Buy Descent 3

I love the fact that both retribution and mercenary come in same pack! DESCENT 3 4EVER!! <3

While I do have fond memories of this game, it has not aged well. There are issues with the graphics implementation of both OpenGL and Direct3D, with only a Glide wrapper offering good, non-glitchy visuals (on is included in this version). That said, many graphical niceties aren't present if you don't have a Pentium 3 or better also includes AMD CPUs. Many audio APIs that D3 can use have been deprecated and/or removed from later versions of Windows, making the only good audio choice be DirectSound. The game wasn't designed with widescreen displays in mind, meaning that setting it to, say, 1080p is a pain and the graphics will either be squished or parts of the HUD will be cut off.

Note that these are present in version 1.4, and it seems that a company wants to update D3 to work better with more recent operating systems, including adding OS X and Linux versions. I'll try updating this review when/if they actually do update it.

greatest game of all time

Descent 3 is an old favorite of mine. I learned to mouse-aim in this game before I had played any FPSes with a mouse. Playing it again, those robots are still hard to hit. Oh and the Steam version does come with Descent 3: Mercenary expansion pack. For those unfamiliar with the game, when you start a new game, select "Descent 3: Retribution" for the original single-player campeign. (Note: The first time it automatically runs you through training)

The game plays pretty well on modern Windows as long as you configure a few things correctly:
1. Launcher->Setup->Video tab: The DirectX renderer no longer works correctly; lots of messed up textures. The Steam version comes with the Glide emulation wrapper nGlide, so Glide mode seems to work the best. You can configure nGlide with the configuration tool in the Descent 3 directory. If you set nGlide to your native resolution and aspect ratio to 4:3, it can cut down the resolution changes in the game (it changes resolutions between gameplay and menus), but looks a little distorted.
2. If you have a modern SoundBlaster, you can restore 3D sound and EAX effects by using ALchemy, although you have to do so manually. See http://www.gog.com/forum/descent_series/enabling_5_1_sound_with_alchemy. After following instructions at link, go to Launcher->Setup->Audio and select "Creative EAX".
3. While you are in setup, on the Speed tab, set the Detail to Very High. On network tab, set LAN and your internet speed; most likely it will be T1 ~1.5Mbps.
4. Game Main Menu-Options->Video tab: You can turn up resolution. 1600x1200 is native on a 1920x1200 monitor.
5. Detail tab: You should be able to crank all settings to max. If you have performance issues in outside areas, turn down the terrain detail and/or render depth.
6. Sound: Set quality to high, and quantity up.
7. General and HUD tabs: set to taste, with one caveat:
8. MOUSELOOK DOES NOT WORK! Under Options->General->Sensitivity or Options->Config->Joy/Mouse->Adjust Settings DO NOT choose Mosue Control: "Mouselook". Stick with "Flight Sim". Mouselook was an acceleration mode that was designed to assist low sensitivity mouses when the game was made. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work as intended any more, but either way is much much too sensitive to be usable. Also, in online play, Mouselook is considered cheating anyway.
8a. What does work for FPS mosuers: (Re-)Inverting the Y-rotation or pitch Axis - go to Options->Config->Joy/Mouse and click the (?) button to the left of the pitch setting, then click Invert: "Yes". This will be unintuitively "non-inverted" according to modern FPS nomenclature. Now you can have mouselook-style control that works; adjust sensitivity as desired under Adjust Settings dialog.
9. Config: An odd control scheme that I find enjoyable to use is to play the game holding the left side of a gamepad in my left hand and the mouse in my right. I configure the controls in a typical console-FPS way: Assign left stick Y-Axis to Throttle, left stick X-Axis to Slide Horiz, D-pad X to Slide Vert, D-pad Y to Bank (or if implemented as POV hat, to Slide Up & Down, Bank Left & Right), left shoulder to Afterburner. Mouse X is Heading, Mouse Y is Pitch (inverted). Mouse buttons as default: LRC as Fire Primary, Secondary, Flare; Cycle Primary and Secondary with Wheel Up/Down. Extra mouse buttons can be used with items or countermeasures. You can also configure the right side of the gamepad to duplicate these controls, so you can move your right hand between gamepad and mouse. In this case right stick Y is also Pitch (inverted) and X is Heading. You can flesh out the buttons from there.
10. Once in-game, F1 toggles a handy keyboard guide. Use F3 to toggle cockpit (I prefer without). Use "+" key (near backspace, not num-pad +) to scale up rendering to full screen size.

