Descent (video game): Difference between revisions

At the start of ''Descent II'' (released in 1996), you are contacted by the same representative from the first game (now with the name [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Samuel Dravis]]) and assigned a new mission. Same job, new mines. These mines are far more remote than the solar system, so a [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|warp core prototype]] is installed in the Pyro in order to get there. After you've dealt with the final boss, it's time to "go home, get paid ... and sleep for the next two years." Unfortunately, your ship's warp core malfunctions at that very moment, knocks you out and dumps you into a random point in space. ''Descent II'' received a "port" in the form of ''Descent: Maximum'' for the [[PlayStation]], which was essentially a new game with 30 new levels similar to the previous games' but smaller and optimized for the console.

The third game, ''Descent 3'' (released in 1999), reveals that the warp core malfunction on your ship had sent you and your ship on a collision course with the sun. A salvage vessel owned by a group of [[Technical Pacifist|Technical Pacifists]]s saves you at the last moment, but is unable to repair your ship and dumps it into the Sun. Katelyn Harper, the director of this group, tells you, shortly after you recover, that Samuel Dravis deliberately caused your warp core to "malfunction", in an attempt to kill you so that he does not have to pay you for your services. Harper also mentioned that the PTMC had started to test the very virus that you had been sent out to eradicate, in the hopes that they can harness its destructive power and use it for their own means. Harper presses you into her service in return for rescuing you from a certain fiery death. ''Descent 3'' moved to larger, more open areas, overhauled the weapons selection system and tried to bring players from the now-dominant [[First-Person Shooter]] market in by making mouse and keyboard controls more playable. The plot also changed, with a plot and mission-oriented game instead of simply destroying reactors. Also, you are now fighting ''against'' the PTMC, on the side of your rescuers.

* [[Asteroids Monster]]: Red Spiders in ''Descent I'', Sidearms and Spiders in ''Descent II''.

** A few preset robots of different varieties, too—too: this was mostly restricted to Supervisor Droids near the exits in the secret levels in ''Descent I'' (each one containing [[Demonic Spiders]] that also act as [[Pinata Enemy|Piñata Enemies]]), but you never know when a random Smelter or TRN Racer in ''Descent II'' might release a swarm Hornets, or even something more threatening...

* [[Attack Its Weak Point]]: The [[Final Boss]] in ''Descent 2II'' is completely impervious to both energy and kinetic weapons unless they hit a glowing green triangle on its back. Made harder by the fact that unless you're cloaked, it tries to stay facing you to keep you from hitting that weak spot.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: Markers--: those innocuous glowing beacons that you can drop to mark your progress, and by far the most useful non-weapon your ship can carry. They can be navigational waypoints, message boxes, doorstops, [[Schmuck Bait]], remote cameras…hellcameras… hell, ''Descent 2II'''s Guide Bot drops one upon death to act as his tombstone.

* [[Borrowed Biometric Bypass]]: {{spoiler|Deactivating the virus, although the hand remains attached to the rest of the body.}}.

* [[Catastrophic Countdown]]: When you shoot the reactor in any of the mines, a voice announces a Self Destruct Sequence, and you have between 30 and 60 seconds (depending on difficulty) to get to the exit before the entire complex goes nuclear, while the screen shakes, lights flash, and sirens roar.

* [[Charged Attack]]: ''Descent'' and ''Decent II's''s Fusion Cannon can be charged up to deliver a more potent blast at the cost of additional energy. The Fusion Cannon in ''Descent 3'' has a fixed energy drain regardless of how long you charge it. [[Explosive Overclocking|Charge it too long, however, and it will damage your ship.]].

{{quote|''[Killer]'s Flare ignites [Victim]'s fuel leak''|Default kill message in ''Descent 3'' multiplayer if a player is killed by a Flare}}.

** [[Jack of All Stats]]: theThe Pyro-GL.

** [[Fragile Speedster]]: theThe Phoenix Interceptor.

** [[Mighty Glacier]]: theThe Magnum-AHT.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: In the first two games on Insane difficulty, enemy Concussion missiles fly faster than yours, and many weapons have a much higher rate of fire for robots on Insane than for the player. The robot weapons are actually separate weapons from the player's in the game's code. On the other hand, some of the robots, such as Drillers, Heavy Drillers, and Fusion Hulks, use code from the player's weapons, meaning they do the same amount of damage on all difficulties.

* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: Zig-zagged in ''Descent 3''. There are some places that have lava or are otherwise very hot, but your ship won't take damage unless you come in contact with the flames. However, there is one point in the final stage that has a lava pump station where you'll get burned if you fly into the lava shafts.

** Averted on Level 9 in ''Descent 3'', since the stage takes place on Mercury. Because the planet is very close to the sun, going into the sunlight will burn you.

{{quote|''"[[It's Up to You|This can only be done by the Material Defender in situ.]]."

"Translation from [[Starfish Language|bureaucratese]]: they're hosed and I'm the only one who can cut their losses. That's the trouble with working for the largest bureaucracy in human history. [[Sarcasm Mode|Hail the glorious Post-Terran Minerals Corporation. Huzzah.]]."''|The MD, after Dravis explains why only he is capable of clearing the infected robots.}}

** The [[Difficulty SpikesSpike]]s are a little harder to pinpoint in the second game, partly because the enemy AI improves throughout. With the expansion of AI varieties, even the [[Mooks]] introduced in Zeta Aquilae can be a lot tougher to deal with once you face the much faster, more evasive ones set to "Sniper" mode in Baloris Prime or the Omega System.

* [[Elite Mook]]: Particularly exemplified in Level 12 of ''Descent 3''. In addition to the standard array of Gyros, Tailbots, Orbots, Threshers, Six-Guns, Stingers and Tubbses, your opponent in the Level 1 Arena is an upgraded Stinger {{spoiler|that can move ''very fast''}}, the Level 2 Arena features an upgraded Thresher {{spoiler|that is [[Made of Iron]]}}, the Level 3 Arena boss is an upgraded Six-Gun {{spoiler|with [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]}}, and the Level 4 Arena boss is an upgraded Tailbot {{spoiler|that shoots Frag missiles}}. If that isn't enough, {{spoiler|you have to destroy ''another'' one of ''each'' of these four robots before you can face up against the boss for that level!}}! And ''then'', {{spoiler|somewhat different, but still far above-average versions of the Stinger, Thresher and Tailbot show up multiple times in the last level, Dravis' Stronghold.}}.

* [[Emergency Weapon]]: The Vulcan Cannon in the first two games, mostly because it uses its own ammo instead of the ship's energy like every other primary weapon. Still fairly threatening because of it being [[Hit Scan]] in a game where most weapons fire very slow projectiles, despite weak damage—adamage... a problem the [[Game Breaker|Gauss Cannon]] rectifies and then some in ''Descent II''.

** The Flare consumes no energy in ''Descent 3'' if you are flying either Pyro. See [[Cherry Tapping]] above.

** ''Descent 3'' has the ''Mercenary'' expansion, a short, seven-level campaign, starring an unnamed CED pilot {{spoiler|[[Face Heel Turn|who eventually becomes a PTMC mercenary]]}}, that takes place before ''Descent 3'', contemporaneous with the events of ''Descent II'''s ending. It also included a level editor, a collection of fan-made multiplayer maps, and the Black Pyro, whose most notable feature is the ability to dual-fire some missiles ([[Awesome but Impractical|although it cannot fire if there is only one of those missiles in store]]).

* [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]]: ''Descent 2II'' gives the warp drive prototype, that allows the player to travel interstellar distances in less that 72 hours.

** Examples from ''Descent 3'' that follow this trope are the {{spoiler|Homunculus in Level 6}} and, from ''Descent 3: Mercenary'', the {{spoiler|Alien Queen from Level 4}}. Examples that avert this trope are the final bosses in both ''Descent 3'' and ''Descent 3: Mercenary''.

* [[For Massive Damage]]: The final boss in ''Descent II'' can only be harmed by shooting a little green pyramid-thing attached to its butt. This is made harder by the fact that it usually rotates to hide that part from you. {{spoiler|The weak spot can be hit with an earthshaker missile, smart missile, or another rebounding attack, as long as it doesn't teleport.}}.

* [[Harder Than Hard]]: Insane, which downgrades all the shield and energy powerups, upgrades all the enemies, and all [[Mook Maker|Mook Makers]]s spawn indefinitely (in the first two games). ''Descent 3'' is slightly more scripted with the enemy spawns and no longer makes them infinite, but instead upgrades enemies even further by making them hard to hit.

