Descent is a classic first-person shooter/space flight sim that should not be missed.
The game was developed by Parallax in 1995 and bridged the gap between Doom and Quake. The unique aspect of the game was the ability to move in three planes along x, y, and z axis. The artificial intelligence of the bots was also top-notch at the time. Bots waited to the side of doors, dodge fire, strafe, and follow intelligently.
Descent is really a completely different game in the single-player and multiplayer. In the single player game, you fly through the mine rescuing trapped workers throughout the maze of tunnels, destroying robots and picking up powerups. You find a number of keys in each level to gain access to a reactor that you (naturally) must destroy. After the reactor is destroyed you need to fly out of the mine within a certain period of time, kind of like the Death Star. Any robots you neglected to destroy will impede your escape. Multiplayer was a step above Doom. For the first time players were able to join multiplayer games already in progress. Unique to Descent was the weapons treatment. Weapons did not respawn. Instead, you had to destroy the other players to take over their arsenal. Depending on your point of view, this was either really cool or really frustrating.
Graphics: The game is presented in full 3D via a software rendered, as dedicated graphics cards were few and far between at the time. There were 256 colors and the maximum resolution was 320x200. At the time, it was pretty good considering everything from the environment to enemies were in 3D.
Sound: The sound was good, supporting Sound Blaster's new 16-bit cards (wow!). Lasers and missile make sufficiently satisfying sounds, engines sound appropriate, and the ambience is good. Today everything would be in surround sound, but that was not yet possible.
Gameplay: Both the single-player and multiplayer aspects of Descent are highly replayable. Personally, I found the long, dead tunnels of robots less appealing than taking out zombies or enemy soldiers, but this is personal preference. Playing with a mouse is a handicap, but the game can still be fun with proper keyboard controls. I spent hours lost in its labyrinthine levels, and enjoyed every minute. Except when I exploded.
If you have an older PC, are feeling nostalgic, or just want to play a great old-school flight sim, check out the Descent series.