by Hey, hang on… this isn’t DOOM!
Lepcis has been trying to get me to play this one for a while. In fact, you can read his review of the Marathon Trilogy right here! However, whereas Lepcis is a veteran of the series, I began my journey as but a learner. What I found was quite surprising–Marathon is nothing like DOOM, or any other sprite-based 3-D shooter I’ve ever played… and I’ve played a lot of them. The thing is, even though I like DOOM better, I actually think Marathon is objectively a better game. Or at least, it certainly feels like much more thought was put into it.
–Obligatory Spoiler Warning–
Marathon is a game with a lot of plots all spinning around at once. On its surface though, it’s a game about two AI’s from a massive spaceship fighting against an invading alien force. You, a nameless-probably-cyborg-silent-protagonist are the pawn of these two AI’s as you fight your way through an army of bizarre alien creatures. One AI, “Leela” seems to generally have humanity’s best interest at heart, and communicates with you in a calm, logical manner. The other AI, “Durandal” has gone mad, and all manner of interaction with him is shaded by the color of his own maniacal machinations.
All of this actually came as quite a shock to me. I don’t think there’s been a single FPS game from this era that I’ve played that actually had this much plot–or for that matter, even any real dialogue. DOOM just provided a couple paragraphs of script after each of 3 meager chapters. Most of Hexen’s plot came from the instruction booklet. Heretic… well, let’s be real here. Heretic didn’t have a plot. But Marathon? Marathon keeps you constantly on-edge as the story unfolds deeper and deeper via conversations, records and corrupted files provided to you through computer terminals scattered aboard the ship.
One of the best parts of the game, was getting to board one of the alien ships. Up until that point of the game, the textures of your surroundings had been pretty “same-y” and nothing too bizarre popped up in the environment. Once you land on the Pfhor craft though, suddenly everything changes, and you have to relearn your way around the game. The designers even added one of the most clever but subtle touches of immersion that I’ve seen in an FPS in a while–when you pick up an alien rifle, you can’t see the bullet count that is in it. In fact, your whole weapons becomes distorted due to, I’m assuming, the fact that the Pfhor tech isn’t quite compatible with your own. It really felt like Marathon wasn’t just a cheap excuse for you to blast aliens–you were really supposed to feel like everything happening around you was real.
Mechanically speaking, Marathon is better-balanced than DOOM is. The thing is, once you get the Shotgun in DOOM (or the Super-Shotty in DOOM 2) you pretty much have nothing left to worry about. Sure, the other guns help (a lot) but basically, the Shotgun covers any situation you find yourself in. In Marathon, you don’t get off the hook that easily. For starters, you don’t get a chain gun–you dual wield pistols. This keeps the pistol mechanic solid (low bullet count, accurate single-shot) in play, without making it useless (DOOM’s pistol) or mindless (DOOM’s chain gun).
Arguably, the MA-75 rifle is the bread-and-butter gun in Marathon, but even it isn’t without its weaknesses. It has absolutely horrible accuracy at any distance beyond short-range, meaning that you either have to fire in very short bursts at a distance, or be willing to sacrifice a lot of ammo if it’s the only gun your willing to use against long-range foes. The flamethrower is nice, but only works against certain enemies (and enemies won’t drop their guns if killed by it, making you think twice if you want to use it in certain situations). The rockets are strong, but extremely slow. Overall, no single gun is “Powerful” in every situation, and none of them can be mindlessly used, which is far more than I can say about the guns in DOOM.
In spite of all this though, DOOM had much better level design. The levels in Marathon feel a bit uninspired. Don’t get me wrong–they are certainly better than Heretics, but ultimately, Marathon’s non-Pfhor levels range from forgettable to frustrating. A lot of the puzzles are obtuse, requiring trial-and-error, even in situations where you actually know what to do. Other times, you’re required to scour the map for a button that opens a door across the map–and the rules regarding those buttons are inconsistent. Some buttons need to be shot to be used. Sometimes buttons stay pressed–other times, they turn off after a while. Still, other buttons will actually alter already pressed buttons! It can be a little tiresome after a while.
Altogether though, Marathon is a really good game for those who like the gunfights of DOOM, but wanted a Sci-Fi story to accompany it, full of twists and turns. I wish I could go into detail about every little theory I had about Marathon’s plot, but if I did, this review would probably never end. Instead, if you’re interested, you can check out me playing through the series on Youtube via the link below. Even though I prefer pace of DOOM better, Marathon is easily a Tier 2 game that I’m glad I played through at least once.
