Game:

Descent II (1996)

Duration: 3:04

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2

Of all the levels in my first replay of Descent 2, this was the area the freaked me out the most. I had taken such a long break from games like this, I was amazed at the imaginative level design. But I guess imagination like that comes natural when you're in the right environment and around the right people all the time.

The lava falls in the claustrophobic lower tunnel was what freaked me out the most when I reached that point. The many robots to fight in the reactor room was satisfying, too.

But this is my second time playing through it, so my reactions aren't so careful this time.

I wanted to finish that battle with the hulk robot at the end, but I accidentally backed out through the Exit. Oops.

And I just noticed that when the self-destruct alarm is going off, even the lava illumination fades in and out. I never noticed that before. If I were to ever render something like this, I'd probably do that differently - but then again the alarm might be less apparent with the lava illuminating everything.

From a game design perspective, I realize the shots coming from the reactor aren't much of a threat, but if they traveled any faster, the player wouldn't be able to enjoy any local dogfighting with the robots. The speed of the shots are threatening enough to force you to not stand still for too long, but not be so frantic about your movement that you can't tailor your flight style to how you want to fly while fighting the robots. Player interface to the game wins when it comes to offering fun. If how things happen force there to be only one way to play, you'll lose the majority of players.

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