Welcome to the review page

Rev.: 2016.05.21

~If you have a map in mind
Don’t ~be afraid to take your time
~Make a suggestion or two as you please
~Infer to something, then cough, then sneeze

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The Burden of Eden

MaEd (Ed & Matt Schenk)
M1 Solo

somewhere in the heavens they are laughing
This 18-level scenario has a creative plot that doesn’t suck, but much of the map design and graphics are simple.  And the authors threw in Daleks (from Doctor Who).  Linear interpolation of the walls does make it look better.

Note: The Physics Model has some minor/major promotion/demotion bugs that will cause the wrong kinds of monsters to be loaded outside the Normal difficulty level, calling for collections that may not be loaded.

2.5 out of 5

Carnage Time Arena on Steroids

Trevor Smith (unreachable - trust me)
Net, Solo (if you like gettin’ killed by Yeti)

A big arena with a closable center, line of sight and long distance problems if you play it with Infinity, and an underground maze-like area (it doesn’t count as a maze though because it’s symmetrical).

3 1/2 out of 5 skulls

[The] C-Files Redux

cgage[at]adelphia.net
Solo

“Earth, where art thow” and “wazzzzzzzz”: the names for two maps in this very basic 17-map “hey, I can make a scenario too.”  Second review: find the exit, kill things.  And sometimes you have to get around a Juggernaut or two.  And you can walk past the green ship and the sun in outer space—in fact, you have to in order to reach one of the giant doors you simply open by hand.  Okay, so some things are deliberately left as they were for laughs, but the execution’s still bad.

Almost every flaw in the book (and supposed to be v2.0!): redundant heights and texture use, bad textures (transparent for solid), no textures, media-at-adjacent floor, often basic design and childish placement of monsters, too many monsters at once for Infinity with “Hitler’s Troops”…  Twice the “too many lines per polygon” bug— don’t go swimming; you won’t be able to get out.  Add misspellings and use of annotations to describe what should’ve been effectively (or good enough) made map-wise.

The chapter art is… the first screen: monochrome and basic, hand-illustrated w. a paint program… an apparent Saturn carrying a completely visible ring (planet should be obscuring the back).  Finally, the only terminal I saw doesn’t work.  More care was put into Marauder.  This could make an interesting net map, given the hidden doors—but still, a basic one.

1/2 out of 5 skulls (was 2.5 for a long time)

Carnage All The Way

Net

VacB.O.B.s try to kill you for nothin’.  ’Kind’a pointless, but- eh— That’s a Net map when you’re lonely.  The lights can be turned off, and a big yellow arrow can lift you up, but watch out for the PfhorSlime™!

2.5 out of 5 skulls (was 3.0)

The Collective (v1.3)

Mike Slavko

Overcontrolling, really difficult in total carnage (did it in ‘Normal’ and still died a couple times in trying to kill BADBOYLUKE - whoops).  Bugs as well.  How colorful.

2.5 out of 5 skulls

D-Day (v1.1)

Gary L. Simmons...he promotes Hell Hole in this
Solo

It goes from interesting, with Nazi references as reason to kill the enemy, to simplified and rather stagey toward the final areas, as Battle Cat (“Meow”) obviously ran out of ideas.  Adapted textures add a nice touch...with explicit “Enter” and “Exit” doors.

3.5 out of 5

Dome sweet Dome

Jesse Lowther
Net, Demonstration

Trooper and Enforcer kill each other... indefinitely...
Looks better in different texture sets.

2.5 out of 5

Don't disturb the King

Scott Noblitt
Net

Mostly just for demonstration of non-sided texture effects and screwing other network players by switching off the ability to teleport to the hill.

2.5 out of 5

Don’t feed the Juggernauts

Jadin Hanson
Net, Co-op, Solo (if you like dying a lot)

Higher and lower levels (elevations - not levels, just one map level), just a Juggernaut and various aliens with a place in the center... and exposed areas, a secret area that sticks out...  The Win95 M2 version has less—not even working platforms, and an unused terminal that tells of plans (never implemented?).

3 out of 5

Escher's Fire Walk With Bob,
Escher's Shell Game,
Escher's Vertigo,
TheWell

by Chris Johnson <chrisj[at]airwindows.com>
Demonstration, Solo/Net

These demo maps are at the top of the list as far as “most use of 5-D.”  I mean, overlap, after overlap, after overlap — and that goes on several times.  It can make things very confusing at times, but intentionally — one reason for making very interesting Net-play.  Flying, flameproof B.O.B.s (except for alien flames - heh) in Fire Walk With Bob, twisted use of good and bad B.O.B.s with pillars that (can) make you invisible in Shell Game, and the mind-warping use of transparent lines make Vertigo a really rad trip (try an eight person Net game - you’ll see what I mean).  TheWell puts 5-D into practice, as you have to maneuver around the wrapping stairwell in the center, while dodging alien projectiles.

4 out of 5 skulls

Fallen Angel: Chai'etra Saga, Pt. 3

Gareth Wood, Danny Willis, Quartz
Solo

This multi-level scenario brings back some theme of the original Marathon.  Large platforms heights in dark flooded areas, passage ways, and at least one deathly dead end.  Making the wrong move can cost you big time, as what seems to go over can actually come over.  Time-consuming puzzles lay about in switches placed in obstructed areas make this long, sometimes confusing, but never too dull.  Save your ammo for the unexpected.... and for some annoying MADDs; they may get in the way (slower, larger and less responsive than the original defense drones).

