Descent: Freespace-Silent Threat

Overview

At the end of Descent: Freespace, you saved Earth by destroying the Lucifer in subspace. The resulting explosion collapsed the jump-node, leaving Earth isolated and far from harm's way. However, it also left the majority of the fleet with no way home.

Stuck on the wrong side of the jump-node collapse, you find yourself struggling to maintain GTA authority during a massive power grab. The Terran/Vasudan alliance must be maintained in order to destroy the remaining Shivan forces. As a GTI (Galactic Terran Intelligence) fighter pilot, it is your job to fly the hard and dirty missions that maintain order in the GTA ranks. Good luck, pilot.

Gameplay, Controls, Interface

Overall, this expansion pack is a good follow-up to an excellent game. The missions and story do not flow as logically as they did in the original. A lot of the missions feel like user-created missions strung loosely together to make a story, which is what a lot of them are, actually. However, the heart of the game is flying fun missions and in this area it delivers.

Multiplayer

One really nice feature of this mission pack is that it adds a lot to the multiplayer mission pool. My friends and I have been through the existing missions many times over. The pack should keep us going for a long time to come, with what has been added.

Graphics & Audio

The game engine is the same as the original, so the graphics and audio are the same. This is a good thing. Freespace has the best graphics seen in a space combat simulator to date, and I love the sounds.

System Requirements

Requires a computer running the full version of Descent: Freespace—The Great War and approximately 100 MB of additional hard drive space.

Documentation

There was no documentation to speak of with this expansion pack. Since you need the original version to play, I guess they supposed you didn't need any. However, it would have been nice to have a brief explanation on how to run the expansion once it was installed. Also, I like having some mood-setting in my documentation. A little letter welcoming me to the GTI or something would have been nice.

Bottom Line

You can love this title for what it is -- a mission pack. It could never hold its own as a standalone game, but as an extension to an existing game, it's very good. Freespace fans will want to get this title.