Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Marathon

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Infinity

Its not too late to play!

[UmbralRaptor]

Oh, hey. I played Marathon 1 and 2 (and briefly poked around with Infinity) over the past year or so through AlephOne. These are games that did lots of interesting things at the time, but the cool bits are often obscured by absolutely awful choices elsewhere. I'm not going to claim that they aren't worthwhile, but you might be disappointed. As some of the cool bits (notably story-related) inspired the Half-LIfe 2 mod Minerva, you should check that out also. Spoilers follow.

 

Let's start with the game engine. The Marathon series were in some ways rather advanced for their time, with good looking up/down, glancing left/right, and some actual momentum physics. (AlephOne improves on the graphics, making it more late-90s than early 90s) For that matter, the mouse-look vertical aiming feels remarkably good, and almost like a true 3D FPS (far better than Dark Forces keyboard-bound aiming or the wackiness and distortions of Duke3D's up/down). Unfortunately, the engine now shows its cracks with the limited number of horizontal aiming directions, the kludgy slow floating down in air and swimming in general in 2/Infinity. That said, 2.5D nature of it was well-exploited with some areas that might not be physically possible, and puzzles that fit the physics. Even if there are sections as early as Arrival that clearly only work because you can't jump.

The UI will conspire with the mechanics to drive you crazy, though. You have up to 7-9 weapons, depending on which game you're playing, and no way to jump to directly one. Expect a lot of tedius and/or frustrating scrollthroughs with next/previous if you want to go between, say, the alien weapon and the assault rifle. The GUI is also somewhat against you, which Marathon 1 wanting to stick the playing area in a postage stamp in one corner of the screen. Marathon 2 and Infinity are  much better, with all the info pushed to the bottom of the screen. Thankfully AlephOne means you don't have to deal with this, and can get get modern features like crosshairs and a fullscreen display. Albeit at the cost of only being able to see ammo for one weapon at a time, and info displays that are vaguely centered instead of at the corners of your screen for no clear reason.

No, you can't be as tactical as they describe. The combat never quite meshed for me, given the above UI limitations, a reload mechanic without a reload button (you have to empty the magazine), odd feeling dodging (levels are too cramped for doom-like circles and weaving back and forth tends to get you hit), and that throughout the games aliens and weapons/ammo will teleport in when you reach the "right" locations. Sometimes after you've done other things in those locations, so if you're going to pass through the same area more than once after breaking a panel or flipping a switch, be ready. The exception to this is the endless backtracking that anyone who is not a vidmaster (I'm not) will be doing.

Almost all health is available at recharge stations, with the exceptions being the canisters that (very rarely) spawn at your feet. And you probably don't want to ironman your way forwards because there is no quicksave. Just a sharply limited number of save terminals, possibly behind a bunch of enemies. Both of these lead to the ugly problem of completing one bit of the level, then running back to health/save points, then continuing. Because otherwise you run a big risk of dieing partway through and then a long retracing of your steps. Which lots of additional points at which you can die. This also means that your first priorities on a level are locating saving/health and your final ones before leaving, assuming they're available. (Some levels, notably Ingue Ferroque have health only available in some portions of the level and no save terminals at all.) This brings us to the issues with moving between levels.

Other terminals provide information on your situation and almost all of your teleportation between levels. The key thing here is not figuring out when to revisit (it's usually clear enough), but that since they do both, you need to be on alert for the teleport message and ready to abort it if this is not the first terminal in a level. Also you sometimes need to rush through the text because of limited oxygen supply, lava, or interruptions from nearby enemies. More troubling is level design that makes it easy to miss information terminals, making the story less clear. This is mainly a problem in the first game, though there are exceptions (eg: the otherwise excellent What About Bob? has 2 different teleport out terminals with different background information) There are also a few cases where simply moving into the right/wrong location will teleport you. Keep this in mind for the Phfor levels in Marathon 1.

