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Descent ][ Co-op on Kali.
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Descent 3 Anarchy on PXO.
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Descent is a unique first-person shooter: instead of running around fragging enemies, the player
flies a ship (the Pyro GX or a variant) through twisting, turning Escherian 3-D mines, where up
becomes down and left becomes right. Unlike other, mouse-controlled first-person shooters,
Descent demands joystick control. This, combined with a game environment in which movement in any
direction, at any attitude, is possible (and even necessary), makes for a steep learning curve,
and Descent has not developed the mass following of many other games. Still, the series has
gained a small but hardcore following. Descent3 features
several gameplaye modes:
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Single player |
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Anarchy |
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Robo Anarchy |
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Team Anarchy |
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Hyper Anarchy |
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Hoard |
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Co-operative |
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Capture the Flag |
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Monsterball |
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Entropy |
Anarchy is the
conventional every-man-for-himself deathmatch. Robo Anarchy adds the single-player robots into the mix. Team
Anarchy is like conventional Anarchy mode, but with players divided into teams. In Hyper Anarchy, the player
carrying the Hyper Orb gets more points for each kill, but drops the orb upon being killed. Hoard is similar
to Anarchy, but with an addition. When a player is killed by another, a glowing green orb is dropped, along
with normal powerups. Any player picking up this Hoard orb and taking it to a scoring station recieves a point.
If a player scores while holding more than one orb, more points are awarded. Hence, the motivation to
"hoard" orbs to gain more points. The only drawback: being killed results in the orbs being up for grabs to
another player. Co-operative mode allows up to four players to take on the single-player levels
and robots. Capture the flag pits from two to four teams (depending on the level set) against
each other in the classic flag game. Monsterball is a another team variation, in which two teams
play a sort of 3-D soccer game, attempting to move a giant ball into a goal, using various
weapons or by simply ramming the ball with the ship. Entropy is a more complex team variant, with
two to four teams attempting to capture each other's bases by carrying a requisite number of
viruses into them. A more detailed explanation of Entropy game play and tactics is at
Descent3D.
It is also possible to create new game modes via mods, one such is Team Hoard. New mods continue to be released,
which should extend the life of Descent3
considerably. See also D3 Team Play and
GameSpot's
Descent 3 Game Guide.
Dan Wentz on Descent (as originally posted to alt.games.descent, 30 August 1998)
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