3.5 out of 5 skulls

The Grab Bag

Nibenon Erurainon and Ruben Rybnik
Net: EMFH/KOTH

Rugby or survival types (neither both), bases, columns, pushy water and lava...and math overflow means pushing little...  Tricky design where a lot’s in frame while the total polygon count is relatively low, plus rough diagonal openings in one map show that it took time to adapt this for the more modern engine.  The downside: Ambient sound is pretty clunky, at least one wall is untextured, and three maps have KMWB checked with no skull item...

4 out of 5

Grenade It

shampoo[at]japan-net.or.jp
Solo

’Nother one-way plot, no artwork that stands out... just interesting but a little short for a “long” journey.  Sometimes the name is spelled ‘gernade it’.

2.5 out of 5 skulls

Gyrus-o-Tycho

Solo

Try not to suffocate, try not to walk into thin holes and burn up in lava, try not to get burned by an Enforcer or get crushed by a display... try not to get shot up by Pfhor Troopers, and try not to run out of explosive/high energy projectiles (to hit the switches from a distance).  You can see the end of the whole thing from the beginning - sort’a... on the other side and straight up...  jus- ou- of... reach.

3 out of 5 skulls

Hell

Tom Phillips
M1 Net (4-6 players)

With a similar effect to Escher's Vertigo, this map presents an interesting way to freak out other players: hide behind the landscape.  The scorch texture (M1’s lava) is put all over the place, even used as the landscape—most prevalent in the arena, where aliens fire at you from above.  Getting to a charger isn’t so easy either.  There’s also a small basement.  This is also one of the earliest maps made—dates back to May 1994 (or somewhere in ’94).

3 out of 5

Hectic

Ballistic2[at]aol.com
Solo

Few polygons per level, two short levels in all, only a few interesting areas, and some of the intended situations don’t necessarily happen.
In the Pfhor level, the ceiling’s too short in the higher areas — beyond Forge’s 16/18 wu vertical limit without it even being necessary.

1.5 out of 5

How Deep Can Sh*t Git?

Trevor Smith
Net
Not reviewing this ’cause I have the fear that Trevor Smith would come back and SPNKR me.

Hutch v1.01

David Waring and Dave Turner
M1 Net, Demo

Before “KU Leuven C200,” there was this complex immitation of life called “Clone This!” with monster-driven destroyable scenery, loads of switches, Auto and Double Latte machines in place of rechargers, top and side lights and a crawl space.

3 out of 5

Industrial Strength

Conahan[at]teleport.com
Net, Co-op, Solo

A huge number of polygons in a number of locations.  Lava down, steps everywhere, teleporters, a 3x recharger (must go through lava in order to return), and an underground passage going into the lava.

3.5 out of 5

Jeff's M1 Maps

Jeff “CIssele”
M1 Net

A 13 net map pack you ought to try out.
“Reality's Edge” makes interesting use of landscapes and vertical heights, “What a way to go” is deliberately overloaded with lookers (if you get teleported, you’re faced with them), and “Midnight Madness” puts you square in pitch blackness unless you get the infravision chip.  This net map pack also contains a conversion of One-Hit wonder (from M2).

3.5 out of 5

K'Nath Outpost v4.2.5

John Viator
Net

Making it to the Trilogy disc, this map is something else.  “Originally designed as a solo map,” Outpost packs a number of interesting elements into one: curvy outdoor sections, pylon bridges, a hidden passageway only accessable via a hidden switch or monsters, and… the “lemon squeezer.”  John’s “crowning achievement,” for its size, really is an achievement.

4 out of 5

Kill Them All!

brillian7, Destiny, Drictelt, Dugit, Hangar96, Herbert West, irons, JohannesG, Kinetic Turtle, Pfheil, RyokoTK, screamingfool, Shadowbreaker, $lave, Treellama, W'rkncacnter
Solo

Volume 1: screamingfool, RyokoTK, Kinetic, Jon Irons, Shadowbreaker
Fifteen great extermination/rebellion maps to make your blood boil.  Excellent map making techniques bring big tough-but-simple areas out into the open as you must plow through almost everything.  And to make things actually tougher for the authors of the maps, a tight objective was set: limit 100 polygons per map, while keeping tabs on quality.
The only map that isn’t completely suitable for Infinity is “Emerald City Citizens” (complain to Bungie about distance problems - 16 bit math sucks by today’s standards).  The giant is w i d e open.

A self-indulgent exercise in murder and brutality, indeed.

Now at volume IV, the maps are MTE, add some scripting enhancements and deliver all four volumes in one, starting with a level selection map, followed by a total of 52 maps, plus a final, less useful level.

4.5 out of 5 skulls

Kindred Spirits

RyokoTK
Solo MTE

Initially subject to the three-level map-making contest, this instead finishes a role of driving home a sequel to Marathon Phoenix, maintaining the same TC difficulty with similar map design techniques.  However, like many sequels, it offers less: still only three maps (plus a story level) with less complex scenes, no music and an Infinity-base (no smooth textures).  And one map requires you to sync platforms to advance.  Bug: version 1.0 contains a non-solid line in the southeast that can get you stuck in the landscape if you walk through it (I was backing up to dodge fire, and had to quit).

