$20 GOTW/Lost Classics: Marathon (XBOX 360, PC, MAC, Linux)

Before Bungie jumped through Halos with Microsoft, they ran the Marathon on Macintosh. Even before creating the instant Xbox seller, Bungie was innovating the first person shooter. Released in 1994, the first installment of the series introduced complex storytelling. Later installments would involve time travel, alternate universes, and Artificial Intelligences going insane. With Halo 3 hitting stores next month, now is a good of a time as any to take a look at Bungie’s other FPS series.

Marathon casts players as a mere security officer sent to investigate a distress signal on board the ship the U.E.S.C. Marathon. Your only allies are the ship’s three AIs, Leela, Durandal, and Tycho. You must defend the ship against a race of alien slavers known as the Pfhor, a group of aliens with their soldiers organized in a caste system with their own bureaucracy and religion (hmm… now where have we seen this before?). The story continued with Marathon 2, in which the player is part of a team which is sent to explore the ruins of a desert planet, and in Marathon Infinity, in which players traverse multiple time lines in order to prevent the destruction of the universe.

The story was mainly told via the use of computer consoles which recorded conversations, diary entries, mission reports, and even stories and poems. It also introduced several conventions taken for granted in today’s FPS games, such as dual wielding, level editing (via Bungie’s Forge program, which is sadly only for Macintosh), AI controlled allies, and using the mouse-controlled aiming. It also introduced several different multiplayer modes beyond the standard deathmatch, such as like co-op, king of the hill, and well, this:

(Now I know you’ve seen this before.)

Sadly, it’s Mac release kept it from gaining true popularity. However, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of Marathon as of late. Rather it’s due to the article in last month’s Game Informer or the popularity of its spiritual successor Halo, players are finally starting to wake up and realize how awesome this game is, and thankfully Bungie is recognizing this. Marathon 2 was recently released on the Xbox Live arcade, and the Bungie released the source code for the entire trilogy in 2005. It can be downloaded at http://source.bungie.org/, along with the Aleph One emulator which can be used to run it on any platform. So while you’re waiting for Halo 3 to be released, you can check out its origins here. Also of interest is Marathon resurrection, a remake of the original game using the Unreal Tournament engine.