Oxygen/water/vacuum/lava/slime all deserve a mention. They feel gimmicky in the first game, but as actual (if imperfect) elements of the second. Underwater portions and changing liquid levels are in principle interesting, though the lack of any meaningful weaponry besides your fists seems like a major omission. Vacuum is again more of a theory thing than practice, with only 1 level in Marathon 1, and none in 2. I'm under the impression that Infinity has a few, though? Slime hurting you when you're over even if not on it felt like a pointless health tax in the first game, and so was thankfully removed in the second. Note also the change from Deimos Lh'owon making the lava reasonable instead of absurd.

The enemies presented an adequate variety, though selection in a given level could probably use some revisions. Some are only in one or 2 ever (eg: Marathon 1 Drinnols, Juggernauts in both), even if they could be interesting elsewhere. The AI isn't anything special, but gives a few different behaviors, and the possibility of monster infighting adds depth. Shame about the teleporting in and cramped levels...

Your weapon selection is similarly adequate, though the aforementioned difficulties in reloading and switching (and that you need to use alt-fire to bring up the second weapon if it's one you can dual-weild) make it annoying. Which is a shame because there are some interesting ideas here. The variety feels larger than Doom's, even if it isn't really.

Level design as a whole is hugely hit or miss. Marathon 1 has lots of bad sections and levels (eg: Colony Ship Phfor Sale Cheap's 7 pillars, Ingue Ferroque as a whole), with 2 being substantially better (eg: What About Bob?, Eat it, Vid Boi!). There are still cases of long path leading to dead-ends and the occasional random pillar/rapidly rejoining choice, though. Save and heal terminals are much easier to get to early in levels and less likely to be cut-off in Marathon 2, with those cases often having plot-related reasons. There are still some pacing issues, though nothing like Marathon 1 (eg: Ain't Got Time Phfor This exists because, uh, more phfor levels?).

The plot is better than Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, or Quake I in that it actually exists, and there is more depth and detail than in something like the Heretic/Hexen series, Dark Forces, or Quake II. But unlike those you can easily miss plot points (poorly placed terminals for instance), and there are enough gaps and contradictions that one might do well to check the fan sites for a better idea of what is going on.

That said, I want to consider the end levels as an example of the problems of the games. Ingue Ferroque is particularly awful, due to the lack of save points, near total lack of health, probably gratuitous nature given the plot at that point, and that the final challenge is... speedrunning a lava and enemy filled maze so you can read a terminal. The challenges aren't anything special individually (aside perhaps from the lava bit), but the lack of save points and health means your margin of error is non-existent. Expect to have to play this several times because of that. The plot aspect is also rather confusing, as you manage to (semi-accidentally?) bring in outside support by liberating the S'pht, which means that the battle for your ship is finally turning around. Durandal leaves your to your own devices while Leela reboots, and you... smash an area with Phfor that "should" be surrendering because reasons? And you reach the terminal because, well, it's not clear. All Roads Lead To Sol is rather better in terms of resources available to the player (actual health and save options), enemies (you're taking on an unusually well equipped group, hence the juggernauts), and plot reasons. (Durandal wants to use you to inflict pain on the Phfor. This isn't actually necessary as you have again brought in the needed allies to win, but he feels like it. So you do just that, break the base, and head out.) You're still stuck with a lava swim or 2, though.

 

So, uh, should I play through all of Infinity?

 

edit: This neglects the sound design. Marathon 1 can be directly compared to Doom (though obviously the soundtracks are different). The sound effects proper are probably a bit worse in general, though. Marathon 2 and Infinity have better sound effects and nice environmental noises, but at the cost of no ingame music at all. (Which feels a bit weird since Dark Forces came out the same year as Marathon 2, and Quake I the same year as Marathon Infinity)

Edited August 13, 2016 by UmbralRaptor

[Dispatcher]

20 hours ago, UmbralRaptor said:

Oh, hey. I played Marathon 1 and 2 (and briefly poked around with Infinity) over the past year or so through AlephOne. These are games that did lots of interesting things at the time, but the cool bits are often obscured by absolutely awful choices elsewhere. I'm not going to claim that they aren't worthwhile, but you might be disappointed. As some of the cool bits (notably story-related) inspired the Half-LIfe 2 mod Minerva, you should check that out also. Spoilers follow.

 ...

So, uh, should I play through all of Infinity?

 ...

Maybe!