4.0 out of 5 skulls

Levels Of Lh'owon (v3.1)

Scott Noblitt
Net (4+ players)

Fist Fights of doom is just one of the funniest ideas to come out in a Marathon map.  From walking in the clouds, to tiny villages, this 35 level NetPack will keep you battling with all sorts of spankering pleasure.  And flexibility is doubly injected for when your net balls are placed randomly within this web of randomly-placed hair trigger weapons (sometimes floating midair!).  The downside, however, is that platforms occasionally lift you way too hastily.

4 out of 5 skulls

Marathon-1984

Frank “Elk” Rooke
Solo

Despite the hokey premise (both the Pfhor and the U.E.S.C have the technology to travel through time) and some crude effects (much of which is due to the Infinity engine’s limitations), this does carry some good design, twists, and ideas.  And unlike a lot of the maps out there it spans more than one significant level.
One warning though: Despite the ‘Read’ Me stating Infinity is required, this will likely crash Infinity due to rendering limitations—some view points; use Aleph One or another third party engine with expandable features.

3 out of 5 skulls

Marathon Earth

Lyndon F. Lorenz
Solo

Good use of textures and action make for a literally bumpy ride in more than one sea of platforms.  However, this scenario doesn’t carry much of a plot, and [at a few points] has too much in frame for Infinity.  A modern computer is needed for good frame rates (a lot of processing time actually goes to those platform seas).

2.5 out of 5 skulls

Marathorn

M1 Solo... thorn7[at]polaris[dot]net

Things are difficult for little reason, and Dave Merck’s Specuthon helicopters, Specular Replicas in place of the wasps, are put in cramped spaces (a technical impossibility for helicopters).  Another annoying map, a thorn in your...  Weird results: “Monster Impassable” used in a number of places where “Normal” would be used, and vice versa (BOBs, Pfhor, stuck in a window after being randomly placed there).

1.5 out of 5

Marathon West

Litcom[at]onramp[dot]net (Attn: Lee Perry)

MARATHON WETS... er WEST.
That’s all you need to know on the care that went into this little project.  An assortment of Western-style maps, along with partly-broken shapes (tumble-weed in Wasp collection, overwrites information that breaks a few bitmaps), and “West” BOBs that have missing death frames (will become the crude M1 BOB at most angles).  It makes for interesting netplay, but that’s about it.

2 out of 5

Marauder

Kyle Goodridge
M1 Solo, one Net map

You had been found floating in a debries feild...But how did you get there?
By the guy who made “Coloney”, this tiny scenario (one of the levels, literally, “Filler...”, is one rectangular space) uses gorlinsk’s Enter the Marines shapes (back when there were no armed civilians).  Some terminals—a plot you can barely see, with, not so much paragraphs, but rambling sentences loaded with laughable typos.  It’s even funnier when the AI Marines go berserk— one punching you to death, using two-frame sprite animation...a little fun.  The ship’s name is CRIST, not CHRIST!

On the other hand, the Second Encounter net map, “Warzone”, with an internal name of “Untitled”, has fewer problems: player-only doors may trap monsters.

Solo: 1 out of 5 skulls

Net: 2 out of 5 skulls

Mr. B.O.B.’s holiday

Paul Mackinney
Solo

Similar to ‘The Collective’ except short and slow (died a lot)... not much eye candy, just getting kicked around in and by the frickin’ water - you can’t go forward if you don’t bust the switch, and when you bust it, you’re mocked by the “AI”.  Some visible smearing.

1.5 out of 5

Mobium v2.1

oogaBooga[at]drunkenbastards.com
Net/Solo/Demonstration

If you like killing Pfhor, S'pht, and machines, in different times of day... forever.  Open the window shades, and look at the huge staircase!  Features booooby traps that can end up trying to kill themselves, and the famous “Carnage Palace Deeeeeeeeeeee-lux”, with its huge invisible surrounding polygons... that you can’t see along the edges....... ’cause they’re in-Visdible.  And some other mazes... that aren’t accessible because they weren’t formed into polygons.  Don’t focus too much on the wobbling or the furniture, ’cause you’ll get sick to your stomach.  Good design, though.

3 out of 5 skulls

Montsegur

Mark Gelotte
Solo

Let’s see... you get to see C'thr and Mithraic (a real cult) stuff (cyan ancient text, Mho'bus); the art work is okay, though you’ll see the thumbs up image of Blake/“balke” [used] to make a fist (pixelation rotated as well).  All of the Infinity clut resources were used for only one chapter screen.  There are two missing low-wall textures.  This map’ll run fine with Infinity.

3 out of 5 skulls

Noah’s Ark

D.Aguero
Solo

I hope that this will bridge the gap between the Aliens Universe and the Marathon Universe.
Wow, is this scenario a complete mess.  The Aliens 4.0 graphics would be great if they were used properly—some of the shape views are in the wrong order, even.  And with loop sounds for “ambience.”  The weapons were revamped, without player shapes mods.  The maps are largely pointless, and these incomplete aliens pop up into existence all over the place, oftentimes right in front of you.  The final terminal, as with another, does not work.

