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HBO is running another Seven on the Seventh contest; the prize this time is Marathon: Durandal, the XBLA conversion of the Bungie classic by Freeverse. To enter the contest, draw a picture of the Master Chief having "wacky adventures" in older Bungie games. See HBO for the complete rules.
Australia's PALGN has posted a review of Freeverse's XBLA port of Marathon: Durandal. Their verdict:
Marathon: Durandal is one of the best value games on the XBLA. You could spend more time playing through this than Halo, and at a fraction of the cost. There are aspects of the game that are archaic and it’s not a good game in short bursts, however, it provides a mysterious and lengthy experience for anyone who is willing to immerse themselves.
Over at 1Up, Jeremy Parish is Revisiting Halo, going over the Cortana Letters and pre-buyout screenshots; they promise even a look at the Marathon trilogy will be on tap.
The most recent Preferred Player column over at Xbox.com, penned by KP, is on Freeverse's XBLA port of Marathon: Durandal; specifically, an XBL cooperative game of Marathon the author played with yours truly and other notable Bungiefen Geary11 and ZuP101.
I've been playing the heck out of Freeverse's Marathon: Durandal on Xbox Live. As it's an "old school" shooter missing a lot of the technical features found in more modern games, I had always assumed that the majority of its players would be old-time Bungie fans like myself.
When I saw SniperStealth atop the single-player leaderboard with over thirty million points, I felt here must surely be an old Marathon hand who knows every twist and turn of each level without even glancing at the map.
That's not true, as it turns out. SniperStealth only had a chance to play the original briefly before diving into M:D on XBLA, but that can only be good news for Freeverse if more Bungie fans who haven't played Marathon check in to see where the roots of Halo came from.
SniperStealth was kind enough to spend a few moments to answer my questions about what drew him to this classic game.
Click "read more" from the front page for the transcript of Rampancy's interview with SniperStealth, the leading Marathon: Durandal campaign player.
Marathon 2 logo, provided as a gamerpic with the Citadel achievement in Marathon: Durandal for Xbox Live Arcade.
Bruce "Hippieman" Morrison at Freeverse, the developer that brought Bungie's Marathon: Durandal to Xbox Live Arcade, has been working on a walkthrough of the game. While of course there is always the Marathon Spoiler Guide, which covers all three games, Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon: Infinity, Hippieman's walkthrough includes screenshots of environments, whereas the Spoiler Guide features only maps.
In French, the phrase "syndrome de la page blanche", or white page syndrome, is intended as an expression of writer's block; the inability to begin a project faced with an empty page.
Myself, I always viewed it as an expression of the usefulness of limitations, boundaries, and direction: one of the reasons why so many works are derivatives and combinations is because it is easier to start with what you know and then change it than trying to tilt at the windmill of creating something truly unique. When faced with a boundary or limitation, you are teased into approaching it and testing its strength. If one was truly free to do or say truly anything without limit, it seems likely one would find nothing to say.
It is this thought that runs through my head while playing Freeverse's Xbox Live Arcade conversion of Marathon: Durandal. One is given to wonder if there is any value in such an object beyond nostalgia; a chance for those who played the game a decade ago to relive that experience. For some, a chance to recapture youth, or a chance to remember good times.
However, it is a good deal more than that; and comparing it to other games in the genre that make better use of the modern hardware in today's console provides an object lesson on the usefulness of limitations and boundaries.
Some of us senior citizens are having a blast now that Marathon: Durandal is out for Xbox Live Arcade. I'll post later in greater length about how this adaptation is simultaneously absolutely faithful to the original while still timely and fun, and how its design teaches lessons still relevant a decade after its release.
However, many Halo fans have never played Marathon. Many may not have heard of it until now. Some, as ridiculous as this sounds, were not even born when it was released. Is Marathon still for them?
It sure is. But before playing, it's best just to do some fair warnings about some quirks in Marathon's design that might frustrate a player whose only exposure to Bungie so far is the Halo series.
Major Nelson says that Marathon Durandal is one of two games that will hit Xbox Live Arcade this week; specifically, on Wednesday, when XBLA gets its weekly update.
Durandal wll cost 800 points. For more information and screenshots, check the Marathon Durandal page at Xbox.com.