If you care even slightly about the Mac, you've probably heard of Marathon. If you're a gamer, you've more than likely heard of it. And if you're a Mac gamer, you've undoubtedly spent hours in the throws of its total carnage matches.

Marathon is a first person shooter. A Doom clone. And, discounting MYST, the most successful game ever to come out for the Mac. Through its three installments, Marathon, Durandel, and Infinity, it took players through a compelling -- and surprisingly difficult -- set of massive levels and offered a fairly interesting story in the context of blasting everything that moved into a quivering pulp. With the advent of Marathon 2: Durandel, the engine was sufficently improved as to offer solid graphics and good frame rates (depending on hardware) for one of the best action titles ever made. Infinity added level and object editors to the mix, allowing Bungie Software to pass the torch for the game's care to its fans.

The single player games were compelling and offered potentially weekends of play... but that's not why Marathon became a legend. The multi-player networked games made cocaine look like chocolate. The death matches, and later King of the Hill and Kill the guy with the Ball, brought gaming to a new level. In the ZMac, MacUser and Apple offices every night around 5pm we'd manage to rack up a number of kills. I've played until my wrists and hands ached.

If you've not played Marathon, go buy it today. It still offers one of the best multi-player experiences out there and hardware is such that Marathon screams on every model that has come out in at least the past year.

For those Marathon veterans out there, Quake for the Mac just came out... but if you're still fond of dismembering the alien Phor and tremble at the sight of a Compiler, Marathon is far from dead.

Check out the new freeware expansions coming from the online world:

Marathon: EVIL

EVIL is an entirely new environment for Marathon with its own story, art, and enemies. Very difficult, and very creepy. Perfect for Halloween.

Marathon: Tempus Irae

Tempus Irae is due out soon and offers a massive update to Marathon with 25 solo maps and 16 network levels. This one looks like a keeper.

And if that's not enough, here are the links every good Marathon player should know:

Bungie - the Creator

The Marthon Palace - an all around great site with tons of maps.

Slurpee's Marathon 2 Page - a great fan site. One of the best.

The Marathon HyperArchive - pretty much every download you'd want is here.

NetLink Remote Home Page - what? No ethernet hub at home? Try this TCP/IP solution.

Bungie licensed the Marathon engine to a number of game companies. Want to see your old favorite wearing a new face?

Damage Incorporated

Double Aught Software

Prime Target

May Marathon live forever.

-- Scott
updated October 31, 1997.

"Scott's Addictions" are postings about the games I play as I play them. When a game captures my interest and becomes a front-burner favorite, I'll post a tidbit or two here for you fellow gamers to enjoy. I'll only post the best games of my crop. No ratings, just ravings. And I'm semi-agnostic: I love the Mac, tolerate my PC, and split time on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

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