1.5 out of 5 skulls

Operation Tantalus

M1 Solo
Jim Brewster, David Dericotte and Hamish Sinclair

Oh, this scenario brings back memories.  However, Tantalus isn’t as good as what I remember.

Bill Paxton: Get away from me man!  That’s just one of the ripped-off sound effects, less intense than the unnecessarily loud assortment.  It’s non-linear, but in this case you have to find out the exact route or else you’re stuck, going in circles around the scenario.  The premise is better than the action.  Trojan’s zombie BOBs are better than the “Attack BOBs” patch, cheaply using the standard running frames.

2 out of 5 skulls

[XL] Palace of Eru

RR, Zombie Master
Net, MTE

It doesn’t have Extra Large (XL) in its name for no reason.  Even the hill is a mass of unobstructed polygons requiring a lot of graphics processing.  So much in frame, 569 objects (feat. an incredible amount of shotgun shells).  It’s not preprocessed, with a Marathon 2 signature (should have type-4 since it carries the Flechette).

3 out of 5 skulls

poena.dare’s Maps of pain

poena.dare (of course)
Solo/Co-op/Carnage

Really just a compilation of old maps... finally rid of.  Well... they’re better than that.  With an interesting setup, the beginning selection; being able to select the level by using several comm. terms, with... images!  If you like Net levels that thrash you around in fast water (in an endless loop), and being spoiled with uplink chip vending machines, this is the one for you!!
Also, a new concept, “Snatch” the Skull, making it a self-survival game, and you don’t even need any other players; the B.O.B.s will kill you automatically (look at the ‘Skull’ illustration in Forge).  From chess, to a reversion of Meletonin (melatonin), to a slaughter at the Automat Speedydine Arena, this’ll have you wanting more... sleep.
Can’t play “Concavex” ’cause it always crashes.  Gee... I wonder why.

3.5 out of 5 (for creativeness)

Polyus Maximus

Jeremy Young
Demo

This map was made to demonstrate Aleph One’s capabilities way back when.  It doesn’t break any records with today’s standards (under 800 nodes per frame with the biggest scenes), but some of the lighting is nice.  The application of floor panels for comm bases and something of a submarine are sloppy.

2.5 out of 5 skulls

Ravedome

D. Andrew “Dash” Schutz
Net

From the guy who brought you Potato Anus hockey, this trip is trippy.  A large wrapped arena, uppers and downers (in elevation, I mean), and globally animated lighting that’ll make an epileptic have seizures (it’s actually plausible).  Secret areas cover the place in locations that would seem obvious only after you learn where they are.  Let’s just say the title for the map fits.

3.5 out of 5 skulls

Repurposing Bob

Mark Conahan, with some lifted from other peoples cool scenarios
M1 Solo

Some good potential on graphics and ideas...not consistently executed all that well; the chapter screens are very cheap, but the steep stair-walls are fun.  Green water, high rocks, polygon-made trees, collapsible chairs (using monsters).  In “Open 24 Hours”, there’re also these CG human “Rick” hulks that effectively slap-punch you to death (unlike the former BobCo release for this map that lacked the shapes for this character; showed as the original hulk).  The Mech and trooper automatic fire literally showers you with grenades, which promotes their death since they can’t shoot anything else (or nothing) close-up.  It got difficult finding the exits, and one level (at least?) appears to not have one (or one working).  To make matters dumber, I haven’t seen the Rocket Bobs do anything but run around.  Crash-happy bugs: One of the platform switches has an invalid poly index.  It’s ‘Whiteout’ (from his 1995 map) predates EMR and Yota for simulated snow, however not “falling.”

3 out of 5

science

Ben Philip <Malaclypse[at]worldnet.att.net>
Solo

Interesting use of the physics, but the plot falls flat, and some Marathon engines can’t handle some of the stuff in it (I used Old Durandal for completing it).  If you liked being forced into doing crap - oh wait, that was your position most of the time in Infinity!

3 out of 5 skulls

Ship Ahoy[!]

Rose <w.rosenauer[at]ggk.co.at>
Demo, Net (CARN, KMWB, KOTH)

This is an strange way to present a ship- I mean, map.  Make the whole thing look like a ship moving up and down (actually it’s the background that’s moving—the media don’t move with the sea of platforms).  Some players might get sea sickness—no, really.  There’s more than what meets the eye.

3 out of 5 skulls

skraeling's 7 polygon maps

skraeling
Net

There are only so many things you can do in seven-poly maps.  Mass Hydration and Mass Elevation are nearly identical; the only difference is one has a media (sewage) to climb, slowly, an the other has a fast platform.  Lick My Love Pump is about martian water purification, and Martian insurgents taking over the Complex “in an attempt to gain leverage over the UEG.”

3 out of 5 skulls

Starlight VIII

RyokoTK
Net, MTEP

When I tried out Starlight III in 2013, once shapes patching in od28-6 was implemented, I was like, Wow— how colorful, this netmap pack is.  But it turned out the color tables weren’t compatible (not using the original Infinity shapes file, as required); the intended results are complex and worth the download, but still… some unfulfilled potential, in my view.

Version 8: a lot of changes made and additional maps added since III.

