Game:

Descent II (1996)

Duration: 5:14

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After a few attempts, I finally got him. The last part of the video is the endgame movie, which starts the moment the boss explodes. I thought I would have to flee to the the Exit as with all the other levels.

Unfortunately, I was hoping the melee would have more variety to it, but the boss rotates so fast, and his only vulnerable spot is on his backside, so it's hard to keep him lined up to take the Helix cannon and dodge the Shaker missiles he fires. So I had to resort to staying powered up on cloaks and invulnerabilities for the duration of the fight.

One of the green levels had a couple really deadly robot traps in it, but I wasn't exactly being cautious, so I blame myself for getting blown up in them. Initially I thought the placement of the robots was a little cheap, but these are the final levels of the game, so it's only fair to expect myself to be more cautious. Still, there are good ways to key a player off that they might get intensely attacked when emerging into an area, instead of just putting a robot there, seemingly with almost no purpose other than to punish you for not being careful. I guess other games handle that by foreshadowing structurally with something that conveys dread and then putting you through a horrific fight. But everything is on a spectrum. Some things will seem well put together, others will seem cheaply done.

Anyway, overall I guess I enjoyed this latest playthrough of the game. By far, I liked it most in the lava levels when I ran into areas that forced me to fly through pouring lava falls. The level arrangement in some parts were almost overwhelmingly foreboding, and I really liked that aspect with all the accompanying energetic challenges. It's been a while since I played a game that made me feel that way again. Good stuff. We need more of this these days. Games today are too homogenized, and more should provide experiences for people that crave the kind I got with Descent 2. When I played a beta for Secret Weapons over Normandy, the completely easy flight model to make it more accessible for console players made me really sad. Games haven't been the same ever since.

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