Marathon 2: Durandal

by Bungie

Product Features

• MACINTOSH ONLY - the classic pre-Halo first person shooter from Bungie! Originally released in 1995.

Product Details

• ASIN: B0007M461K
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,822 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marathon Mania, March 15, 2005

By 

Mark Twain "odiggydawg" (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Marathon 2: Durandal (CD-ROM)

I've been playing this game since before I could walk. I've done nothing but eat, sleep, and breath marathon for years upon years. Now don't get me wrong, I'm also a devoted fan of doom, and halo, and quake, and many other things of that nature, but after trying them all, there is still nothing like Marathon.

I started with the demo to Marathon 1, and I loved it from the get go. I was with Bungie every step of the way. The story line to Marathon 1 was brilliant and in my opinion there has never been another video game ever with a story line like it.

In Marathon 2, the gameplay doubled over. The carnage was ever more intensified by the sublties of the level design. Rather than sneaking around corners like you sometimes had to do in M1, Marathon 2 was all about diving into the fray with both barrels blazing.

Finally, Marathon Infinity truely lived up to its name. The editor was great, and (sadly) I'm still making new levels for the game. But more importantly, the Gods at Bungie gave the gift of the level King of Pain to mankind. It is truely the greatest level of all time in any game of any genre. My brother and I have probably wasted years of our childhood doing nothing but practicing those last second shotgun snaps off the side of your screen, or analyzing the statistical likely hood of the enemy appearing in certain spots vs others, or studying how to best get the average kills to maintain themselves consistantly above 6.0 KPM.

Why do I love this game so much? Because you could DODGE!!! Marathon was a primitive enough game that 1st person shooters had not yet developed a hide-and-seek mentality yet. In all other games you must hit opponents in the back, and snipe people before they even know you're there.

In marathon, the winning or losing all came down to guts and glory. The victor was the one who was able to pump more adrenaline through his/her veins, not the one who was better at hiding and screen watching. The modern guerilla warfare type games (ie. Halo 2) are certainly more realistic, but they are missing the point. In marathon two devoted Vidmasters could charge at one another, fight to a brutal standstill, and quietly bow in respect like Zen masters. No matter what was thrown at you, you could always dodge every bullet of it. This gave Marathon an inherit elegance and beauty that ALL (and I do mean all) modern 1st person shooters are lacking.

Enjoy it for what it is. It is the best 1st person shooter game of all time, and we will never again see its equal.