4 out of 5

This Is Not Your War

Chris Johnson <chrisj[at]airwindows.com>
Solo/Net - based on Hill From Hell

Place bets (and try to cheat by helping one side), as you watch the carnage of two/three sides battling like they would when put up against each other.  Enemy against the Hunters, the Juggernaut, or the humans — but sniping at the B.O.B.s is more than disrespectful; it’s cruel.  But it’s a lot of fun taking out your frustrations when they are all this stupid.  The stairwell is not too long, and it has some good transitioned lighting, and there’s a light switch at the bottom, too, so you can freak out other players in a Net game.

3.5 out of 5

Thomas Mann's Greatest Hits

Jon Irons
Net: EMFH/KOTH/KMWB, MTE

v2.0 (2011.03.28): At 7 polygons apiece, this 14-map pack with shells and missiles won’t let you hide.  No single weapon type is available on every level—the assault rifle is the most popular.

v3.0 (2012.07.31): 21 levels and more texture; however, a bug or two associated with neighboring polygons having too many lines (sudden teleport).  EMFH is the most popular net type, and only “Serenus Zeitblom” has a maximum of two players.  v1.0 had 7 maps, ending with “Listen, Germany!”

3.5 out of 5

Tilos First Solo Collection

Tilo Probst
Solo

Despite some bugs in the scenario maps (too many lines in some adjoining polygons), this 12 level (one unreachable) scenario still holds up.  I’m not sure if I can really speak for the people who made some of the material Tilo used in the making of this, but this scenario would be a good example on how the material would be used — at least he came clean about it.  (unlike some people)

4 out 5 skulls

Toxic Waste

Solo
Christian Blomqvist

This small 1997 scenario hasn’t really any structure.  Instead, it has excruciatingly slow platforms, and basic, hand-drawn art.  The interesting opening sequence to one of the levels is... also very slow.

1.5 out 5 skulls

U.E.S.C. Duodenium v1.2.1

Michael Hunsley
Solo

Two levels longgg....  And what’s with the last level?  Just you in a room with a BOB, and nothing else?  You get missiles shot at you, and that’s it?  Difficult, but worth a try.

3.5 out of 5

Unlost Found v1.4

map pack by “brilliant”, Treellama and Team, irons; Sharkie Lino for sounds help
Net

A 10-level net map pack with a degree of symmetry for some of hiding from other players; but all that symmetry makes the pack look redundant.  Teleporters, some liquid (all flat, some damage), and loads of stairs.  Credit’s given to Oni (Bungie) and Final Fantasy XII for a few ideas—including ideas on stairs.  If you have an older machine, you may experience pauses for placement—so many frickin’ items.

3 out of 5

Unsavory Tidbits

Sriranga Veeraraghavan
Net, Co-op

Interesting, that’s all.

2.5 out of 5

Vacation in Vilcabamba

Daniel Thomas <gloops[at]talk21.com>
Solo

A near-revamp of (one) texture set (but they won’t look better, being pixelated from 64x64) and a few sounds makes for an interesting journey.  Although it is based on some Lara Croft thing, it looks pretty good.  What a beautiful day in Vilcabamba… —pay no attention to the dead wolves.

3 out of 5

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Ellio7t <elliottdagen[at]yahoo.com>, Christian Stevenson, Adam Ashwell, Borzz
Solo

Very large scenes (it will crash Infinity).  Despite lax spell checking, the artwork and massive mapwork really pull this one off well.  Keep in mind that this scenario is confusing at times, and hard enough on older machines that can’t handle so many active monsters at once (as I know for sure).

4 out of 5

---

Recommended Scenarios/Maps

In order of “weakest” to greatest.  I still find Yota to be the best (even though it has some laughably crude elements).

Ode to Pombero 1.7-1.9

Richard Dierkes
Net

Very interesting setups in several map levels, with some cool lighting effects.  Later versions strip the ability for monsters to activate certain platforms.

4.5 out of 5 skulls

Futility

Jeff Russell <jeffdr[at]iastate.edu>
Solo

Very difficult in Total Carnage.  I had to settle for ‘Normal’ on another map, but there is some good artwork in it (some Bungie artwork named “RIPPED OFF”;).  It still needs to be touched up a little; a couple of line in sight and distance problems, and the pictures are too large.  The resource fork is 11MB!  The chapter screen pictures and sounds need to be compressed.  (Or just the PICTs, since AO doesn’t handle sound decompression.)  Some PICTs are over a megabyte, but hey; the Win95 version of M2 doesn’t bother with compression at all.  Try it out anyway.

See if you can accomplish beating it in Total Carnage.  If you can, send me a film...

4 out of 5 skulls

Marathon[’s] Greatest Hits

presented by The Marathon Forge (completed all levels - like the idiot I am)
http://home.interpath.net/dbailey/marathon.html

‘Hot-handed God of Cops’ by Dan Preston
Net, Co-op
‘Aiieeee Mac Sicur’ by RF Reddig (converted for net play by Dave Bailey - originally Aye Mac Sicur/ Pfhactory)
Net, Co-op
‘Kairn Pfhortress’ by Henrik Lindqvist
Net
Very interesting design and good play, lighting and somewhat haunting if you play it too long.
- can’t rate the scenario; it’s only a file made up of other maps (“Best of,” unoriginal)

Caustic Dystopia v1.4

Wind <benruss777[at]gmail[dot]com>, creator of Sovereignty
Net, MTE

While larger and more complex (and slower in terms of rendering) than Minipax 4, much of the design with this netmap loses meaning with…say, almost random use of elements in each map.  And some of the visual appeal is blocked off with solid lines.  The obscure terminal (with a The Shining theme) doesn’t help much.  Some of the maps are large enough that it can be difficult finding the other players, but that’s what comes with the territory of the “XL.”

