Classic Marathon

gem alarm

More fun than I expected. It has some issues, mostly with the levels. Colony ship for sale, cheap is not as horrible as people say it is, there is some way, way worse levels here. It's not unbeatable. It has a good story and interesting lore to go with it. The music is good. I like the graphics. Bungie was ahead of their time in 1994.

Worth the play, suprisingly more depth than I had anticipated. Story was confusing but seemingly intentionally, enough to follow for it's duration but plenty to keep anticipation for the sequel. Played with remastered sound and upscaled visuals, both of which I found impressive. Listening through various remakes of the music after against the originals, I wish I would have either played with the original QuickTime 2.0 tracks or the Craig Hardgrove Remakes as they feel more appropriate for the set and setting than even the included tracks. This game has sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole after completion digging through Bungie's website for more. Will be excited to see what Marathon 2 and Infinity have to offer.

It's called *Classic* Marathon for a reason. Being able to see how far the fps has come, and being able to see how many interesting things they still managed to make for this back in 1993- the stories in the terminals, the variety of weapons, the brilliant UI (the tiny fov is a brilliant stylistic choice to improve the feeling of claustrophobia and the way the rest of the interface is shaped around it is glorious). It's got rough edges- literally too seeing how smooth looking curves weren't a thing they could make at the time. But there's a charm to that, to the game as a whole, to its atmosphere of this cramped, dangerous ship that you're trapped in with an alien empire, a mad computer, and a whole lot of firepower to scavenge. It's for good reason people followed in its footsteps. It's for good reason that it's still worth playing today.