To sum up my review in one sentence, this game is almost unplayable. I do not say that lightly! I really, really wish there was an easy way to turn off the view bobbing so I could aim properly and move smoothly and enjoy this like I did the first Descent, because I think that I would. Flying felt so free back then; I checked and the bobbing was there but barely noticeable.
Why even have view bobbing? Is the futuristic fighter plane which can fly in any direction not able to remain steady in closed indoor spaces? Why is the bobbing exactly the same no matter whether I fly upright or sideways or upsidedown? Wasn't this supposed to be a low-G environment? Is the bobbing caused by the upgrades the shady corporation added between games in a unsubtle attempt to get the pilot killed?
Actually, the wild bobbing is just a weird quirk of the videogame's code, because modern computers are faster. And yes, there are fixes: either know enough to change the code yourself, edit a config file to slow the bobbing a little (and this only helps a tiny bit while creating other problems) or go download one of the free sourcecode ports made by fans.
Thankfully a lot of good stuff from the first game has been carried on, alongside great improvements in graphics and textures to create areas with a strong sense of environmental feel. Flowing rivers on the second planet do look like old videogame water, but sound nice if you bob along in the current.
Light is now a much bigger part of the game's challenge and done decently well; rooms may start out or become very dark when you accidentally shoot the overhead lights during a chaotic firefight. The provided solution to this problem is the new headlamp item, though it's hard to believe a light could drain power so much faster than high powered lasers. This also makes energy a much bigger issue rather than being an afterthought at best, and makes weapons which don't use energy more valuable.
Speaking of which, most of the weapons have gained higher-tech forms. The greatest surprise hit is the Gauss cannon, a super-version of the Vulcan that uses the same ammo but stays relevant the whole game. Enemies tend to be quicker and smaller now, so faster weapons become very important, and energy is too precious on certain levels. Other favorite additions were the useful Smart Mines which explode into homing pellets, the sniper-style Guided missile which you can remote control using a side screen, the dangerously fun Phoenix cannon which bounces off walls, and the Omega cannon that feels like lightning at your control.
The map is still hard to read, but there's an excellent powerup which reveals unvisited area in blue for the level. Knowing where every secret tunnel and hidden room is provides a clue for how to get inside them, without always solving the mystery.
Enemy robots now feel much more intelligent and tactical. Even the smallest can be dangerous in certain situations while some of the bigger regular foes provide duels between semi-equals. There are nimble foes who pester you while running away, melee ships which strafe around to sneak up behind you, and the infamous bandit which steals your stuff and takes maybe a little too much effort to kill. There's now plenty of solid boss fights where you are always the outgunned underdog, and they sometimes feel unique; they use a lot of the same tricks but their weapons and rooms create different dynamics.
The new companion guide bot is neat and can be tasked with finding things such as the next key you need or a shield orb you left behind. But also the guide bot gets in the way a lot during fights and seem kind of odd since learning each new maze is such a big part of the game. At least you can choose whether to release them and they go away when ordered, and in one level it was almost necessary because I never would have thought a laser gate would disappear just from sitting near it.
In general the level design is great and has become far more diverse, though I have three complaints. First and least concerning, you can't save within secret levels which is rough because they tend to be the trickiest puzzle levels, including some where entire areas might be locked off if you don't follow the right steps or know the correct path. Second, I don't like levels without hostages to rescue. I understand hostages near the finale might not make sense, but levels don't feel complete without them. Either give the full rescue bonus (I saved everyone who was there, after all) or don't show 0 points on something I couldn't get.
Third and worst of all, the new wall panels and one-time doors are kind of terrible. I understand how this gives them more options in creating their 3D mazes, but in practice it's just not fun shooting a thing which pops up a message saying a door opened somewhere and not knowing where that door is. Did I finally open a closed gate back near the start? Or perhaps the door is behind me and if I don't use the Afterburner upgrade to go through immediately, it'll close permanently. If you created the game and know the levels by heart, of course you just shoot panels as needed, but the rest of us have to shoot every panel and hope, or use an ongoing set of saves to figure out what happened.
Then there's the ending, which deserves its controversial status for being such a rough cliffhanger. The final mine seems to be evolving into something scarier, but then explodes like usual, and a weird malfunction sends you off deeper into space. Again, is this a trick by the shady corporation? An honest bug in their prototype warp core? I'm not sure the story writers care.
Oh, but good for the team getting an industrial grunge band to play their soundtrack. Thematically that is perfect. In a videogame however, they are way too heavy and distracting for background music, plus the volume slider seems to do nothing. Thankfully it can be turned off to restore the good midi music.
Overall this is just one of those unfortunate sequels which look better but then screw up in unexpected ways like the view bobbing, or do things which feel wrong like levels without hostages and the mystery wall panels. I got a nice high-tension challenge by the end, but I would only recommend playing this if you also download one of the sourcecode ports. My hope is that others learned from the problems here to make better future games, so you might as well try those instead.
