Single Player

The Campaign

The single player campaign consists of about 15 levels and 2 secret ones. The campaign is vastly improved over previous Descent titles, which emphasized find the key game play. You're still going to be hunting switches a little bit in Descent 3, but this is largely masked by the story and varied level design. You'll find yourself in mineshafts, but also weaving around city scapes, inside of giant orbiting space ships and also out in cold, snowy tundra. There's plenty of action but it's not all mindless running and gunning. One mission starts you off in an underground subway where giant trains shoot by. You have to dodge in between each speeding train or get obliterated. There are tons of other neat surprises like that in the game, which makes Descent 3's levels quite interesting to explore. Fear not though, it's not all cerebral and strategic. Descent 3 is overwhelmingly action packed, as there are plenty of robots and gun turrets to blow up.

Out in the cold

Death by train

Still stuff to blow up

Descent 3 is above average in terms of game difficulty and in certain later levels, I found myself having a fairly difficult time, even on the rookie level (2nd easiest). Robot AI is pretty good; they can sometimes even learn to ambush you. Different robots have different attack strategies - some are timid and will run to get help. Others are hyper aggressive and try to punch you. The annoying thief bot is back (steals your weapons) as well. The only real complaint about single player is that it's sometimes difficult to figure out where to go next. In the cavernously large areas to explore it can be easy to overlook a door or miss a little cave that holds a critical item you need to advance in the level. At least you have your little Guide Bot to help you out, an AI sidekick that can help you find power ups and key areas.

Feeling toastier?

Your guide bot - blue thing on left