Descent II

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.

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.

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)