
The AI system has been tweaked from the earlier Descent games so that the enemies are smarter, quicker and more educated to your strategies. In-game options are available such as ship formations, attack strategies and camera angles.

Many features are included in this CD-ROM, including a mission editor called "FRED" that allows you to alter missions or create your own. Missions range from intense dogfights with swarms of enemy reinforcements to reconnaissance and hit and run objectives. You also have access to eight fighters and bombers that will allow you to perform many unique tasks. You have an arsenal of weapons and tools to use for your ship that can be configured differently for any mission. To further exacerbate the situation, a rogue Vasudan faction not enamored by the alliance, known as the Hammer of Light, is created and complicates the already delicate situation. Previously engaged in a conflict over galactic real estate with the Vasudans, Terran forces must form an alliance of convenience with them to meet this new threat. In Descent: Freespace - The Great War, you are a pilot for the Galactic Terran Alliance (GTA) and must defend the Earth from the evil Shivans, a powerful war-like alien race who have invaded this region of the galaxy.

Destroy these aliens as quickly as possible before all of humanity is wiped out! Good luck! You must quickly man your fighters to halt their advance as they are mercilessly annihilating nearly everything in their path. Their technology seems to be light-years ahead of our own and they don't seem interested in communicating with us. "Red Alert! Red Alert! Battle Stations!" Earth has been attacked by a mysterious group of alien entities.
