Descent II

Overview

Descent II is a 1996 first-person shooter. It was developed by Parallax Software and published by Interplay. It was released on MS-DOS, PC, Mac OS, Mac OS X, PlayStation, and Amiga. As of 2006, the game is available on the online game service GameTap, and since 2008 it has been available on GOG. In the game, players take control of the Material Defender on another mission given to him by the Post Terran Mineral Corporation (PTMC).

Descent II was originally planned as an expansion to Descent, but it eventually evolved into a full game. It was followed by Descent³ in 1999.

Original Soundtrack

1. Title by Brian Luzietti
2. Crawl by Brian Luzietti
3. Glut by Ogre of Skinny Puppy & Mark Walk
4. Gunner Down by Brian Luzietti
5. Cold Reality by Larry Peacock, Brad Cross, and Leslie Spitzer
6. Ratzez by Nivek Ogre/Skinny Puppy & Mark Walk
7. Crush by Brian Luzietti
8. Untitled Track by Mark Morgan
9. Haunted (Instrumental Remix) by Type O Negative
10. Are You Descent? by Ron Valdez
11. Techno Industry by Johann Langlie
12. Robot Jungle by Johann Langlie

Definite Collection/Infinite Abyss Soundtrack (Descent 2)

1. Title by Brian Luzietti
2. Cold Reality (Extended Remix) by Larry Peacock, Brad Cross & Leslie Spitzer
3. Crawl (Extended Remix) by Brian Luzietti
4. Gunner Down (Extended Remix) by Brian Luzietti
5. Ratzes (Extended Remix) by Nivek Ogre/Skinny Puppy and Mark Walk
6. Techno Industry (Extended Remix) by Johann Langlie
7. Are You Descent? (Extended Remix) by Ron Valdez
8. Robot Jungle (Extended Remix) by Johann Langlie

Definite Collection/Infinite Abyss Soundtrack (Descent 2: Vertigo)

1. Crush by Brian Luzietti
2. Glut (Extended Remix) by Nivek Ogre/Skinny Puppy and Mark Walk
3. Haunted (Instrumental Version) by Type-O Negative
4. New Track #1 (Uncredited - Cutscene music from Descent 1 for PS1)
5. Untitled Track by Mark Morgan
6. New Track #2 (Uncredited)
7. New Track #3 (Uncredited - Track from the Mac version of Descent 1)

The uncredited tracks are likely by Brian Luzietti, Larry Peacock or Johann Langlie.

Story

After what the Material Defender thought was the end of a long day, having destroyed all the mines in the solar system, he returns to a Post Terran Minerals Corporation (PTMC) base located in the asteroid belt. Eager to get his money and return home, Dravis confronts him with a new mission stating that, "The PTMC reserves the right to keep you on retainer for up to 72 hours, post-mission." Material Defender then has a warp core retrofitted onto his ship that extends his reach to distant planets with PTMC mines outside the solar system.

Gameplay

The Descent series is known for popularizing the use of full 3D rendering, allowing for six degrees of rotation. As the player explore tunnels and mines as the Material Defender, many enemies must be destroyed in order to proceed. A variety of weapons and upgrades can be gathered to further speed up the destruction of these foes. To find the core of the level, certain color-coded keys have to be found as well. Once the core is found and destroyed, a countdown timer begins, and the player has a certain amount of time to find the exit, and escape the level. In some levels, instead of a core reactor, there is a boss. The boss must then be defeated as a core reactor would be destroyed.

Saving can be done at any time. It saves the exact location of the player, all items, weapons, enemies, and the Guide-Bot.

The Guide-Bot is a new feature in Descent II. It serves as a companion robot that leads the player to objectives in the mission. The Guide-Bot shoots flares that can injure both the player and enemies. It is invulnerable to laser fire, but a large amount of missiles from the player or enemies can destroy it.

Planets

• Zeta Aquilae
• Quartzon
• Brimspark
• Limefrost Spiral
• Baloris Prime
• Omega (divided into two: Puuma Sphere and Tycho Brahe)

