Descent 3

The Engine

Single-Player

• Spring a scientist from a high-tech prison by flooding the place with toxic gas and bringing in a shuttle to grab him in the chaos.
• Disguise your ship as a courier by gathering parts from a military datacenter, and steal a file from the central server.
• Defend the critical systems of a space station under attack long enough for the crew to be evacuated, then escape yourself.
• Escort a cargo carrier into the heart of an enemy spaceship factory, and protect it while it steals the parts to build a new fighter (which you get to fly in the next level).

• Laser: Your basic laser (in the sci-fi sense). It can be upgraded through 4 power levels, and the Pyro-GX can pick up a power-up called Quad Laser that makes the gun fire 4 beams instead of 2.
• Vauss Cannon: An upgraded version of the Gauss Cannon from Descent 2. It fires a rapid stream of exploding shells that knock your target around. It's also one of the few non-missile weapons that doesn't consume your ship's energy, relying instead on its own store of ammunition.
• Microwave: This bizarre weapon does about the same amount of damage as the lasers, but fires much faster. When it hits an enemy, the target undergoes a nifty shimmering effect; when it hits the player the entire world shimmers in a similar manner.
• Plasma Cannon: A classic gun left over from the previous games, it fires bolts of green energy that cause massive damage (although seemingly less so than before; this was likely changed so that there would be a reason to use the rest of the arsenal).
• Fusion Cannon: An interesting "risk vs reward" weapon that also appeared in the previous games. The fusion cannon must be charged up to fire by holding down the trigger- a longer charge time leads to more damage when the blast hits an enemy. But as the stored charge builds up, the player's ship begins to vibrate, throwing off his aim and eventually taking damage.
• Superlaser: A larger, more powerful laser- you can tell because it's yellow and makes a different sound when it fires. It can also be upgraded by the Quad Laser.
• Mass Driver: The massive spaces and open terrain of Descent 3 necessitated the inclusion of a sniper weapon. The mass driver is a railgun that fires a single very powerful hitscan shot. The game does not have a zoom command per se, but holding down the trigger produces a momentary zoom that helps make those long-range kills.
• Napalm: If making those pesky robots explode isn't enough, try setting them on fire. Burning robots take a while to completely disintegrate, though, and can set fire to other enemies or the player if they happen to collide. Don't try this at home.
• EMD Gun: Very similar to the plasma cannon, this gun trades some damage potential for a limited ability to home in on enemies. This is a godsend for destroying the tiny, fast-moving enemies that buzz around you like flies and whittle away at your shields.
• Omega Cannon: This weapon fires a pair of glowing tendrils out of your ship which, although limited in range, will latch onto enemies and steal shield energy from them- as damage is done to the enemy, your shield is recharged. The cost is that this gun takes a tremendous amount of energy to fire.

• Concussion missile: Standard dumbfire rockets, which fly out in a straight line until they hit something and explode.
• Homing missile: These babies have the same payload as a concussion missile, but are equipped with a guidance system that steers them towards enemies.
• Smart missile: Another holdover from previous Descent games, this missile releases what is effectively a volley of guided Plasma Cannon shots when it explodes. This ability is good for making "bank shots" on enemies hiding behind obstacles.
• Cyclone missile: Descent's take on the MIRV principle. After flying a short distance, these missiles release a swarm of miniature guided missiles.
• Mega Missile: The guided missile's big brother.
• Frag Missle: This one throws out a cloud of shrapnel when it detonates. Deadly in cramped areas (but don't get caught in it yourself as it can easily destroy your ship).
• Guided Missile: Introduced in Descent 2, these missiles can be remotely piloted- control of your ship is suspended and the keys affect the missile, while the missile's view is displayed on a section of the HUD.
• Impact Mortar: Spaceship-sized grenades. The impact mortar, when launched, floats out a short way in front of your ship and then explodes. You can put some english on the shot by firing them while in motion, and they'll ricochet off walls.
• Napalm Missile: This missile's explosion produces a handful of blobs of white-hot goop that will stick to anything they touch. These globs are one of the few things in the game affected by gravity, strangely enough.
• Black Shark Missile: Upon detonation, produces a miniature black hole which sucks in everything that's nearby and movable (enemy robots, other players, power-ups, the unfortunate player who fired it) before exploding.

Multiplayer

• Anarchy: Like a surprising number of games, Descent has its own supposedly clever name for the familiar deathmatch mode. Kill everyone!
• Team Anarchy: Kill half of everyone!
• Capture the Flag: This mode is just like CTF in other games, except that it's played in zero gravity.
• Monsterball: Soccer with spaceships. Floating somewhere in the level is a large green ball. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to shoot and/or ram this ball so that it drifts into a region denoted as the enemy goal. Naturally, the other team is trying to do the same thing in the opposite direction (and you're also trying kill each other).
• Entropy: This unusual gametype required a good deal of cooperation, communication, and knowledge of the rules and map layout- thus making it practically impossible to find a decent match on public servers and making its name all too descriptive. Your team had to locate a container of virus (in the informational warfare sense) and transport it into the enemy base, thereby infecting them with the virus and scoring a point.