- Release Date: 1996
- Genre: Action
- Style: First-Person Action
- Similar Games: Unreal (IBM PC Compatible), Duke Nukem (Game Boy Color), Unreal (Macintosh)
Game Description
Marathon Infinity is the third in the Marathon series, a first-person shooter in which you are a human cyborg marine whose mission is to save humanity. In Marathon you met the aliens as they invaded a colony ship. In Marathon 2: Durandal you battled an insane Artificial Intelligence calledIn Marathon Infinity, you try to solve clues to learn the secrets behind your own existence, all the while battling the
The Infinity scenario is easier than the original Marathon but tougher than Marathon 2. It contains many secrets and some very complex puzzles. To extend the life of the game, a massive online fan base creates new scenarios continuously. There are difficult scenarios for those who feel the game is too easy, beautiful scenarios for those who treat computer games like tourism, and even a horror scenario, Marathon: Evil, for those who like to be terrified.
As mentioned, the game offers users the wherewithal to add their own designed maps and scenarios. It comes with Anvil and Forge, the tools that allow you to design maps and to examine the maps of others (you can also use these tools to find the secret areas in the maps supplied with the game).
If you own a version of Marathon: Infinity earlier than 1.5, you should obtain the updater to fix bugs, including one that would cause the game to occasionally ask for the serial number again. You can find demos to all the Marathon games at the Bungie website at www.bungie.net/downloads/demos.shtml.
~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
A first person shooter, influenced by Wolfenstein 3D* but with a better plot. The plot is derived from the movies Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey and contains highly original elements.~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
The Marathon series is the only first person shooter series released forUnlike other shooters, Marathon provides you with a motion detector. This means that if a monster is not moving, you won't see it on the detector but as soon as it moves, you will be warned. Fans of other shooters will be upset initially when they discover there are no jump or duck buttons. However, the side-step buttons allow you to dodge many bullets and you can also dodge by turning while moving forward or backward. Unfortunately, one reason why it can be easy to dodge bullets is that most of the enemies are far less intelligent than in other games. On the other hand, most enemy bullets travel slowly and that can make the game more interesting.
This might be the only game in which you can dodge bullets the way fighter planes dodge missiles - by moving towards the bullet and then stepping aside at the last moment. Higher level enemies solve this problem with smart weapons (bullets that chase you) and area effect weapons (bombs that can hit you if they explode near you). Some enemies explode when killed (make sure they're far away from you to avoid sustaining damage). Some of your own area effect weapons are dangerous to you and since weapons switch automatically when ammunition runs out, you can get a nasty surprise. For example, if you're using the machine gun at close range and don't notice that you've run out of bullets, the computer could switch to anti-tank missiles that explode in your face at close range.
On the other hand, you can use area effect weapons to jump. This is not explained in the rules and is very difficult to do in practice. Also, using weapons this way will usually harm you. This is called "grenade hopping" and the practice is explained on the Internet which is also a source of many detailed cheats.
Implementation of the sound is delightful and smooth. You can have up to four channels (for surround sound) but two channels is fine. Even with two channels, active panning allows you to hear the direction from which enemies are approaching. Sound can also be useful with doors: if you fail to see one, you might hear it open and close. The only problem with the sound is the limited number of environmental sounds but this is a minor quibble.
The map for Marathon Infinity gives you plenty of weapons and save points but is nevertheless challenging. It contains an extraordinary number of secret paths, as well as a series of levels that will loop if you fail to explore them carefully. There are complex puzzles but as long as you take the time to understand them, they are easy to solve. Only one puzzle is annoying: a level with thirty switches that light up and then go off forever. The only way to tell whether or not you have thrown a switch is to try and activate it. If it turns on, you have not touched it before but if it does not activate, you have touched it at least once before.
The writing in the Marathon Infinity scenario is perfect. There is not much to read (which is good because you'd rather be shooting than reading) and all text is well written. There is a complex plot conveyed concisely. Marathon is in far better taste than any other shooter (except, perhaps, Half-Life). There are no body parts (dead monsters and dead fellow humans all explode but in an unrealistic manner that is not ugly). There are no women in Marathon Infinity but that is not really a problem because there are no men either. It is a gender-less world. Some may find the sewage levels colorless but sewers do tend to lack decoration.
Multi-player Marathon is extraordinary. It is incredibly fast-paced and exciting. There is a separate set maps, called "net maps," for multi-play only. You can play Deathmatch, King of the Hill, Capture the Flag or kill the man with the ball. In King of the Hill, whoever stays on the hill for the longest total amount of time wins. In hold the man with the ball, whoever holds the ball for the longest total amount of time wins. Holding the ball disables weapons and leaves you vulnerable. Capture the Flag is a team game while in Deathmatch, the winner is the person with the best difference between times killed and kills inflicted. All are exciting.
A unique feature of Marathon Infinity is the "record film" feature that allows you to record your performance. There are websites on the Internet on which people display their best performances. This feature allows you to save your own performance and then watch it, checking for flaws the way professional athletes do.
Another nice feature of Marathon Infinity is two additional programs that come with it: Anvil and Forge. Anvil allows you to modify the weapons and monsters, changing their powers, sounds and looks. It is far easier to change the powers of the monsters than it is to add original graphics. Forge is a wonderful map design program. Simply draw a two-dimensional map, add floor and ceiling heights and jump into the three-dimensional space. Then run around splashing color on the walls and floor.
Lights, shadows, liquids and elevators are more complex. Monsters and weapons require some study, as the AI, although not intelligent, can be extremely unpredictable. One warning: although the maps supplied with Marathon Infinity never crash, those you make yourself can cause the
On the Internet, you can find downloadable scenarios created by talented people. Tempus Irae is a scenario with beautiful graphics, impressive maps and an interesting Leonardo da Vinci theme. Marathon: Evil uses Anvil better than any other scenario. Evil has amazing original weapons including a rail gun and a tactical nuclear weapon. It also has one monster of which a multimillion dollar Hollywood horror studio would be proud.
Black Rose is a team game that requires two networked computers and two players. Note that these other scenarios do occasionally crash spectacularly, especially if you sidestep through a door. As this is the only one of the major first-person shooters written originally on the
You can adjust sound and graphics depth. If you have a slow computer, you can lower sound and graphics quality to make the program run faster and if you have a top-of-the-line computer you can ramp up the graphics and sound quality.
This is the standard against which other
~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
This is the most important aspect of a shooter. Smooth gameplay, a great plot, amazing deathmatch play, and complex maps make this a great game.~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
The designers decided to lower graphics variety to enable high graphics quality and smooth gameplay. I agree with their decision, but graphics fans will not.~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
As with the graphics, lower variety allows higher quality and smooth gameplay. Active panning is a significant plus.~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
Multiplayer play never gets boring. The supplied solo map has so many secret areas that you can play it through several times, and if you get bored of that, you can download additional scenarios from the Internet.~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The game is extremely well documented, although there are some quirks in the game that are not explained in the documentation. {*Forge} and {*Anvil} are more complex, and are more poorly documented, but there is more help for them online.~ Alexander Goldman, All Game Guide
