Bungie's "Marathon" is finally making it to Steam.
Well, more precisely the AlephOne source-port is. Eventually. It's not
there yet. All we have so far is a store page for "Classic Marathon" https://store.steampowered.com/app/2398450/Classic_Marathon/
"Marathon", of course, is Bungie's (of Halo fame) first FPS,
originally released to Macintosh. Released in December 1994 (two weeks
after Doom) it was, in some ways, mechanically superior to Id's
seminal classic. It ran at higher resolutions, had free-look, and
dynamic lighting. (But lest Mac-heads start feeling too superior, it
also ran far slower than Doom. Id prioritized speed over everything
else; Bungie focused on level design and features. Which makes for a
better game depends on what you want out of the game).
"Marathon" was well regarded for its visuals and - surprisingly - its
story, and it eventually spawned a whole trilogy of games. Years
later, it got ported to other platforms - including Windows - as
AlephOne, an open-source version of the game. Bungie made the assets
to their games freeware in the early 2000s, allowing anybody to play
it.
Still, getting the whole bundle working required a little bit of
effort, so having it on Steam and installable with a single-click is a welcome change. No word on price (Steam says 'free' but since the game
can't actually be claimed there's no way to prove that's true yet)
but, even if it's not, the game will also be available from the Aleph
One website https://alephone.lhowon.org/
Apparently, Bungie is also working on a spin-off game too. However,
seeing as this is described as "a PVP Extraction Shooter" I'm not too
excited about it. The Marathon's trilogy was always best remembered
for its story and setting, and somehow I don't think you'll get the
same experience in a multiplayer-only game. Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckI_m8bbXfw
I remember trying this game on my college dormitory roommate's Mac. I wasn't impressed. :(
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Bungie's "Marathon" is finally making it to Steam.
Well, more precisely the AlephOne source-port is. Eventually. It's not
there yet. All we have so far is a store page for "Classic Marathon"
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2398450/Classic_Marathon/
"Marathon", of course, is Bungie's (of Halo fame) first FPS,
originally released to Macintosh. Released in December 1994 (two weeks
after Doom) it was, in some ways, mechanically superior to Id's
seminal classic. It ran at higher resolutions, had free-look, and
dynamic lighting. (But lest Mac-heads start feeling too superior, it
also ran far slower than Doom. Id prioritized speed over everything
else; Bungie focused on level design and features. Which makes for a
better game depends on what you want out of the game).
"Marathon" was well regarded for its visuals and - surprisingly - its
story, and it eventually spawned a whole trilogy of games. Years
later, it got ported to other platforms - including Windows - as
AlephOne, an open-source version of the game. Bungie made the assets
to their games freeware in the early 2000s, allowing anybody to play
it.
Still, getting the whole bundle working required a little bit of
effort, so having it on Steam and installable with a single-click is a
welcome change. No word on price (Steam says 'free' but since the game
can't actually be claimed there's no way to prove that's true yet)
but, even if it's not, the game will also be available from the Aleph
One website https://alephone.lhowon.org/
Apparently, Bungie is also working on a spin-off game too. However,
seeing as this is described as "a PVP Extraction Shooter" I'm not too
excited about it. The Marathon's trilogy was always best remembered
for its story and setting, and somehow I don't think you'll get the
same experience in a multiplayer-only game. Trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckI_m8bbXfw
On Mon, 18 Mar 2024 15:23:42 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Bungie's "Marathon" is finally making it to Steam.
And now, it's actually here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2398450/Classic_Marathon/
Is it anything you couldn't already experience downloading the
AlephOne version? No.
Is it going to wow you with its gameplay, the sort of game you must experience? It is definitely not that either.
But if you've a fondness for boomer shooters, or just an interest in
the history of how FPS games developed over the year, it's worth a
look. Especially since it's free, will download nearly instantly (it
requires only 33MB of disk-space) and will run well on even the most potato-ey of potato-computers.
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