There have been improvements since v1.2; some of those “bouncy” walls have been fixed, though a noticable one remains.  A few maps were added as well, but some of the taste is…messy?

4.5 out of 5 skulls

Marathon Evil 1.5

Randall Shaw, D.M. Bongaarts, John Biebesheimer, H. Clower, Chuck Fox, Jim Head, Russ Liddick, Bryan Mendoza, “Unya,” “Ydnar,” Mark McWilliams, Jesse Freeman
Solo, Net, Co-op (maybe)
Assembled after Siege of Nor'Korh, this scenario brought new textures, weapons (dual-Pfhor staff!), a movie, music (also used in Red), and monsters, including flying torso drones, Devlins (also used in Yota), S'pht-like creatures.  And the authors make it work...kind of.

It looks better than it plays—crude until it’s gorgeous...I got stuck a lot just trying to figure out what the heck to do, or “where is this blasted area those terminals told me to locate,” and it’s back and forth, back and forth, one time putting six chips into six chip holes in one map.  They tried to make some things easier, while the real problem was the map design—ironically twice-flawed there, despite eye candy (dual, triple texturing, advanced lighting, but nothing I haven’t done).  What seems necessary for such long levels: terminals that reflect what you’ve done mid-level (like, you have accomplished nothing in all these hours of confusion) — they blame the engine for something that could’ve been done with lights.  Visuals, or lack thereof don’t make up for bugs.  Use an elevator the wrong way and you’ll be stuck.  While it holds up in plot, and works well much of the time, Shaw’s right to say this isn’t “Marathon4.”  And then he moved on...

Another cyborg around the corner?  The same “I shall be brief” message another dozen times, only to so see “I will send you to the waste treatment facility”?  Is there any way to make this Frigid thing go faster?  And you must save often.  There’s so damn much to it, including some good art...some...I gave up at the combination round (Septic Exodus).  Admission: I played under Kindergarten—still died a lot.  The net pack, however, is awesome.

Solo: 4 out of 5 Net pack: 5 out of 5

Marathon revisited

Søren Bech Jensen, “Villa Banzai” by Lincoln Lydick—It's a pfh--king good looking level!
M1 Solo, Net?

The Pfhor are by the way trying to change the humans on the Marathon to mindless zombie warriors with some succes, and have found some weaponry they like very much. So be careful!
This incredibly beefed up scenario features revamped textures and sounds, many of them admittedly “borrowed” from other games, including DOOM.  So many changes, despite the plot telling you the Pfhor slightly changed things...with no terminal work (all handled by chapter screens, with one in-graphic typo).  Also revamped: the weapons.  Rebound not being implemented in M1 means having a very clunky metal ball “funktion” that may rebound in mid-air.  They did manage to clean up the “Dogs of Pfhor” Fusion Cannon a bit.

Intended for adults: It’s got a few R-rated graphics— low-color resolution porn.  Compilers are replaced with CompilerWorms, and BOBs are replaced with armed “Boobs”— the assimilated version also shoots plasma before blowing up in your face.  I’m ready for you. **Blam!**

3.5 out of 5

Minipax 4

$lave (sixtyten[at]hotmail[dot]com)
Net MTE

Despite the “Mini” in its name, this netmap pack is huge.  It’s giant.  It spans 12 maps, some old, some new, and some bugs.  And it’s amazing.  Interesting: wall textures used for some landscapes, moving water on water, and all five texture sets are used in “Chores”.  The author calls that map “ugly,” but it has quite the height range — something to explore in a netgame...the use of non-rolling texture landscapes is ugly, though.

5 out of 5 (for creativity)

Return of the Cyborg

Luca Uggeri
Solo

The sequel to Foreign Legion 2.0 (a scenario that ends with a small space and a “THE END” annotation), it’s Plot needs to be fixed up a little, and there’s a zero length line.

The main map is vast for one level, and Luca should get a reward (unless he ripped somebody off).  Also, at least one of the panels within the central area are still accessible even when the platforms are closed over them (use light deactivation).

4 out of 5 skulls — would be 4.5 or 5 if it spanned more than one map (first level is just prep)

Siege of Nor'Korh

Randall Shaw a.k.a. FRIGIDMAN
Solo

Almost as good as what Bungie cooked up, although there are a few sharp polygon angles — Bungie’s guilty of that too, though.  And the ending doesn’t work out the best...  Try to find the secrets, and you just might survive through the long passage ways, the lava pits and entryways with steps leading up to them.  The omniscient glow of lights from the ceiling, and rows and rows of aliens with their red eyes staring at you... just waiting for you to fire your gun so they can turn you into a pile of mush with their green plasma.