Phew, after all that work, enjoy a classic that still offers a challange.

Had to get this since I put so many hours into Descent 2 multiplayer back in the day. It still has the good ol descent feeling to it, but if you want to play multiplayer you can only play with people on your steam friend's list.

I'm definitely liking this game so far. I bought and played the heck out of Descent 2, Descent: Freespace, and likewise games back in the day on my Windows 98. Sadly, I only had a demo for this game and never got to enjoy it to its full potential, until now.

This game requires some tweaking with the controls and settings when you first get it, as any older game released on Steam usually does. However, I did not have to install any patches to get it functioning properly, which was nice. (I have not tried joystick support but the mouse is way more sensitive in this one than the first two)

In case you were wondering this version released on Steam does include the "Mercenary" expansion pack as well as a few other tidbits to play around with so you won’t be missing any content or have to buy anything later.

The rest is for you to discover, will you take the Descent? <god that was cheesy...

I am thuroughly impressed with this steam version of D3. I was playing my original installation just yesterday, and I did some testing with the steam version today, and I can say that this version is miraculously more stable than the original installation. Everything feels 100% the way it should be in game as well.

I am also pleased that this comes with the Mercenary expansion, and is properly updated to Version 1.4.

And finally, I did some testing with the multiplayer. I am acknowledging that someone else who gave a review said that he could only play with Steam friends. He is wrong. I have all of the tools necessary and ports open to run a game, and when I went to check Descent 3 Game Tracker, my game was there. I would like to add that just yesterday when I was trying to host a game, Windows Firewall was giving me problems and turning it off was the only solution. With this, I had no problems with the firewall.
I also tried it out with the D3Server tool. No problems there.

In short, I am very pleased with this stable version and I will be migrating all of my old and custom stuff to the Steam installation. That is the beauty of Descent, the fact that you can copy and paste its stuff everywhere and it'll run with it all.

It's ♥♥♥♥ing Descent 3. Seriously. One of my favorite childhood games, and it still holds up today.

Here's hoping we get some FreeSpace 1 and 2 on here!

Very fun, classic game. A 6 axis FPS that runs quite well on modern systems but getting friends to play with can be a pain.

Descent 3 is an excellent first person shooter that I haven't played in years. When I saw it on steam I was very glad they got this version to work and it is still one of my favorites next to the first one. Despite the hard controls, this game is worthy of buying if you have played the first two or like a real controlling challenge. If you can master this, the rest of the first person shooters will look like a cakewalk control wise.

One word of advice. Don't use the mouse, and better start learning the old art of using just the keyboard and the numberpad.

Good luck to those buying and have fun. lol

Great game. for anyone have an error at the begining and then it crashes, in order for this game to work you must put it in you main hard drive

someone help me please!!! i cant go on any of the original levels like none at all just the dlc and some user created and the pilot training one please someone help me i have no idea how to fix this ive looked everywhere no answers!!!! please someone please help me :'(

I still cant figure out how to play this on steam.....

Ben a serious gamer since...ohhh, about 1985 and when I say this game is CRAP, I mean THIS GAME IS CRAP!!!

I've had, played and LOVED both Descent & Descent II, and if you think it's gonna be anything like those, you will be SADLY disappointed.
I just WASTED my money...THANK GAWD I didn't pay full price or I would be REALLY P'd off!!!!

On a sidenote - Steam's game selections has been getting crappier and crappier as of late...thinking seriously about cancelling my Steam account and going with Gamefly or some other reputable provider

This game is a piece of crap. The lowest setting on the mouse sensitivity is still way way to sensitive and you are twissting and turning all over the place and can't aim at all. I used to own this game when it was a stand alone game and I loved it. Now that Steam offered it I thought it would be great but it is not. The policy on Steam says "They do not offer refunds" which means that even if you can't get it to work, you are ♥♥♥♥ out of luck and are stuck with a ♥♥♥♥ty, impossible to play piece of crap game that you will never be able to play. Do not buy this game, unless you are looking for ways to just throw away money on game s you don't really want or if you are going to gift it to someone that you really hate.