Topic: Descent makes Rock, Paper, Shotgun's best 50 First Person Shooters

[D2Disciple]

In a rather lengthy and somewhat exhaustive article by Rock, Paper, Shotgun on May 13, 2015, Descent was listed in their "Best 50 FPS" list.

To quote Alec Meer, author of the article:

"Our first ‘but is it a first-person shooter?’ entry... Rewriting what we thought possible back in the mid 1990s, this six degrees of movement spaceship shooter was really in 3D – not Doom’s cheaty 2.5D deal. We felt motion sickness. We had to grow new fingers to maintain all the keyboard controls with this newfound Z-axis. And we loved it, became adept at it, shooting virus-infected enemies and rescuing hostages, before belting it out of the centre of whatever it was we were about to blow up. Descent still feels like it’s asking just that little bit too much of us even today, which is exactly why it’s still so loved."

It goes on to mention and link to DXX-Rebirth, GOG, and Steam.

Congratulations to the 20-year-old game still getting the recognition it deserves - and being listed among such great titles as Quake, Far Cry, Halo, Unreal Tournament, Bioshock, and many others.

The whole article deserves a read. Start from the top at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/13/best-fps/ or skip to the page including Descent at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/13/best-fps/3/

[-<WillyP>-]

Can't believe he rated Doom #1. Doom was ok, nothing special back then. It succeeded because it didn't have a whole lot of competition. Descent just blew them all away, there was nothing like it. Descent had no competition.

[D2Disciple]

I don't necessarily agree with the choice to make Doom #1, but I also don't necessarily disagree. From a historical standpoint, Doom was a pretty pivotal moment in gaming history, and its popularity stemmed from the fact that it was a good game. By today's standards, it's not exactly incredible, but back then it shifted the way people thought about video games.

If you really think about it, Descent itself really owes its existence to Doom. Everything Parallax did - the control scheme, the 3D polygonal enemies, the serial/modem/ipx 8-player multiplayer, the 7-level shareware version - was done just to one-up Doom in every possible measure. Did it succeed? Absolutely, IMO. So, while I agree Doom is arguably the most important FPS of all time, it's not necessarily the best.

Come to think of it... I've been playing PC games for decades now, and I honestly can't say I recall having played Doom before. Ever. It never really interested me. I might download the shareware and give it a spin just to say I have.

If I was making the list, I'd probably put Half-Life 2 at the top. It's the best (and last) great FPS made. Everything before just seems primitive, and everything after feels... gimmicky.

Descent, IMHO, drifts a bit too far from FPS genre conventions and mechanics for me to really classify it as a true FPS. It's more like a "6DOF space-sim with indoor FPS-like level design."

[D2Disciple]

Downloaded the Doom shareware. Played about 10 minutes on the "Chocolate Doom" source port (which essentially makes Doom run on modern hardware exactly as it did in 1993).

It was boring.

[VANGUARD]

DOOM was a pretty fun game, but maybe it was fun when it was new. I suppose if I had just played DOOM for the first time just now, it'd probably bore me.

I do remember Descent one-upping DOOM.

[Scyphi]

Descent one-upped Doom in pretty much every way possible.

I myself have never played Doom, as I'm not one for blood and gore games, but I have seen enough of it, and the various mods made with the same engine, that I have a good feel for it. It was indeed an important entry in gaming history in its day...but that day has come and gone.

Today, it does seem a little...I don't know...redundant, maybe? Like it was a neat idea, but never took it to its full potential (which to be fair, may not have been technologically possible at the time).

[VANGUARD]

one major update was maps. DOOM had a single layer map. Sure, you had levels, stairs, elevators, etc, but never could cross over or under another part of a floor.

We all know Descent isn't limited when it comes to mapping out a level