| 300px The cover box of the Marathon Triogy Box set | |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Bungie Software Products Corporation |
| Publisher(s) | Bungie Software Products Corporation |
| Creator(s) | Jason Jones, Alex Seropian, Greg Kirkpatrick |
| Platform(s) | Mac OS, Windows (Marathon 2 only) |
| First release | Marathon December 21, 1994 |
The Marathon Trilogy is a science fiction series of first-person shooter computer games from Bungie, originally released for the Macintosh. The name Marathon is derived from the fictional giant interstellar colony ship that provides the setting for the first game; the ship is constructed out of what used to be the Martian satellite Deimos.
Marathon's story centers around the player's anonymous security officer character who follows orders from Durandal, an artificial intelligence, as he allies himself with the S'pht, an enslaved alien race, in a struggle against the Pfhor, a race of alien slavers. After repelling the attack on the Marathon, Durandal takes the player to the S'pht home world of L'howon and engages the Pfhor in a battle that ultimately decides the fate of both humanity, who are doomed to become slaves in the Pfhor empire, and the S'pht, who hope to free themselves from their masters.
Marathon and its subsequent trilogy pioneered or was an early adopter of several new features such as free look, dual-wielded and function-function weapons, versatile multiplayer modes (such as King of the Hill, and cooperative play), friendly NPCs, and a strong emphasis on storytelling. [1]
The three games in the series—Marathon (1994), Marathon 2: Durandal (1995), and Marathon Infinity (1996)—are widely regarded as spiritual predecessors of Bungie's Halo trilogy.
The trilogy is set in the same universe as Bungie's earlier Pathways Into Darkness title.
Story
editPlayer finds himself on the Marathon, goes to L'howen, and the Universe implodes on itself.
Gameplay
editGames
editMain Trilogy
editMarathon, Marathon 2: Durandal, Marathon Infinity ... Forge and Anvil
Map Tools and fan community
editForge, Anvil, blah blah blah
Canceled Projects
editOriginal PiD squeal, Lost Network packets, PS release.
Open Source and Aleph One
editOpen Source community, additions...
Development
editGnop to PiD Marathon releases and development. References to marathon scrapbook...
Impact on Gaming industry
editOne of first FPS with detailed story, other mac games, Halo.