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Genre: Game - first-person shooter

Developer: Bungie

Price: Freeware

For those of you who missed the memo: Bungie's classic Mac first-person shooter series, the Marathon Trilogy, has been released into the wild as freeware titles. Thanks to the devoted community behind Aleph One (the open source incarnation of the Marathon game engine), all three of the original titles are playable on modern Macs and PCs in a clean, updated version that makes the aging graphics a little more palatable for modern sensibilities.

I doubt many of you readers will care about this; those of you who would have cared already knew about this, as it's somewhat old news, and the newer inductees to the Mac fold most likely know nothing of Marathon and probably don't care all that much, either. If you're included in the latter, this is the part where you surrender your spoiled cutting-edge taste in games to an old-timer who knows better than you do. Bungie's Marathon trilogy was produced by a group of people with design sensibilities completely ahead of their time, and any Mac gamer who wishes to appreciate the modern first-person shooter in its current incarnations like Halo 2 or Doom III needs to see exactly where it came from. So sit down, young one, and let a phenomenal game experience draw you in just like it did to your predecessors so many years ago.

Marathon starts by throwing you in a colony ship currently under attack by the Pfhor, a group of mysterious alien forces. While this may sound eerily similar to anyone who has ever played, oh, I don't know, Doom, Quake, Unreal, or Halo, keep in mind that this game was released back around 1994, and that kind of opening was still considered new and fresh. (It's not that Marathon comes off as dated; it's just that games haven't really come all that far since then.) From here, you are expected to run around, blow stuff up, save people, flip switches, and all sorts of other fun stuff in the name of Leela, the last artificial intelligence capable of leading the defense against the Pfhor; unfortunately, this only lasts for a few levels, as a series of confusing political exchanges leave you firmly in the clutches of a rather different AI, one named Durandal, who has physically eliminated his operative procedures and does pretty much whatever the hell he wants. All of this is communicated to you via a series of computer terminals you encounter in-game, and it is these terminals that give you your mission objectives (none of this red key, red door, blue key, blue door crap—you have to explore areas, exterminate aliens, rescue other humans, and retrieve important items), transport you from one level to another, and, more importantly, give you veiled insights as to the actual happenings of the game, either through the point of view of Durandal or through the reports from other factions.

Certainly, the gameplay action is handled splendidly; the levels range from creepy and claustrophobic to wide open alien worlds with an atmosphere of exploration, and the weapons are diverse and laden not only with personality (some of which, like the SPNKR Rocket Launcher, survive even in Halo) but also secondary fire modes that let you charge them up, shoot grenades, or even dual-wield, in the case of pistols and shotguns. Anyone bored with the monotony of finding keys and doors will find welcome relief in Marathon; while you'll still have to do your share of running through mazes, the designs of each mission tend to keep things interesting, and the pitched battles you'll find yourself in will lend themselves to wartime tales with your buddies, especially after the first time you encounter bad boys like the Space Hulk or the Thing What Kicks Our Asses. And the multiplayer is divine; anyone who likes Halo's combination of unique gameplay modes, well-designed multiplayer levels, and cooperative play will love Marathon; after all, that's where all this started. There's nothing quite like a game of King of the Hill or Kill The Man With The Ball to alleviate the boredom of traditional Deathmatch.

The storyline, however, is seen by many to be Marathon's strongest allure—an impressive feat, considering it tends to be the weakest point in most first-person shooter games (exceptions like Deus Ex notwithstanding). As the story progresses from Marathon to Marathon 2 to Marathon Infinity, you are taken on a wild ride that begins dealing with the nuts and bolts of repulsing an alien invasion and becomes a much more epic adventure across space that, once you make it to Marathon Infinity, culminates in a much more subtle game that employs elements like "dream levels" and non-linear narrative via time-travel. All of this, despite being expressed only through static computer terminals, succeeds in creating a unique game atmosphere, one where your in-game actions feel at once in control of the fate of the entire universe, and at the same time completely surrendered to the whims of whatever AI you serve at the moment. It's an interesting experience, to be sure, and it's one that has not been adequately recreated in any game since.

Ultimately, all of you out there who consider yourself a true Mac gamer owes it to yourself to revisit this particular piece of gaming history. Marathon, with more than a little help from the folks who contributed to Aleph One, remains a full gaming experience despite its age.

Download the free Marathon Trilogy.