Levels

• Level 1: Ahayweh Gate
• Level 2: Turnabout Bore
• Level 3: Wenl Mine
• Level 4: Robby Station
• Secret Level 1: Segment City
• Level 5: Seaspring Gorge
• Level 6: The Well
• Level 7: Coralbank Quarry
• Level 8: Riverbed Mine
• Secret Level 2: Hurdle Chase
• Level 9: Firewalker Mine
• Level 10: Lavafalls Extraction Ctr.
• Level 11: Coalbank Shaft
• Level 12: Magnacore Station
• Secret Level 3: Mephisto Hardcore
• Level 13: Sleetstone Tunnels
• Level 14: Arcticon Corridor
• Level 15: Icehammer Caverns
• Level 16: Terrafrost Catacombs
• Secret Level 4: Galacia Caverns
• Level 17: Y'tor III
• Level 18: Drec'nilbie K'luh
• Level 19: Nep-Hilim S'crub
• Level 20: Gytowt Station
• Secret Level 5: Ascent Level 1
• Level 21: N'neri Ring
• Level 22: Kwod A'rior
• Level 23: Iwihml
• Level 24: Tycho Brahe
• Secret Level 6: Chain Reaction

New Weapons

The game has all of the weapons from the previous game, with ten new weapons.

Primary Weapons

Super Laser

- Will instantly boost the Laser level to level five, but it can be upgraded to level six (yellow and white lasers respectively).

Gauss Cannon

- Fires explosive Vulcan Ammo, using up a larger amount of ammo. It fires at a slower rate than the Vulcan Cannon, though, so overall it uses less ammo.

Helix Cannon

- A fast-firing, rotating cannon that is similar to the Spreadfire Cannon.

Phoenix Cannon

- Fast-firing energy bolts that bounce of walls, allowing the player to hit enemies multiple times.

Omega Cannon

- This cannon shoots homing lightning bolts that temporarily blinds the target.

Flare

- Flares can be fired to light up dark areas. It only costs one energy per two shots to fire.

Secondary Weapons

Flash Missile

- A weak missile that temporarily stuns the target.

Guided Missile

- Can either be guided by the player or turned into a regular homing missile.

Smart Mine

- Similar to a Proximity Bomb; releases homing pulses.

Mercury Missile

- Fastest of all missiles, but it doesn't home in on targets.

Earthshaker Missile

- Initial impact shakes the entire level; it leaves an afterburner trail and releases smaller homing missiles.

Items

Shield

- The trademark blue spheres. Varying amounts of these are scattered around the level, depending on what level the player is on.

Energy

- Flashing yellow stars that give certain amounts of energy.

Afterburner

- Allows for the player to go quicker.

Converter

- Transfers energy into shield at a rate of two energy to one shield.

Cloaking Device

- Makes the player invisible for about thirty seconds.

Headlight

- Improves lighting by a lot, but steadily uses energy.

Extra Life

- A green sphere with the ship inside it. Gains the player an extra life.

Invulnerability

- Makes the player invincible for about thirty seconds.

Ammo Rack

- Doubles the amount of ammo space.

Multiplayer

Like Doom , Descent offers excellent competitive multiplayer game play over a LAN . Descent is also touted as being one of the first games that allowed on-the-fly joining of multiplayer games, whereas in Doom it is presumed that all players have to be queued prior to initiating the match. With the advent of the Internet, IPX emulators such as Kali and Kahn which actually combined better compression for IPX games with its own IRC network for users to meet in a standalone client, more and more people began to play Descent and Descent II over the Internet. Descent II was especially popular online due to its support for short packets and variable packet rate -- options which were crucial for smooth Internet play.

Descent 2:Mission builder

An authorized level editor for descent 1 and 2 gave users the tools necessary to design, create and implement levels for the commercial versions of Descent and Descent II. It is also capable of converting Descent levels into Descent II levels. This program is also capable of converting Descent 1 missions into Descent 2 missions

Descent 2: The vertigo series

An add-on for Descent II containing twenty additional levels (and three secret levels), plus the officially licensed Descent 2: Mission Builder. Remixed versions of some music tracks from the original Descent II were also included on the CD in Redbook CD-audio format, an interesting addition to what is a simple level pack. It was lauded for its creative level design and the introduction of many exotic robots and two new bosses though some levels also borrowed robots from Descent. "Flickering" lights were also a new feature to visual effects.

Minimum System Requirements

• Processor: Intel 486DX 50MHz or faster
• Graphics: 256 color VGA or SVGA monitor
• Memory: 8MB for DOS or 16MB for Windows
• Operating System: DOS 5.0 or Windows 95
• Hard Disk Install Requirement: At least 30MB
• Optical Drive Speed: 2x CD-ROM
• Miscellaneous: Spare time... lots of it.

Recommended System Requirements

• Processor: Intel Pentium 90MHz or faster
• Memory: 16MB RAM
• Sound Card: Stereo 16-Bit sound card with MIDI support
• Optimal game controller: A joystick with twist function
• Miscellaneous: A player who is not prone to motion-sickness