"Marathon 2: Durandal" Review, Page 2

The strength of a game like M2, however, lies within its networkability. This is no secret. The prospect of training your sights on a co-worker or best friend, and annihilating them thusly with a well placed SPNKR missile up the ass is quite a heart-swelling experience. If allowed the opportunity to play networked M2, grab your assault rifle by its strap and start letting blood. It's a helluva good time. You can also play teams, a slightly befuddling yet equally enjoyable gaming experience, and two other network maimfests: "Kill the Guy with the Ball" and "King of the Hill."

Bungie ships thirteen network maps (or levels) with M2. Up to eight can play maps ranging in size from broomcloset to Astrodome. And as they did for "Marathon," custom-made network and solo maps flourish for M2. As the game of choice around the Urban Desires office, we give these M2 custom network maps THE BIG THUMB:

Banzai! v2 | Desperate Measures | Axiocranium v2

Team UD (aka The Motherscratchers)

Also available for both games are third-party physics editors, shape and sound editors, and map makers. These tools allow you to start from the ground up and create your own maps, or tweak existing maps as you see fit. We've found the best depository for such accoutrement at the Marathon HyperArchive Northwest. This Web site also shares the dubious honor of being the quintessential "Marathon" custom map clearinghouse. (Check in every few days.) Bungie Software also maintains its own stellar Web site.

Bungie Software has announced a Windows95 port for "Marathon 2: Durandal" to be released in the near future.
The company will also release a package called "Marathon Infinity." It is rumored this will be the final installment of the "Marathon" legacy, and what a way to call it a wrap. The gory details:

"Marathon Infinity" will elaborate the Marathon story, laying bare many of the mysteries raised in the first two games. Single players or a networked group can play through the story. Naturally, "Marathon Infinity" will include maps designed specifically for laying waste across a network.

Never-before-used enhancements will free the player from the strict linearity of the previous games, and different physics models will be applicable to consecutive levels, making the environment even more unpredictable and demanding.

Bungie will also unleash their mighty map editor -- the very one used to sculpt the "Marathon" games. The map editor's ease-of-use will revolutionize the creation of custom-made maps. It features a fully integrated texture mode (so mapmakers can walk through their blank levels painting textures on surfaces at will), and a straightforward point-and-click lightsource tool. And as if that weren't enough, "Marathon Infinity" will sport a physics editor and a shape and sound installer which will allow gamers to customize the "Marathon" world to their taste.

Rounding out the package is something called the "Marathon 2 Strategy Guide." This will give the player not only instructions for completing M2, but a glimpse into the way that Bungie designed and produced the games. By revealing floorplans, secret rooms, items and traps, the guide will become an invaluable resource for understanding the game.