* [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]: In true classic shooter tradition, your ship can carry a good deal more guns and missiles than should fit on the thing's physical frame ... not to mention the hostages in the first two games, who are clearly bigger than the ship itself. A ship whose cockpit shows room for only one person.

* [[Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels]]: Trainee, Rookie, Hotshot, Ace, and Insane.

* [[Indy Escape]]: One appears in Level 5 of ''Descent 3: Mercenary''. Flying down a tunnel one tunnel in the ruins causes a giant boulder to drop down and chase you.

** ''Descent II's''s Flash Missile, which makes your screen go white momentarily upon impact, and of course the maddening ''homing'' Flash Missile.

* [[Invisible Monsters]]: Variations of the Medium Lifter, brown Medium Hulk (see [[Palette Swap]] below) and Vulcan Driller in the first game and the Smelter and Diamond Claw in the second game. Some of these can take more damage and most are worth more points than their non-cloaked counterparts—counterparts... the exception is the cloaked Driller, which is for some reason 600 points to its less durable and visible counterpart's 1000.

* [[La Résistance]]: The [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|rag-tag Martian researchers]] who rescue MD 1032 from a fiery fate in ''Descent 3's''s intro become this over the course of the game's plot.

* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: The Mercury, Mars, and Io levels in the original ''Descent'', and the Brimspark levels in ''Descent II''.

* [[The Lost Woods]]: Puuma Sphere in the second game, although its theme is often just labeled "Alien 2" to Baloris Prime's "Alien 1.".

* [[The Maze]]: Even with (and sometimes because of) the 3D wireframe map, some mines are so twisty that navigation becomes a nightmare. The second game introduces a Guide Bot that can be rescued and commanded to find the various necessities. [[Robot Buddy|He even talks to you!]]!

** [[The Maze]] becomes prone to sparking anything from [[Heroic BSOD|a bout of hopeless despair]] to [[Villainous Breakdown|a full-blown spaz-out episode]] in certain levels of the first game (especially Level 13, which almost takes the full thirty seconds on [[Harder Than Hard|Insane]]) when it comes to finding the exit before the base explodes. Generally, the exit is always right next to the reactor, but for some levels you have to memorize the location of the exit in a labyrinth of corridors and rooms where the direction you're supposed to be going in could be ''any'' direction. When you start a new level and come across the exit almost immediately, a feeling of enormous dread is going to settle onto your shoulders like a cloak made out of lead.

** More or less avoided in the third game (with CED Expediator Dreadnaught being a notable exception), but brought back in ''Descent 3: Mercenary.''.

** A few of the bosses in ''Descent II'' will also generate [[Mooks]] when they are hit with certain weapons (usually just the ones they're immune to).

* [[Nerf]]: The [[Awesome but Impractical|Fusion Cannon]] from the first game wasn't anywhere near as powerful in the second, because the damage it dealt was cut in half and most of the new robots had higher HP. The Vulcan Cannon from the first two games and the [[Game Breaker|Gauss Cannon]] from only the second were seemingly combined into the less powerful Vauss Cannon in the third.

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: On Level 8 of the first game, you'll hear the piercing cry of Drillers and warbling of Secondary Lifters as they rush and blast you. Eventually, you get used to this, until you get to an area where you think you're safe, because you can't hear bots nearby. {{spoiler|There's an Advanced Lifter right behind you.}}. They are the quietest bot in the game by a long shot, and their legacy lives on in the Old Scratch from ''Descent 3''.

* [[Outrun the Fireball]]: theThe ending [[Cutscene]] of every level in the first two games, whether in-movie or rendered. (Andand why is it [[Always Close]]?)

* [[Painfully-Slow Projectile]]: Anything that isn't [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|a kinetic primary weapon]], Omega Cannon, or Mercury Missile, as well as certain enemy projectiles.

** A few other [[Palette Swap]] Mooks were more regular, though: in the first game, Platform Bots, which would shoot lasers when peach or a [[Macross Missile Massacre]] when green; Medium Hulks, which would shoot Concussion Missiles when brown or Homing Missles (and take three times as much damage) when red. The first boss in each of the first two games [[Boss in Mook Clothing|would later be recycled like this as well]]: the orange, Smart-Missile-firing Level 7 boss in the first game became purple and wielded a Fusion Cannon starting in Level 23 and the secret levels, and the Homing Flash Missile-wielding "Red Fatty" of Level 4 in ''Descent II'' became orange and wielded a Phoenix Cannon and Mercury Missiles from Level 9 on.

