Descent
Descent was one of the many PC video games that I played on my computer, back when you had to actually run them outside of Windows. It was also one of the many games I had that pretty much required the use of a joystick. I just realized that I've never owned a joystick peripheral since this one broke back in the 90s during a heated X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter dogfight. I guess that with the addition of an analog thumbstick on most all game controllers, the duty of a joystick for anything other than hardcore flight sims has been eliminated. I kinda miss that unique interface though. It reminds me of my first days of gaming. Before I had a console, on a PC your choices were primarily limited to a keyboard and a joystick. Even if the joystick really was just relaying the same information that the 4 arrow keys would on your keyboard.
When playing Descent however, you really needed to own a joystick. In fact, I've been meaning to get a hold of a copy off of GOG.com, but without a joystick I have a feeling I may not be able to properly enjoy it. Descent was and is a very unique sci-fi flight simulator slash shooter game where you found yourself in control of a spacecraft loaded with weapons as you navigate various mines located on different planets throughout our solar system. Since you are in space, everything is zero-gravity and as it's advertised on the box, this means you have full 3D travel in 360 degrees. This also means that it's very easy to get disoriented since there is no visual horizon and escaping the tunnels while they self-destruct at the end of each level is extremely difficult.
Descent was not over-complicated, flight controls were not very difficult and the craft actually handled more like a FPS game in no-clipping mode. This meant you could strafe around enemies, focusing your weapon's fire and make minor adjustments to your course as you make your way through some tight mine tunnels. It's a good thing too, because as I said the zero-g, no-horizon mines are confusing as hell to navigate, even with a fully rotatable 3D wireframe map. Descent was also one of those early DOS games that featured multiplayer gaming via modem or in a LAN setup. The kind of multiplayer gaming that was so rare because it meant lugging very heavy desktop rigs to your friend's house for a LAN party, or finding a time in which you could tie up the phone line along with a friend's for some messy modem fun.
Amazingly enough Descent hasn't seen a sequel since Descent 3 in 2000. Interplay has since claimed interest, but lacks the interest from publishers to continue the series any further. Descent has also twice now had cancelled releases on Nintendo systems. Once on the Nintendo 64 with 'Ultra Descent' and again in 2010 with the downloadable Wii-Ware version of Descent on the Wii. Personally I think we're overdue for a new Descent game, or at least a rebuilt of the first one. I think if they put enough effort into it, I'd buy a joystick again just to play it.
The exact joystick I gamed with in the 90s
Descent was one of the many PC video games that I played on my computer, back when you had to actually run them outside of Windows. It was also one of the many games I had that pretty much required the use of a joystick. I just realized that I've never owned a joystick peripheral since this one broke back in the 90s during a heated X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter dogfight. I guess that with the addition of an analog thumbstick on most all game controllers, the duty of a joystick for anything other than hardcore flight sims has been eliminated. I kinda miss that unique interface though. It reminds me of my first days of gaming. Before I had a console, on a PC your choices were primarily limited to a keyboard and a joystick. Even if the joystick really was just relaying the same information that the 4 arrow keys would on your keyboard. When playing Descent however, you really needed to own a joystick. In fact, I've been meaning to get a hold of a copy off of GOG.com, but without a joystick I have a feeling I may not be able to properly enjoy it. Descent was and is a very unique sci-fi flight simulator slash shooter game where you found yourself in control of a spacecraft loaded with weapons as you navigate various mines located on different planets throughout our solar system. Since you are in space, everything is zero-gravity and as it's advertised on the box, this means you have full 3D travel in 360 degrees. This also means that it's very easy to get disoriented since there is no visual horizon and escaping the tunnels while they self-destruct at the end of each level is extremely difficult. Descent was not over-complicated, flight controls were not very difficult and the craft actually handled more like a FPS game in no-clipping mode. This meant you could strafe around enemies, focusing your weapon's fire and make minor adjustments to your course as you make your way through some tight mine tunnels. It's a good thing too, because as I said the zero-g, no-horizon mines are confusing as hell to navigate, even with a fully rotatable 3D wireframe map. Descent was also one of those early DOS games that featured multiplayer gaming via modem or in a LAN setup. The kind of multiplayer gaming that was so rare because it meant lugging very heavy desktop rigs to your friend's house for a LAN party, or finding a time in which you could tie up the phone line along with a friend's for some messy modem fun.Amazingly enough Descent hasn't seen a sequel since Descent 3 in 2000. Interplay has since claimed interest, but lacks the interest from publishers to continue the series any further. Descent has also twice now had cancelled releases on Nintendo systems. Once on the Nintendo 64 with 'Ultra Descent' and again in 2010 with the downloadable Wii-Ware version of Descent on the Wii. Personally I think we're overdue for a new Descent game, or at least a rebuilt of the first one. I think if they put enough effort into it, I'd buy a joystick again just to play it.
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| The exact joystick I gamed with in the 90s |
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