"Great game for the early 90's!"

Not many people I have come across online know that I am a Macintosh user all the way. As I have heard, the Macintosh was about to fall into the abyss because of the lack of computer gaming. Bungie, a third party developer for Macintosh gaming (at the time, this was before Bill Gates of Microsoft bought them off), had released the Marathon Demo in late 1994 or early 1995. I can't remember the exact year, as I was still very young at the time. The Marathon demo had included 3 solo levels: Arrival, Bigger Guns Nearby, and Blaspheme Quarantine. It had also included ''Network Play'' for 2 players with one level: Mars Needs Women.
If you don't know what Network play is, it is a simple LAN connection between at least two Macs. Not far along the way, the released the final version, featuring 36 levels of play (26 solo, 10 network) network play for up to 8 players, more enemies, more weapons, and ''MORE Carnage''.

But, enough of that, onto the ratings!

Gameplay: 10/10

You are guided by 2 of the 3 AI's aboard the Unified Earth Space Council (U.E.S.C. for short) Marathon. The AI's are Leela, Durandal, and Tycho. Leela is severely damaged, and continually gets worse and worse when you see her sending you messages. Durandal, also damaged very badly, goes rampant (insane), and helps you out in later levels, when his rampancy dies down to nothing. Tycho, completely destroyed in the initial process of the invasion, gets rebuilt by the aliens (I'll refer to them as Pfhor for the rest of the review) and says that Durandal is crazy and he wants to destroy him. Leela and Durandal guide you through the ship, and tell you what to do to defeat the Pfhor.

Graphics: 8/10

Not as good as Gameplay, but still a B+! They really did good with this, the Phfor, the S'pht, the BOBs, all good. I love how they made the weapons look, especially the Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol (my favorite)! All the game sprites actually took awhile for Windows to actually compete with!

Audio/Sound: 6/10

Don't expect Mozart here, this is the mid 90's we are talking about. The music is great, but they all sound like MIDI files. The sound of the BOBs, and Pfhor are great, though, that is what pushes it up to a 6.

Addiction: 10/10

It got me addicted! It sure will get any Mac user addicted, too!

Multiplayer: 10/10

The Network game rocks, so I am told. I have seen movies of network games, and they seem like a blast.

Buy the game? Well, it depends.

If I have talked you into getting it, I really advise you to download the demo version first. If you don't like it, well, everyone has their own opinion. If you like it, The final version might be a little difficult to track down. You should be able to find it and its two sequels in the bargain bin of a few computer stores.

Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 8/10
Audio/Sound: 6/10
Replayability: 10/10
Multiplayer: 10/10
Buy the game? Depends
Final Score (Not an average): 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/03, Updated 07/26/03