Bungie's Marathon series becomes freeware - Download!
- Thread starter Demigod Mac
- Start date
ToyMachine228
Member
Damn...Mac only for now.
They can be converted using HFVExplorer. I can't seem to find the faq on it, though. After converting the files, just load them up with Aleph One .
For Marathon 1, just use M1A1 . No converting necessary.
For all 3 games, use the high-res texture packs here. Really helps out the eyes, especially on Marathon 2. Those Lh'owon textures are downright ugly.
For Marathon 1, just use M1A1 . No converting necessary.
For all 3 games, use the high-res texture packs here. Really helps out the eyes, especially on Marathon 2. Those Lh'owon textures are downright ugly.
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
Not exactly. The Marathon Mjolnir is to Master Chief as _____ is to Indiana Jones.border said:
A. Marion Ravenwood
B. That guy who gives Indy a hat at the beginning of The Last Crusade
C. Lao Tse
D. Short Round
(Answer:
B
MomoPufflet
Member
Mac... lame.
Demigod Mac
Member
For those unfortunate enough to own PCs: download Stuffit Expander and Aleph One for PC.
http://source.bungie.org
http://www.allume.com
Better yet, purchase a Power Mac G5. Mmmmm....
P.S.
OS X uses Aleph One as well.
http://source.bungie.org
http://www.allume.com
Better yet, purchase a Power Mac G5. Mmmmm....
P.S.
OS X uses Aleph One as well.
Demigod Mac
Member
Use Aleph One instead of using Classic to play in OS X. It's much better.
WasabiKing
Member
Awesome. Too bad I've strayed from the Mac, can't for the PC re-releases.
Parallax Scroll
Banned
I've already got install discs for two out of the three... somewhere. And I don't have a Mac anymore. But I still like this news. =)
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Buy a new Mac Mini to enjoy the Bungie Love! 
Jonnyboy117
Member
Can someone please tell me what this game is about, how it plays, and why it's great, so I can get excited for the PC version?
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
It's the architectural blueprint for Halo. Except the level design is vastly better.
The Guivre
Member
"WoOoOOOOoo! Yeah! That's right we get to play old and out dated games and you don't!"
This is somewhat similar to me bragging that I can play Namco Mueseum on my GBA SP while those that have the PSP are sentenced to having to put up with a Metal Gear game. It's good to know that there was a Bungie that made good games before Halo and all that, but trying to turn it into some sort of end zone dance for those who own Macs is stretching things a little too far.
This is somewhat similar to me bragging that I can play Namco Mueseum on my GBA SP while those that have the PSP are sentenced to having to put up with a Metal Gear game. It's good to know that there was a Bungie that made good games before Halo and all that, but trying to turn it into some sort of end zone dance for those who own Macs is stretching things a little too far.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Jonnyboy117 said:
Marathon is sort of a Doom era game (Doom I and II that is) with a much better story, more intelligent enemies, and much better level design. It didn't get as much attention at the time due to the fact that Bungie was mainly a Mac developer until the Myth games hit. By the way, Myth was an awsome game that was ahead of it's time as well.
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
The repetition never bothered me. Halo's level design fell short in its point A to point B to simplicity. It looked magnificent, and the exterior areas were amazing in scope. But you never had to explore; to keep up the game's pace, Bungie practically put you on rails. The Marathon games had much more intricate levels, even if they looked uglier. Go on, load up Marathon Infinity, skip to Acme Station and see if you can still tell me Halo had better level design.dark10x said:
ToastyFrog said:
Ah, perhaps we are looking for different things. Halo's levels are not made for exploration while Marathon's clearly are. In the context of the gameplay, the levels work very well. I wouldn't want to navigate and explore a complex structure in Halo. Whereas Marathon's gun mechanics would not hold up well when used in the areas Halo offers.
I've only played Marathon 2, but I prefer Halo's gameplay and, as a result, its level design. I suppose an opinion will be formed based simply on which type of level you'd rather play.
It's akin to deciding whether something like Dracula X - Rondo of Blood featured better level design than Symphony of the Night. SotN is exploration based and presents a massive, non-linear castle to unravel. Rondo, on the flipside, was a (mostly) straight forward action game. Both feature level designs well tuned for the individual gameplay, so it isn't entirely fair to compare those level designs to one another (despite the fact that they are both members of the same series).
