the floor and vice versa. There are many different powerups in this game, including homing missiles, afterburner, and plasma laser add-on. There are five levels of difficulty, but I usually play on the lowest setting. The best part about this game is the diverse selection of enemies. You might expect them all to to the same thing- shoot you, right? Actually, there are many different enemy jobs; one critter steals you weapons, others send out little drones to attack you, and some enemies try to draw you away from the area.

The Bad
This game is pretty difficult, and hard to get the hang of. The default keyboard controls seem to require three hands to use, but this can be fixed by changing them. Also, I wish that there was more of a storyline to this game.

The Bottom Line
All in all, Descent 2 is a fairly good first person shooter. I would recommend it to any action/fps fan who is looking for a change of pace and does not mind a "grab the key and leave" style gameplay.

Windows · by Lord Matthias (11) · 2002

Didn't like the first, didn't like the second.

The Good
A complete engine overhaul make this one a true eye-candy. Also, multiplayer support has been revamped and improved, which is also good. But it's otherwise not very different from the original.

The Bad
The same as in I: an unintuitive control system and unclever level design. The sound effects have been improved but are still sub-par. The music in Descent II is not nearly as good as in the first, and gameplay is just plain boring.

The Bottom Line
If you liked I you'll like II, though it's not really different.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4534) · 2000

The same game with better graphics and better levels

The Good
The first 4 levels of this game have boring level design much like the original Descent, but if you get past those and move onto the next planet you'll find the levels are completely insane and finding your way out after the reactor blows will sometimes seem impossible! The graphics are a lot better too, and the multiplayer is the same. I suggest that if you are interested in playing multiplayer D2 you try this site for finding a game. It provides multiplayer like kali and it's free and it also has a chat directed at Descent players in particular (though it supports any game using IPX for multiplayer).

The Bad
The insane levels are sometimes too insane. I mean, getting 15 seconds to find the exit in a large twisted maze of tunnels is a bit too difficult!

The Bottom Line
Fun. (if you happen to like this sort of game)

DOS · by wossname (203) · 2000

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

3D card support

The 1.2 patch provides support for 3Dfx and Rendition Video cards. The gameplay is the same, but the blockiness was smoothed out.

Arcade version

The 3D accelerated version of this game served as a basis for the Game Arc Arcade System version at the Gameworks arcade in Seattle which opened on 15 March 1997.

References

One of the game's cheat codes is FREESPACE. This was also the name of the next game from the developer.

References to the game

A voice sample from the game was used in the song Plasticity (on the same-titled record) by the industrial band Front Line Assembly.

Soundtrack

Descent II features music by the New York goth metal band Type O Negative in the form of a very shortened, instrumental version of their song Haunted, as well as two tracks written by industrial legend OhGr (formerly of Skinny Puppy), called Ratzez and Glut.

T-shirt

The original marketing slogan for Descent II was "You're going down... AGAIN!" Players could even get a T-Shirt featuring that slogan if they purchased the game from CompUSA.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #123 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list

Information also contributed by FloodSpectre, NeoMoose, phlux, Rantanplan and Scott Monster.

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Related Sites +

  • 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.
  • The Official Interplay DESCENT II Page
    official game page at Interplay's website from 1997, preserved by the Wayback Machine

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 694
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Accatone.

Linux added by Plok. Macintosh added by Scaryfun.

Additional contributors: Zaroba, tarmo888, Patrick Bregger, Plok, MrFlibble, Abhisit Chanmana.

Game added January 8, 2000. Last modified November 9, 2024.