What a day! The last thing you remembered clearly was passing out as the image of the sun filled the glass plating of the cockpit of your spacecraft. Your engine was gone and you were on a collision course with that fiery planet.

When you regain consciousness, you find out that life has taken a turn for the worse. Sure, you were rescued, but it seems that the company you worked for was responsible for your engine failing. And now, a virus is turning all the robots in the robotic-based world into deadly killing machines. Your first assignment is to find the scientist who was involved in the study of the virus and who may hold the key to killing it.

Interplay and Outrage set up the premise for Descent 3 in fine fashion, playing it out in a stunningly rendered three-dimensional world. And while there are points to the various undertakings, 15 missions in all, what this program basically is, is a shooter game. Don’t be deceived into thinking that it is typical of the genre. On the contrary - this program elevates the style by forcing the player to think three-dimensionally. Not only will your targets move laterally, but vertically and diagonally, moving away and zooming in. It takes steady nerves and great reflexes to stay on top of them, especially with the extremely touchy controls.

From the first moment you hear the cold, metallic rasp of a computerized voice saying “freeze,” you know you are in for a battle. The game plays out over a wide variety of terrains, or maps, from tunnels where turns are tight and danger lurks around the next corner, to outposts that are blasting apart as you navigate the playing map.

As you work through the levels, painstakingly, there are options that provide more than adequate relief. You can mark your trail with flares. The guidebot helps and just when it seems that you have complete faith, it redirects in another direction. What it comes down to is intuition, intelligence and reflexive control of the vehicle in which you are embodied.

Descent 3 is wonderful ride, a thrill taut with tension and danger. This is what separates this program from others. It is given the fantasy of a space vehicle operating in a too-familiar world. Credit the program creators with that. They have played the known world with a fantasy mix to create a sparkling realm that is too fast-paced to relish.

As mentioned, the audio is delightful, from the video, to the mission-control voice.

Where this program fails is in the manual. While the basic control functions are listed, it relies too much on reference to previous incarnations of the program. Buying this game without the benefit of past history fails the gamer. On its own, Descent 3 is pure action, but it leaves the gamer with a sense that they are missing something.

Descent 3 taxes the graphics capability of standard computers and should not be purchased without the minimum system requirements. It cannot be played without a 3D accelerator chip.

Multiplayer games boast numerous options and most are extremely challenging. But work through the training and primary missions first. Developing skills in these levels maximizes performance in on-line games.

Another nice feature is the profanity filter. Descent 3 allows on-line players the ability to block any language that may be inappropriate to younger fans of the game, making this a program that can be enjoyed by a variety of age levels with regard to sensitivities.

Installation: 4. Long and boring, due mainly to the amount of hard drive space this program consumes.

Gameplay: 9. This is well-rendered, and moves through the game board flawlessly.

Graphics: 9. The video set-ups are amazing and in-game action is well done. This features a big game board with nice effects.

Sound: 8. Descent 3 is ripe with ambient sound effects, robotic and computer noises, and everything one would expect in a program like this.

Concept: 8. While at the core this is a shooter game, it challenges players to think in three dimensions.

Difficulty: 9. This is a tough game to control, and has enough twists and turns to keep even hard-core fans of the genre involved and challenged.

Value: 9. Well done.

Overall: 8