With some good level intro artwork (also with 8-bit banding) and in them, sound.  (The sound feature isn’t used much anymore.)

4 1/2 out of 5 skulls

Tempus Irae

by the Nardo group: Directed by Chris “Borzz” Borowiec; produced by James Hastings-Trew; story by Courtney Evans; web page design (which may be gone) by Evans and Adrian Bourke.
Graphics: Hastings-Trew, C. Borowiec and Dan Clancy
Sound: Hastings-Trew, Kain Osterholt, Chris and Bethany Borowiec — Beth apparently did the voice for the naked women on the secret (but not hidden) level
Music: Shawn Magee and Rich Wilcox
Maps: C. Borowiec, Hastings-Trew, Osterholt, Evans, Michael Neylon, Steve Campbell, Clancy, Jimmy Mitchell, and Frank Rooke (contributing writer)
Special Thanks: Michael Hanson, Charles Lechasseur, Bo Lindberg—editors/patchers; Serge Bramly, Marc Steinberg, Sean DeLaCruz, Devon Belcher, Chris Johnson and Gary Simmons
Solo and Net

The Compilers are on your side and you have to travel through time to obtain very powerful manuscripts.  A good number of them.  There’s a lot of atmosphere, a lot of writing, and many a trick to get things like swinging doors implemented (that one’s really just several platforms opening incrementally).  The themes can bring back memories, with rain and thunder, complemented with smooth stone-like textures, reverberated Italian/Latin singing, wood knocking and bell tones, as well, plus statuettes and fountains for scenery.  There’s even a bit of a hedge maze.

But the atmosphere gets lost once you get toward the end, as you’re eventually reduced to moving through ventilation shafts, and, like me, are wondering, how the $%*# do I get past the level where you’re forced into going through the not-lava to… what?  Only one area has “change level” polygons—and I can’t get there by any normal means.  (I’d rather not look at any Spoiler Guides for a map.)

A lot of photography went into this full-blown scenario, with statues, including the famous David (penis and all), colored glasswork art, and even the painting of the twelve apostles.  (Multiple polygons were used for the larger, non-square texture artwork.)  Some issues stand out with some of the graphics, though, as at least one transparent texture features blue edges (should be a hard/dithered matte instead of a soft one).

Limited taste: Despite additional Juggernaut sprites, you basically have the same range of Infinity characters, placed all over all of these different ages.  (EMR was more creative in the monsters department.)  And some spots have ambient sound looping endlessly (i.e., a chirping bird) as if you’ll inevitably move.

Among the net map is a completely untitled map.  And I mean, “ ”.

4.5 out of 5 skulls

Excalibur: Morgana’s Revenge v2.1

Story and physics model by director Bill M. Catambay

Map team: Catambay, Parsons, Sherriff, Michael O'Brien, Gareth Wood, Christopher Veres, STef Bondier, Dave Santoro, Jason Miller, Gabe Rosenkoetter, Bushey, Gregory Bloom, Brendan Ebner, Neil Justusson, Tim Thomas, Ben Matasar, Eric Case, David Twist, Claude Errera; additional terminal work by Esther Bisset, Adam Weinstein, Simon Rowland

Graphics: Richard Bushey (also chapter/term. screen artist), Candace Sherriff, Chris Ashton, Stephen Ritchie, Bill M. Catambay, Claude Errera, Solomon Shorser, Tony Ritchie, Antonio de Llamas, Hamish Sanderson

Original M1 EMR team: David Twist, Quanah Harjo, Jeremy Dale, Rik Asseily, Mark Conahan, Chilton Webb, Ed Zavada, Parsons, Avi Selk; original music by James Bisset

A port and update of the M1 version from 1997, this Infinity version took three years to make.  And it takes advantage of media, random and ambient sounds for an outer-space effect and lots of theme music—per-area, instead of per-level, making use of the IMA compression scheme (it does require a lot of memory, though—I increased the Preferred Size of od28-6 to 50 MB!).

A sequel to Devil in a Blue Dress, this Map Makers Guild scenario blends several tastes into one 37 solo-level scenario, including the likeness of cityscapes of Open 24 Hours, but more advanced, with (crude) elevators and more collapsible scenery… no “XXX,” of course.  Extra net levels bring the total map count to 61.  Included are a few solo level selection maps.

NOTE: I could only get a Zip’d version of this—the resource forks are missing (no PICTs, plus incorrect “chip insert” item indices).  This made completing some levels impossible.

SPAMs (Suburban Patrol/Attack Mechas), female archers (with a rather irritating Yah stabbing sound effect), knights, wizards, the renaming of Quebec to Wysiwyg, cavemen and dinosaurs— the plot is meant to be a little funny.  Even funnier: The we are your friends exploda-clones cost millions to make to according to one of the terminals.  Sewer creation: slowly-flying fish that spit at you (as opposed to the crude piraña that jump out of the water).

There’s good underlying story work in the terminals, but some of the gameplay gets annoying with overuse of cruder elements (at least three monster types have only one view)— especially when it takes forever to kill your many, many hostile obstacles, with some of them pushing you all the way down the street (and probably killed).  And when monsters are not overused (or inappropriately used, as with the T-Rex being placed in cramped places on multiple levels), the map design can be simple in appearance (i.e., the cave levels).  Some net maps are sport-themed— rough versions of baseball and basketball included.

