ColdGoldLazarus
Contrary Quester, Spreadsheet Queen, Pink Flamingo
- Location
- Challenger Deep
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Marathon. Marathon Durandal. Marathon Infinity.
The Marathon Trilogy, a First-Person Shooter developed by Bungie (originally for the Mac, ironically enough) in the mid-nineties. It's most immediately comparable to Doom, given its graphics, though it was an improvement on that both in terms of gameplay (as it was the first to have cursor tracking and vertical looking) and more obviously, in terms of story. That brings us to the other common comparison, with its successor in the Halo series. (And to be fair, there are a lot of things, from the SPNKR Rocket Launcher to the concept of AI Rampancy, that carried over.) That too is somewhat reductive, though; while perhaps not as vast and convoluted as that franchise has become, Marathon regardless makes up for it with the sheer depth of its rabbit holes. (Particularly the third installment, Infinity, which is decidedly... abstract in places.) There's a lot going on, thematically as well as narratively, and even today there's room for new interpretations.
It's also just pretty awesome.
Since then, it's become freeware, and recreated on the Aleph One engine, making it available on all PC platforms. There have been a number of fanmade total conversions, with the three most notable being the unofficial 'sequel trilogy' of Marathon Phoenix, Marathon Rubicon, and Marathon Eternal. (Which wasn't set up that way intentionally; they're separate scenarios created by different people that simply happened to match up well.)
I won't claim to be an expert myself (I haven't even finished Durandal and Infinity yet, and am unlikely to do so anytime soon) but I though this would be an interesting one to discuss here. They tend to get overshadowed by their contemporaries Doom and System Shock, but I think these games have a lot to offer.
The Marathon Trilogy, a First-Person Shooter developed by Bungie (originally for the Mac, ironically enough) in the mid-nineties. It's most immediately comparable to Doom, given its graphics, though it was an improvement on that both in terms of gameplay (as it was the first to have cursor tracking and vertical looking) and more obviously, in terms of story. That brings us to the other common comparison, with its successor in the Halo series. (And to be fair, there are a lot of things, from the SPNKR Rocket Launcher to the concept of AI Rampancy, that carried over.) That too is somewhat reductive, though; while perhaps not as vast and convoluted as that franchise has become, Marathon regardless makes up for it with the sheer depth of its rabbit holes. (Particularly the third installment, Infinity, which is decidedly... abstract in places.) There's a lot going on, thematically as well as narratively, and even today there's room for new interpretations.
It's also just pretty awesome.
Since then, it's become freeware, and recreated on the Aleph One engine, making it available on all PC platforms. There have been a number of fanmade total conversions, with the three most notable being the unofficial 'sequel trilogy' of Marathon Phoenix, Marathon Rubicon, and Marathon Eternal. (Which wasn't set up that way intentionally; they're separate scenarios created by different people that simply happened to match up well.)
I won't claim to be an expert myself (I haven't even finished Durandal and Infinity yet, and am unlikely to do so anytime soon) but I though this would be an interesting one to discuss here. They tend to get overshadowed by their contemporaries Doom and System Shock, but I think these games have a lot to offer.
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