Descent 3 had a number of improvements over the previous games in the series. The graphics were awesome for the time and still hold up enough that you can play the game without getting distracted by crappy graphics. This game featured outdoor environments and different mission types which the previous games in the series did not have (they were all just blow up the reactor of doom and then escape). Probably the most amazing thing about descent 3 is the artificial intelligence which can still be mind boggling today. I have many happy memories of trying to blast one of those little bots and missing until I shot a concussion missile into a nearby wall so that the blast would destroy it. The robots will run from you and then ambush you, and they are all pretty good at aiming their slow firing lasers ahead of you so that they hit you. On the harder difficulty settings, every encounter with even the smallest enemy can be a grueling battle where you are flying all around a room (often upside-down) and trying desperately to hide behind potential obstacles. Needless to say, boss battles can be epic. The awesome a.i. adds to another thing which the descent series has always excelled at, and that is giving personality to emotionless robots. You will come to hate certain robots (especially small fast ones and ones that sneak up on you and melee your ship from behind).

WARNING: this game is not for the directionally-challenged or those who get dizzy easily. You will be flying all directions, spinning around and blasting at everything that moves. There are bright lights going everywhere from lasers, fog, and all kinds of other stuff that makes it chaotic visually. I love it, but you may get sick from it (don't play it on a laptop while riding in a car - you will get sick, trust me).

Multiplayer was and is a blast as always. It is a shame that it is so hard to find people online these days, but my friends and I still have small lan parties sometimes.