The Marathon series is really fuckin' good

[hygraed]

So I finally told myself "I'm going to play the goddamn Marathon games even if they kill me." I got Aleph One (the source port) all set up for each game, and let me tell you it was a PAIN IN THE FUCKING ASS because you can only adjust mouse sensitivity from the main menu and not from within the game, I mean what in HELL were they thinking.

Anyway, these games are incredible. It's a damned shame they were only released for Mac (with the exception of the second) because had they come out for the IBM PC they probably would have been way more successful and Bungie might have made more games of this caliber instead of going off and making the Halo games which frankly I have never seen the appeal of.

Marathon starts you off in the corridor of a spaceship with a computer terminal on the wall a few yards ahead. Your first instinct is to go up to the terminal and read what it says, but seconds after you turn it on and the screen comes up you start getting hit by something. You panic and exit the terminal screen only to find that you are being flanked by these freakishly tall green aliens and you have to run your ass back down the corridor, frantically firing your pistol at the approaching aliens. It's an amazing opening, and it does an excellent job of making you realize that you are not safe at all anywhere on this ship and you had better figure out just what the hell is going on.

But that's the fuck of it. You can't figure out just what the hell is going on because your only source of information is a malfunctioning AI, Leela. She tells you what you need to do, but the information she's able to give you is fragmented and incomplete. You have to go through the ship and bring various systems online and fix what's broken to the best of your abilities, but what you really want to do is find the next computer terminal so you can glean what little information you can from it.

Not all the terminals are controlled by Leela, however. You occasionally run across a terminal filled with what appears to be gibberish: garbled fragments of novels or history lessons, seemingly unconnected but it eventually becomes apparent that whoever or whatever is in control of these terminals has a very definite agenda in mind.

The presentation is simply amazing. In an era filled with games like Doom and Rise of the Triad, where your ultimate goal was to shoot everything in sight, Marathon created a sense of atmosphere, confusion, and at times, outright terror that in my opinion was matched only by System Shock.

So, yeah. Play these games if you haven't yet. They can be had for free from here for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Ohhhh there WILL be replies. There will be.

But for now - SAY HYGRAED, didja ever play "ZPC"? That used the Marathon engine. (Presumably the one the second game used, as ZPC is a PC game - handy name, that.)

If you don't have it, let me know and I will get it to you. Everyone associated with ZPC is probably out of the industry and dead, so I assume it is abandonware at this point.

[hygraed]

I've never played it, although I love Aidan Hughes' work. I'd appreciate it if you could provide me with a download or something.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I've never played it, although I love Aidan Hughes' work. I'd appreciate it if you could provide me with a download or something.

If I can host it here I'll go ahead and do that, otherwise I'll send you a PM as to the best way to get it to you.

I sent Worm a package recently, due to the fact that combined the two of us have paid for Devil Whiskey approximately 20 times. Of course, I forgot to actually include that. So I am running to the post office anyway.

Also, I recently updated my "anthrax list," and you know how that goes, don't want it in the house! Ha ha! Chop chop!

[Jack Straw]

otherwise I'll send you a PM as to the best way to get it to you.

if that happens, be a dear and CC: straw.

ZPC has passed me by.