I have been unable to find any reference to this on the internet, but I have my suspicions. I'm wondering if anybody else could solve this long-standing mystery of mine.

Several years ago, when I bought a computer, I got Windows95 as the operating system for it. Along with the Microsoft operating system, it came with a game called "Hellraiser". It was EXTREMELY similar to the Descent games, but only had a single level. Just like Descent, you fly a space craft, on an alien planet, and invade a network of tunnels and defenses to reach a goal. It really was a cool game, but I never heard of it again.

I upgraded my computers as each one died, and never again used the old operating systems. Every reference to "Hellraiser" on the internet leads me to the movie series called by the same name. Nothing like the shareware game I remember. But when Descent came out, it was so similar that I was wondering if that could have been a beta-test release of Descent 3 possibly. Or at least of some ancestry.

No, I don't know if it was made by gamesas or who it was made by. I wish I did.
But does anyone else remember this???

Actually, is was called HellBender. Close. It was pretty cool none the less!

It wasn't really like Descent though. Sure you flew around and shot things, but it was more like flying a jet.



Descent was (Full version) published in 95. read about it HERE on Wiki

They guys at parallax made Descent kind of out of spite of Doom. Doom originally boasted of being "3D" which it was not. So they built a game that was truly 3D. only the power ups were sprites unlike doom that was 90% sprites.

Descent is it's own creation and was meant to thumb its nose at the rest of the gaming industry.

There is some debate as to whether Descent was the first true 3d or not. I forget what the other one was. It IS the first game that sports "4D".

The first true 3D game was Star Raiders from 1979.

I loved that game! For it's day, it rocked. If you want to call that 3d then there were other games that fell along a similar strain.

Tail-gunner and one I can't think of.

But I have to disagree. Star raiders wasn't true 3d. Descent used a 3d environment with 3d models, not just 2d rendered images. Descent used some of the 2D images as I for-mentioned. Quake followed suite a couple years later.

Well, if you're insisting on 3d models for the displayed objects, then Battlezone did that in 1980.

Battlezone used vector graphics like Star Castles and Asteroids or Tempest ....geez I'm dating myself..
But that was a good thought.

The thing with Doom is (and all it's clones) it that provided a 3d game box but that was it. I'll do some digging and see if I can come up with something. Keep trying! We'll get there!

I just don't see Descent do anything new or groundbreaking from a technological point of view. At best they combined several existing features in a fresh way.

You are possibly thinking about the Doom levels being all flat, when Descent put you in a full 3D world?

This has been done since the mid 80s already, e.g. in games like Driller or Starglider 2.

alrighty then. There ya go! I'd forgotten about Starglider. I'd actually played that. Driller I'd never heard of.
Interesting. Games like this were rare.

Starglider reminded me of StarFox on the SNes.

Here's a remake of Driller Clik!

Here is a d/l of the original Clik!

Not only remember, but bought the full game, which I believe has eight levels, the one on Windows 95 is a one-level demo, I don't think they made that very clear...

Anyway, I played through the first 3 or 4, the Win 95 demo level being level 3, and it was fun. But your ship is highly sluggish compaired to Descent, and can't slide. Yes, it is really cool, and yes, it does run on XP. I should play that again sometime, the last level is in the astroid belt, which I thought would be pretty cool.

Graphics do svck after you've played high-res D1 and D2 in the rebirth projects, or any other projects that seek to improve them. I like the rebirth project, as it only seeks to make it compatible with later versions of Windows and improve the resolution, not anything else, and is not in any way a resource hog. D2X-XL is nice as well, adds many new features, but it also requires a significantly better computer then the rebirth project. I like my netbook!



Your ship was pretty sluggish, but unlike a jet you could stop moving completely.

And, I seem to recall that turning on your headlights ran down your power so fast on Hellbender that you'd be left stranded. I learned to only turn them on long enough to see where I needed to go, and then flew blind. I didn't like that feature.

Works on XP, huh? Well then, I think I will have to go buy a copy if I can find one on Ebay.
I also have Descent 1 and 2, as well as Descent Freespace, and I tried again last night, but none of them seem to want to load up on my XP computer.

This is depressing. I have so many cool old games that I was fond of, that I had to put away when I bought my XP computer. What I need is an old computer with a Windows 98 operating system on it, and a good video card with a lot of RAM. It would seldom access the internet, but would have to in order to download patches. Mostly, it would be for enjoying these old games I've got.
And then I need to keep my XP machine alive so that I can run all the other games I've got. So I really need two gaming computers. Wouldn't it be cool to have them both in one housing and be able to switch between them? Hmmm. Time to talk to a computer guru.

try Dosbox.

Hey, Hellbender was my first game too! I think that I have suggested that D4's outdoor's areas be like Hellbender where you can fly indefinately in one direction, but you pass by the same object over and over.

My forum avatar WOULD be the Hellbender pilot, but the forum Nazis...

I still play it today on my Vista computer. Just copy and paste the CD's contents into some folder, screw around with compability in the main application, and you are good to go. If you are going to fight a war, do it efficiently, unremittingly, or don't do it at all--I'm not into ethics, I'm into efficiency.--Benjamin St. John "Descent" by Peter Telep

I found Hellbender games on Ebay cheap. They're all used of course. At least the ones I've seen. I think I will buy a copy and mess around with it. Aside from the shareware version, I was never able to find it again; and I liked it. Descent is very similar, but there were differences. I think I liked the playfields in Hellbender better. The Descent playfield was very very limited. Still cool, but too limited.

Now, if the new Descent 4 game does something like the new Halo Reach...
That would be very very cool.

No.... Never, want, Descent, to be, like, modern, games....

I do play the modern games A LOT, but the classic era with their storylines and mechanics still holds my heart no matter what.

All it needs is advertisemant and reasonable system requirements (hell, I had someone ask on one of my D3 videos if it was for PS3 or Xbox. Are these 11 year old graphics really still that good enough to fool people??? AWESOME!!!). It'll kick start a new generation and take a radicle departure from the ground pounders of today.

The campaign needs to be inspired, long, juicy, and not "press A to continue-like."

Multiplayer needs to be easy as D3. I'm not talking about the weapons and the ships. Just something as awesome and easy it is to start up a game and immediately get thrown into the fight, no questions asked, and skill is all that matters.
But it would be nice if it was minus the overpowered-tri-chucking-down-a-cramped-hall-1-hit-kill-tanking-fatty-mcfat-fat Tank, the MD, and the nerfed weapons that were awesome in D1 and D2 like the plasma used to be. EARTHSHAKERS too, please!) If you are going to fight a war, do it efficiently, unremittingly, or don't do it at all--I'm not into ethics, I'm into efficiency.--Benjamin St. John "Descent" by Peter Telep

I've always felt that Descent was inspired, long and juicy. I also feel that their graphics were cutting edge. In fact, my computer has always struggled to keep up with D3 graphics, and had a lot less trouble with flight simulator graphics.

I'd like to see the switch between levels to be a little more imaginitive. I'd like to see finishing up a level and moving on to the next level as actually having to pilot the spacecraft out of the atmosphere and either aim for a wormhole, or a black hole, or hit a hyperspace button...or maybe all of the above. And then you 'transport yourself' to the next level rather than the way D3 was set up.

I think the graphics do need to be inspiring too, as I said, the way the latest Halo game is now. I don't see anything wrong with that, it's smooth and glitch-less. But whatever engine they want to use, I'm sure it'll be good. It wouldn't be gamesas if it wasn't good, right?