Re:Games like this keep reminding me of Descent 3
on
Review: Serious Sam II
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· Score: 1
The problem with Descent 3 was the loss of smoothness and surrealism in the levels. In the first 2 games you could fly through the levels at top speed and when you hit a wall you would simply slide along it. In Descent 3 they added a lot of details (pipes, edges, other trimming, etc.) along the walls, AND they made them collidable. This would cause you to stop immediately if you happened to hit them. As somebody who liked to fly through the Descent 1&2 levels after clearing them just for the cool visual overload, this change was unforgivable.
Also, the engine in the first 2 games allowed the level geometry to intersect with itself, which made all manner of trippy and cool user-created levels to be made, and even the official levels managed to twist and turn enough to really mess up your orientation until you memorized them. Descent 3's levels were more realistic and didn't mess with your orientation enough. The outside levels were interesting, but they still had a confined "bowl" feeling to them.
Having said all that, I agree that the visuals in Descent 3 were very impressive, and I have dozens of save games that I can load up just to look at some of the coolest views. I'm still hoping that somebody makes a spiritual sequel to Descent 3 and puts back the gameplay from the first 2. One thing that didn't get the shaft was the AI though, which was as funny and ruthless as ever.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with Descent 3 was the loss of smoothness and surrealism in the levels. In the first 2 games you could fly through the levels at top speed and when you hit a wall you would simply slide along it. In Descent 3 they added a lot of details (pipes, edges, other trimming, etc.) along the walls, AND they made them collidable. This would cause you to stop immediately if you happened to hit them. As somebody who liked to fly through the Descent 1&2 levels after clearing them just for the cool visual overload, this change was unforgivable.
Also, the engine in the first 2 games allowed the level geometry to intersect with itself, which made all manner of trippy and cool user-created levels to be made, and even the official levels managed to twist and turn enough to really mess up your orientation until you memorized them. Descent 3's levels were more realistic and didn't mess with your orientation enough. The outside levels were interesting, but they still had a confined "bowl" feeling to them.
Having said all that, I agree that the visuals in Descent 3 were very impressive, and I have dozens of save games that I can load up just to look at some of the coolest views. I'm still hoping that somebody makes a spiritual sequel to Descent 3 and puts back the gameplay from the first 2. One thing that didn't get the shaft was the AI though, which was as funny and ruthless as ever.
DESCENT RULES!!!