Halo's prequel is now free for downloading

[SteveW]

It looks like Bungie has decided to make The Marathon Trilogy available for free. They let the source code out to the public years ago, and since then, there's been an update for 3D accelerated machines called Aleph One made, and that's what the new releases are based on. There's even a PC version of Marathon Infinity, which Bungie didn't put out, but the PC port of Aleph One makes playable.

 

Marathon is (supposedly) set in the same universe as Halo. You are a Mjolnir Mark IV Spartan (like Master Chief), on board the UESC Marathon, heading for a new colony on Tau Ceti, when it gets attacked by a species known as the Pfhor, and one of the ships artificial intelligences (that's gone a little crazy) is using you to hunt down and destroy them. The game came out a little after Doom, but looked better, and was 1000% more interesting. Marathon 2 was, in my opinion, a lot better than Marathon Infinity story-wise, but they're both great anyway. Go get 'em.

[Dones]

Thanks Steve. Why is Marathon regarded as a Halo prequel? I heard some of Halo's developers also worked on Marathon, but isn't that a bit of a stretch?

[Christophero Sly]

Marathon was a great trilogy. I enjoyed playing all three games when they first came out back in the mid-90's. Marathon had a very engrossing storyline. Unfortunately, it got convoluted in the third installment, Infinity. I replayed Marathon and Marathon 2 under Aleph One last year. It was a nice bit of nostalgia. I don't know anything about Halo except that it was a Bungie game. I was surprised to learn that it borrows elements from Marathon.

[Albert]

While I've heard a lot about Marathon over the years, I've never played any of the three games because until recently (the last year and a half) I didn't use Macs. Of course, now that I go look at Bungie's site, I see that Marathon was also released for the PC. I'll definitely have to try them out.

 

..Al

[Stingray]

I've still got the first two on CD somewhere. I wasn't all that impressed with them even when they were new. I'm pretty sure Marathon was the game that made me realise that I don't like FPSs.

 

-S

[MegaManFan]

That's ironic, since Halo was (along with Metroid Prime) the game that convinced me they're not so bad after all. 3D motion still makes me sick now and then, but I just take breaks.

[ubersaurus]

Marathon and Halo are two seperate universes. There are alot of marathon references in Halo, but they aren't connected.

[Stingray]

That's ironic, since Halo was (along with Metroid Prime) the game that convinced me they're not so bad after all.  3D motion still makes me sick now and then, but I just take breaks.

 

Yeah, motion sickness isn th enumber one reason why I don't play them. It's not a matter of just taking breaks in my case, it hits me almost immediatly and I have to take a long break just to get over it.

 

-S

[MegaManFan]

We old fogies just got too used to 2-D gaming. I mean hell even into the mid 90's. the majority of popular console games were still flat as a map. PC games were a little ahead of the curve there, but Wolfenstein 3-D made me sick as a dog so I avoided it. For some reason certainly games make me violently ill and others don't. Halo - not too bad. Spyro the Dragon and Sonic 3-D Blast though, all the way.

[Stingray]

I'm always comforted to find others who share my fps motion sickness affliction. Oddly third person 3D games don't do it to me at all, but first person...

 

-S

[MegaManFan]

FPS usually hit me the worst, but it's odd which ones don't. Alien v. Predator on Jaguar, no sickness. Halo and Halo 2, very mild sickness. Wolfenstein 3-D - barf city. Most other FPS other than Metroid Prime, puke-o-rama.

[sigma]

"if you think those graphics aren't that good then you were probably born in the '90s" "we were scared of the flying poo!"

or something like that

[Famicoman]

I've gotta check out this game. Made by Halo people, for Halo people.

[Flack]

I'm always comforted to find others who share my fps motion sickness affliction. Oddly third person 3D games don't do it to me at all, but first person...

 

-S

 

Feel comforted -- here's another. For me, it also seems to be related to the newer consoles. Not sure if it's a framerate issue or what, but I can play THPS2 all day long on the PSX, but any version of Tony Hawk for the PS2, Xbox or Gamecube sends me to the floor with a headache quicker than free Tequila night at Club Rodeo does.

 

I also agree about the 1st/3rd person thing. I can play Star Wars Battlefront in 3rd person mode, no problem, but any 1st Person Shooter feels like someone's got their finger in between my eyes and pushing really hard.

 

Anyone who's never had the pleasure of experiencing it should try crossing their eyes and spinning in circles for two weeks. It's kind of like that, except it comes on quickly and leaves slowly.

 

I guess it'll become a bigger problem for me after I'd beaten all the 2D games. I've still got a few to go ...

[Famicoman]

I feel exactly the same with Battlefront. Its kinda strange.

[Cap5750]

I recall feeling ill the first time I played Wolf-3d.

 

What I did was move back away from the monitor and all was fine.