* [[Pinata Enemy]]: The Supervisor Droids in the first game usually contain several shield powerups or invincibility, but a few are more like a [[Chest Monster]]: each [[Secret Level]] has a door near the exit which opens once the reactor is blown and contains a few Supervisor Droids [[Subverted Trope|that split into]] [[Demonic Spiders]] [[Double Subversion|which, when defeated, contain powerful weapons and extra lives.]].

* [[Pop Star Composer]]: Ogre of [[Skinny Puppy]] contributed the songs "Glut", "Ratzetz", and "Rusty" to the second game and its expansion. It also featured an instrumental version of [[Type O Negative]]'s "Haunted".

* [[Punctuation Shaker]]: Several level titles in the last third of ''Descent II'': "Y'Tor III,", "[[Incredible Hulk|Drec'Nilbie K'Luh,]]", "N'Neri Ring,", etc.

** In ''Descent II'', found via a hidden [[Cool Gate]] in a given level, the secret levels end when either you've destroyed the reactor and escaped or you die once. [[Lost Forever|Either way, you're bounced back into the level you entered the secret one from and you can't get back in on that playthrough.]].

* [[Sequel Difficulty Spike]]: The enemy AI was improved a lot in ''Descent II'', making various [[Mooks]] either faster or able to fire a lot more rounds at a time than their closest counterparts in the first game. Others may be a lot smarter, able to open doors or fly away from oncoming projectiles. The AI improvements [[Difficulty Spike|even continue within the game]], as the same robots on later levels tend to have much harder-to-deal-with firing rates (a Smelter in Level 18, for example, can fire about a dozen shots at a time compared to the three or four when they were first introduced in Level 2) while the [[Mooks]] in ''Descent I'' did not get any tougher as the game went on.

* [[Shifting Sand Land]]: Baloris Prime in the second game, although its theme is often just labeled "Alien 1" to Puuma Sphere's "Alien 2.".

* [[Spread Shot]]: ''Descent's''s [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Spreadfire Cannon]], which fires three [[Energy Ball|energy blasts]] horizontally or vertically, alternating on each shot. It is joined by the [[The Same but More|five-blast-firing]] Helix gun in ''Descent II''.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: ''Descent 2II'' is rife with them. To wit:

** There are also some of these among the game's plethora of pig references. The first levels's red key, for example, is in a room containing a lava pit, two PESTs, and a PIG guarding either side of a grate. Or rather, two PIGs on a grill over an open heat with PESTs buzzing around them.

** And then there's Wingnut, the Guide Bot's alter ego. Wingnut is basically John Rambo with a [[Hyperspace Arsenal]] of Smart and Mega Missiles. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|In case the name wasn't a clue,]], the Guide Bot is a ''utility'' robot built for ''navigational assistance.''.

** While passing through the hangars mentioned below in ''Decent 3: Mercenary'', Level 3, you might notice that each hanger has a control room overlooking the docking platform. You'll be able to access those control rooms later on. From there, you can use the switches to torture the poor robots guarding the hangar by decompressing the hangar, whacking them with Bay 2's crane, crushing them using Bay 3's magnetic lifts, and burning them alive with Bay 2's flame purge function. And no, this has nothing at all to do with any of your objectives.

* [[Violation of Common Sense]]: In order to access the first secret area in ''Descent 3: Mercenary'' Level 3, {{spoiler|you need to get sucked out to space (i.e. kill yourself) via the secondary bay door of any hangar}}.

* [[A Worldwide Punomenon]]: Quite a few in the level names in ''Descent II'', including Level 1 being named "Ahayweh Gate" (see [[Fun with Acronyms]] above). Level 2 is named "Turnabout Bore" as a reference to its figure-8 design, Level 21 is named "N'neri Ring" and is almost all cylinders, and Level 20 (the second-to-last boss level) is "[[Get Out!|Gytowt]] Station.".

''[[Self-Destruct Mechanism|Self Destruct Sequence]]''... '''''[[Timed Mission|Activated.]]'''''

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[[Category:DescentAcorn Archimedes]]