[h1]Certified Hood Classic[/h1]
Marathon 2: Durandal is an exceptional game. I've been playing it for a few years, even before it got ported to Steam, and it's definitely my favorite boomer shooter ever, possibly favorite game ever. There's nothing quite like it or like either of the other Marathon games. So here's a "brief" overview. At least, I'll attempt to keep it brief.
[h2]Story In A Boomer Shooter?[/h2]
What other boomer shooters place such heavy emphasis on their lore and worldbuilding, their narrative and central characters? It differentiates itself from mindless run-and-gun games from around the same time by doing so. Part of me imagines it was motivated by the Mac exclusivity, as Mac users were an entirely different audience, consisting largely of academics, college students, so on. Something more... "sophisticated," so to speak, was what the doctor ordered. Bungie itself also consisted of staff with backgrounds in philosophy and history, which made this direction a natural fit, especially following up Pathways Into Darkness, which kinda required some good story as an FPS-RPG hybrid (maybe the first of its kind?). Irregardless, Marathon and, of course, Marathon 2 fill a perfect niche for somebody like me, of combining the fast-paced, punchy action of retro shooters while treating video games as an artistic medium to deliver a high concept, hard sci-fi storyline. M2D takes the plot of the first Marathon and expands its scope to an interstellar scale, moving beyond the confines of the UESC Marathon to the surface of Lh'owon, miles beneath the planet's surface, back into space on Durandal's repurposed Phfor spacecraft "Boomer," all with the backdrop of a prolonged proxy war between two rival, rampant AIs as you seek to liberate the enslaved S'pht in search of their eleventh clan. It doesn't delve into abstract storytelling interpreted through metaphor present in the first game a lá the Gerrit White Terminal, which is a shame, I liked that element about Marathon, but it makes Marathon 2's narrative a bit easier to follow, which might be a boon for some people. And the aforementioned, heightened scope softens the blow by making the events taking place feel so much more expansive and impactful. Hopefully this wasn't too spoiler heavy since I do think a huge part of the enjoyment of this game is piecing things together yourself across the different terminals, which function essentially like text logs. As they say, limitation is the mother of invention, but such a methodology of telling the story might be a bit cumbersome for some. I don't think it's that big a deal, though. All the same, a fantastic story that you should at least look up if you're unwilling to play or complete the game. Thematically pungent, deeply mature for its time.
[h2]Combat[/h2]
Marathon 2 only improves on the combat by giving more of a purpose to the Zeus energy pistol against armored and mechanical enemies and adding one of the best shotguns in video game history and letting you dual-wield it. Giving certain enemies resistances or weaknesses incentivizes the player to swap weapons with regularity to preserve ammo and do the most damage in an efficient manner, pretty standard boomer shooter fare in this regard... Except for the reloading. Marathon 1 introduced reloading to FPS games (ignoring The Fortress of Dr Radiaki, sorry Gilbert Austin), and Marathon 2 continues that here. It adds a layer of depth and tension to shooting not present in games like Doom, and it's a good mechanic at mitigating Marathon 2's stagnant enemy variety relative to the first Marathon. Marathon 2 didn't add many enemies at all tbh, just the F'lickta and role replacement types of enemies. The Drinniol are entirely gone, too, sadly. I like to think they led a successful slave revolt and freed themselves from the Phfor during the seventeen years that Mjolnir Recon 54 was in stasis. But I digress. Underwater combat is a new addition in this game, and while certainly impressive for 1995, it's still underwater combat at the end of the day. You might not be able to spell "functional" without "fun," but calling it the latter would be a misnomer. You can't move fast enough underwater to gain significant enough momentum to make punching F'lickta to death a brief affair, which leaves you just holding both mouse buttons as you dual-wield your fists (lol) as you whale on them hoping they don't get you stuck in a corner or something. It's not ideal. But other than that, combat in Marathon 2 is really fun. While extremely satisfying and it has a thru the roof cool factor, the super shotguns in Marathon 2 are much more well-balanced than, say, Doom II, and excessive usage of it is spaced out enough to make every instance of going ham with the shotguns an utter blast. Otherwise, not much has changed combat-wise from Marathon 1 other than I think there being less invulnerability powerups around. Overall, it's an improvement over the first and a fun game to just shoot things in, emphasis on story or not.
[h2]Visually Striking[/h2]
Marathon 2: Durandal is a really pleasant looking game at nearly all times. Aside from a couple boring looking levels here n there, it, in large part, is a vibrant, colorful game thar improves massively over the first Marathon. Things don't get as dark, which significantly alters the atmosphere, but what's lost in the shuffle is a fair trade, imo. Part of the game's great visuals that I'll never get over are the skyboxes. Utterly gorgeous. The surface of Lh'owon has a deep purple sky littered with stars, and the reddish moon above the alien architecture in the distance gives every outdoor level a grand feel. Same for during the day with the bright, lemonade yellow skies on the planet's surface. Space also looks really nice outside of the Phfor spaceships. I play using the 2007 XBLA graphics pack which is free elsewhere on the Steam store. I highly recommend it, as the visuals are absolutely stunning. Extremely hi-res and smooth. Some might prefer the original graphics, and there're elements I do prefer, but by and large, Freeverse XBLA sprites/textures are the goats. No matter which you choose to use though, Marathon 2 is still a great looking game stylistically to this day.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
All in all, Marathon 2: Durandal is an extremely easy recommendation on my end for anybody who likes boomer shooters or retro FPS games more broadly speaking. Fantastic story, just as fun as any other shooter from the time, and literal eye candy. Nab an OST from the Steam Workshop and you'll be absolutely golden.