4.5 out of 5 skulls

Marathon Phoenix 1.2.1

RyokoTK; music by Kevin MacLeod and Johan Ganeteg; new shapes by President People; PICTs by Drictelt.
Solo, MTE

This scenario features collections with optimized color tables for smooth textures, and SKULLHUNTER 64 powerups—140 skulls for points (refer to Phoenix.txt for info on that).  Good theme and per-level HQ synth MP3 music included in the large zip archive.  The featured music is some of the best for any game, really.  Too bad some of it’s too amplified, pre-clipped.

The back-story (condensed): UESC science research vessel Atreides crashes on an isolated planet, Artemis.  The smaller “Istanbul” is sent to investigate, assess the condition of a new AI on the ship, and destroy what’s left…  Alliances change bet. the humans, S'pht and S'pht, the Pfhor attack, and Istanbul’s crew tries to repair the ship and lead a counteroffensive against the Pfhor, entrenched on the planet surface.  It’s another struggle to stay alive.

Much of the plot is well-written for its limited theme (and a lot was rewritten for v1.2).

Mostly linear, with some secret levels (including one that’s made in homage to DooM II’s Entryway), you’re still sent around killing loads of monsters, disabling and enabling computers and/or terminals.  The flow gradually gets better, and more save pattern buffers are made available over time.

While most of the map design is huge and excellent, a few levels are difficult for the wrong reason; Shades of Gray is the best example for this problem; sometimes the next step in completing a mission is so difficult to find that you’re spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do next after you’ve killed everything.  The graphics may be neat, but there are redundancies in theme & use like most scenarios (or all).

The new weapons are somewhat off-center in coordination—it takes some getting used to, compared to Inf. standards.  Even though I’d get tired of repeatedly killing the same character types—a no. made gray—I adapted, and started mastering the weapons.  The music got to me on Great Cave Offensive (Animosity, by Johan Ganeteg).

Important: Marathon Phoenix’s PICT images crash the Mac OS renderer; use the SDL version of Aleph One or more recent versions of od28-6; the Win32 v7.1.1 of QuickTime reports an error -3954; the first imgA image is the only one I know that’s compatible.

4.5 out of 5

Trojan

Maps by Chris Ashton, Jos Delbar, Hamish Sanderson, Tony Smith, Charles Hamper, Nicholas Graham, David J. Opdyke and Ben Matasar.
M1 Solo—nixed player shapes

This scenario is a total rework of almost everything.  Revamped monsters: flying hunters, not to mention the cute minis, and zombie BOBs...Trojan also has its own form of grenade-wielding cyborg tanks.  The “Foul” have chicken legs.  Good graphics: the textures, as well as some other things — superior to that of Bungie.  Yes, I said it.

It lacks the atmosphere that Marathon 2 and Infinity provide, but it competes with the original Marathon.  It does get a bit annoying at times, with some unconvincing attack sequences, Compilers that fire at you with such rates as to push you through walls, and some sound effect sample rates are increased without interpolation (lower quality plus higher RAM requirements).  Jesse Freeman’s reduced shotgun, replacing the Fusion pistol, has too few frames, using M2’s.  But then again, the original BOBs suck.

Chapter screens by: Mike Clayton, Ed Sludden and C. Ashton.  Sounds by Nick Singer and Andy Grace (They’re all going to Kill me!—cheesy, U.K. style).  Music by Tom Worth, John Carlo Maffei, Jason Aguiar and Steve Campbell — some of it dark, some of it dance... and “From Our Bacon Menu”.

Expect the unexpected, save often, and try not to step on any Looker balls (“Boomers”).

5 out of 5 skulls

The Yota Saga

Göran Svensson, with some artwork by Craig Mullins (Zeek, KillerIller)
Solo

No-holds-barred map making makes up for map bugs and non-fluent English in the story of Yota (somehow played by Leonardo DiCaprio with a pitchfork ‘Y’ printed on his forehead), and our main character, Zeek, the self-regenerating Cyborg.  The relationship that builds between the uninterested Cyborg and the femme-A.I. named Hanna plays some things up a bit — a love triangle between Yota and Zeek with Hanna?  Will the red-eyed bastard kill everything in all space and time?

Well... despite a tendency for making easy mistakes, these mistakes tend to add good humor.  It’s hard not to be entertained playing through each part.  Even Göran himself pokes at some of the plot as soap opera-ish.

The moods go from rocky lands, to classic Marathon, to hard water and the hardest of lava— shortly.  Only one Jjaro map really makes it in the entire saga due to the lack of variation in the original texture set.  Each next installment gets more complex and dynamic (not to mention tougher in TC).  And some maps require a good engine to handle huge scenes — in technical terms, a number of maps in this “serie” beat Desla when it came to rendering (over 580 line clips), with “cloud castle” in particular.

Totaling over three dozen combat maps (as opposed to the “story line levels”), divided into more than a dozen parts, this saga hits a note that is hard to match.  And who makes Winter-themed maps?  With snow?  This scenario has both plot and atmosphere.  When done right, quantity makes quality.

Uhhm... also bear a reminder that this is not meant for Marathon Infinity... nor small children.

5 out of 5 skulls