Jonnyboy117 said:
Technically--better than Doom, not as good as Quake. The major addition to the gameplay was that you had to reload clips, and that took time. This was a major part of the game's balancing--for example, the initial gun you got in Marathon 1 had eight bullets in a clip, and enemies dropped with either two or four hits. So if you missed a single shot and got out of the cycle, you were just about guaranteed to have to reload while an enemy was doing damage to you. That required a kind of strategy that was new to FPSs.
If I remember correctly, Marathon was the first FPS that had multiple-level dungeons, as opposed to the single-level dungeon with an elevator that you see in Wolfenstein 3D or Doom.
Marathon also gave you a lot of reading to do, Metroid-Prime-style, but there's a great storyline in it about two artificial intelligences, one of which may or nay not be going insane. For the time, an FPS with such an elaborate story was pretty innovative.
Nostalgia may force me to remember Marathon more fondly than it deserves to be remembered. When Marathon 1 was released, Bungie was a Mac-only company, and when Mac-bashers would try to play the "gaming sucks on Mac" card, we'd just point at Marathon. That's why Microsoft's purchase of Bungie was such a kick in the testicles.
ArcadeStickMonk
Member
How many cards you think the PC gamers were holdin' at that time?Prospero said:
ArcadeStickMonk said:
Oh, I'm not saying that PC gaming wasn't superior to Mac gaming--the exclusive ability to play what was arguably the best FPS on the market at the time still gave us some consolation, though. Sort of like some Xbox fanboys pointing at Halo 2 now, even though the PS2's catalog is superior to the Xbox's.
ArcadeStickMonk
Member
Holy shit, could you make a more ironic analogy? I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you did that intentionally.Prospero said:
ArcadeStickMonk said:
Do you mean "ironic" in the Alanis Morrissette sense, or actually ironic?
Bungie once made a game called Marathon exclusively for the Macintosh. Though many PC gamers said that given the choice, PC gaming was superior to Mac gaming, owners of Macintoshes would often contend that the ability to play Marathon alone justified the ownership of a Mac.
Bungie now makes a game called Halo 2 exclusively for the Xbox. Though many PS2 gamers will say that given the choice, PS2 gaming is superior to Xbox gaming, owners of Xboxes will often contend that the ability to play Halo 2 alone justifies the ownership of an Xbox.
Putting aside the question of whether the Xbox has a greater share of its respective market than the Mac, which isn't relevant to the statements above: is either of those statements false?
Yeah, actually. Perhaps early on in the lifetime of XBOX you would have heard such a statement, but these days, most XBOX owners would never point solely towards Halo as a reason for owning the system. It is just as likely that a random PS2 owner would claim that it is worth owning a PS2 solely for Grand Theft Auto or something. Both platforms offer a whole lot of content and, in some ways, are nearly on even ground.
Mac VS PC was an entirely different situation. There WAS no comparison between the two. The PC offered 50 times the content and was a vastly superior gaming platform. PS2 and XBOX are closer to being peers...
ArcadeStickMonk
Member
I gave you the benefit, duder.Prospero said:
Explained this way, I recognize your perspective. However if one were to label you for a Mac fan-boy, touting his Marathon, then using Halo in reverse agianst Xbox fanboys (who we assume you dislike) as a form of derision, then that would in fact be ironic... the second type I 'spose.
Instead you've clarified to painting of Bungie as a sort of platform-justification-machine, which I think is interesting.
dark10x said:
Fair enough--I should have mentioned Halo instead of Halo 2 (though some of my friends still refer to the Xbox as the "Halobox").
But now you're drifting into different territory, reading a general case of comparing systems in the marketplace instead of the specific case of the place that a particular piece of software holds in the library of a system.
That's fine, but in the case of XBOX, there is so much more than Halo. In the case of the Mac, well, there really wasn't a whole lot outside of Marathon...
So, while each game may have been considered enough of a reason to own the particular platform, one offers many additional options while the other does not.
Plus, ASM's observation is kinda humorous...
ArcadeStickMonk
Member
Wrong, son! There was Pathways into Darkness!dark10x said:
Now if I could just remember who put that game out...
It's funny and not a little sad that the bulk of the gaming I've done on any Mac I've owned was playing the various permutations of Escape Velocity. For shareware, it was a great little game. So when are we going to get a modern version of Elite? doesn't matter what platform, I'll get it just for that.