Bogeyman on 25/5/2001 at 08:03

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Regarding the Marathon games:

Marathon 1 and Marathon: Infinity are Mac-only, Marathon 2: Durandal was Mac/Win 95. (But see below)
The games are still available at (http://store.bungie.com) http://store.bungie.com .

The original Marathon was published by Bungie in 1994. In terms of computer games, this makes it an antique. Thus you get a "2 1/2"d world instead of true 3d, but you can look up and down (fairly revolutionary at the time, I think).
In terms of gameplay, it's IMHO still one of the best FPS ever. The levels have a flow that's unrivalled, the weapons are well balanced, and the enemies are interesting, hard but not impossible.
Add to that the most complex storyline I've encountered in an FPS (and that's still being discussed on the Marathon Story Page) and you'll understand why there's a very enthusiastic following. :)

Last year Bungie released the source code to Marathon 2 and since then there's been some very impressive work done by the community. (Adding OpenGL accelaration, improved textures, etc.) There is also a Windows version of Aleph One (as the Open Source version is called) that allows the deprived Windoze user to play M2 and Infinity (if you have the map and texture files, i.e. bought the games). In addition to that, there's a group of people porting the first Marathon to Aleph One.
There's also a project (one that doesn't seem to be moribund, unlike others I could mention) to recreate Marathon 1 on the UT engine.
Link collection:
The Marathon Open Source Project: (http://source.bungie.org/) http://source.bungie.org/
The Marathon Story Page: (http://marathon.bungie.org/story/) http://marathon.bungie.org/story/
The M1 to A1 conversion: (http://bighouse.bungie.org/m1/) http://bighouse.bungie.org/m1/
The M1 to UT conversion: (http://resurrection.bungie.org/) http://resurrection.bungie.org/

Sorry, I realize this is rather lengthy and off-topic for TTLG, but people did ask for this.

Edit: Fixed bad link

[ May 25, 2001: Message edited by: Bogeyman ]

iCEE on 26/5/2001 at 14:38

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I vote for Shodan as coolest A.I. :)
She (?) just looks so damn cool!

Bogeyman on 28/5/2001 at 13:40

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I just started yet another replay of M2 this weekend. :)
I don't think it would ruin the game if you haven't played Marathon 1. You are obviously going to miss some things and I personally liked the atmosphere of the original best, but I should think you're still going to have a lot of fun. :D

Do check out the Aleph One app. I don't have any experience with the Windows version, but OGL accelaration does help with the fact that Marathon's graphics look somewhat dated to today's jaded gamer. ;) Especially with the Texture Enhancement Pack installed.

Edit: bloody typos :mad:

[ May 28, 2001: Message edited by: Bogeyman ]

Employee 2-4602 on 29/5/2001 at 23:41

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The MOST malicious AI just has to be the bloody paperclip shipped with Microsoft Office.

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kostoffj on 31/5/2001 at 13:17

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And what's worse, he has the voice of Gilbert Gottfried. That's reason enough for the government to break up Microsoft!

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