DOOM vs Marathon

Okay, I don't know if I'm alowed to post this, but I'm a real Mac fan and was wondering if anyone out there also played the CLASSIC Mac series Marathon? It was technologically superior to DOOM and much more scary, it did however have a good storyline with revalations and mission objectives. It did have a CRAP save system though...Which do you prefer? As much as I love DOOM I think I have to go with Marathon...

Let me put it this way: it seems very unlikely that I would like this Marathon game, which got beaten by DOOM's 84% during Titlefight, better than DOOM.

I love marathon and I want to marry it, but both doom and marathon rank on the same level for me. Marathon has less action but a killer story line, and I like doom for it's simplicity and it's action. If doom and marathon were merged, it would be the ultimate game.

Terra-jin said:

Let me put it this way: it seems very unlikely that I would like this Marathon game, which got beaten by DOOM's 84% during Titlefight, better than DOOM.

The problem with Marathon was its only ever really been available on Mac. So, of course it'll always be beaten because more people have played DOOM. However, anyone who's played Marathon can tell you: while the idiots in DOOM just stand around on a very poor loop of animation until you come up to them, in Marathon they will hunt you down. They will ambush you and almost set traps. I understand it is hard to understand Marathon until you experience it and in the end most people will put them on even ground. However, if you like a storyline that is a) believeable and b) changes over the course of the game then Marathon's your ticket. You can probably still get it somewhere for free and play it witH Basilisk II or something.

Well, part of DOOM's appeal comes from the monster's stupidity. Monsters fighting each-other if they get hit is not only realistic, but it's great fun! Even an imp will pick a fight with a Cyberdemon if it gets hit. :)

Anyhow, you're speaking of this game as if it is some long forgotten legendary game... but allright, if it's really that good I could perhaps see if it's OK.

And uhmmm the storyline... well, down here at DoomWorld storylines aren't very important :P

Yeah, the monsters' stupidity and the lack of a complex storyline are two of Doom's main strengths gameplay-wise, and unlikely to be copied by new games (at least, it would be a brave developer who advocated these "backward" steps).

Ahem.... Marathon?

I dont played Marathon I, but Marathon II. And boy, this game was CRAP. (on PC)

Marathon II was made by different people isnt?

I've been thinking of designing a budget FPS made compeltely 16-bit... It wouldn't get made though since developers wouldn't think it'd sell and I can only do HTML and bits of PHP... In Marathon the aliens will fight each other...I've yet to see it but I've heard they do. The thing is, in DOOM 2 especially, you can see monsters almost moon-walking until tehy see you. Not to mention they just stand there and won' even try to mob you. I'm not saying DOOM is bad, in fact I quite like the simple games (as a retro fps collector I can honestly say DN3D is one of the best in the genre) but you won't be abe to sit down and be gripped by the action like in Marathon which is far more addictive. They are very different and chances are those who pick sides will never be converted, but if you thought the Marine's levels on AvP were scary, Marathon will scare the crap out of you. I'm not advertising bungie as they sold out to Microsoft, just Marathon needs more recognition than it gets.

Marathon 1,2 and 3 were all made by Bungie. And, come on, don't say you didn't enjoy shooting your friends at the begginning of M2

no... i found Marathon 2 very.... well....

Should i try Marathon 1? Is a Good game? I didnt like 2.... but since i dont know how 1 is...

It should be wirth a shot...but if you really hated M2 then you won't like it. Get a demo off Macgamefiles.com and see what you think.

Thesmellyone 2 said:

In Marathon the aliens will fight each other...I've yet to see it but I've heard they do.

Heh

Thesmellyone 2 said:

I've been thinking of designing a budget FPS made compeltely 16-bit...

What do you mean? Doom is a 32-bit game and all Macs have been 32-bit ever since the original in 1984.

I know you said it was a MAC game, but is there ANY version of it that can be run on PC? Sometimes they'll make a version for PC or an emulator that will run it.

Calling PeterH!

i have played both, but have always prefered doom. though honestly maybe i should dust off marathon, and that old MAC. however i wonder if there are any PC ports, or if its source is released.

if it hasnt been released i dout it will. bungie is owned by microsoft now

Of course Marthon "looks" better, the game was released a year later. The main difference that makes people chose one or the other is... what computer did you own in 1994. If you owned a PC, you were there when DooM revolutionized gaming, and If you had a Mac, you never got to play the game everyone was talking about. When Marathon arrived later in 94' the Macintosh was the only system Marathon was made for, so it was the DooM of the Macintosh.

The main problem I have with marathon is the artwork. The game may be technically superior, but the artists working on marathon were clearly worse than those at id software.



Not very good comparisons since I had troubles finding shots, but from other shots I've seen of marathon, I've seen a rainbow assortment of colours carelessly splashed around. Marathon may have a good story, high resolution and capable of more than the aging doom engine, but to most gamers it's "just another doom clone" riding on the success of id at that time. The market was filled with wanna be doom games (many were terrible, but some good) and Marathon was the only thing Mac users had. I don't disagree that Marathon might be a good game, I've never played it as I've never owned a Macintosh, but it little more in the grand scheme of computer gaming than a tired clone.

Thesmellyone 2: Comparing Marathon to Doom, is like comparing Silent Hill to Pokemon. Absolutely ridiculous. The two games are VERY different. Doom is action oriented FPS, while Marathon is a story driven sci-fi with action. Two very different sorts of games.

You`d have done alot better in comparing Marathon with System Shock, as the two games have ALOT more in common (AI going bonkers and killing everyone etc). Though these forums are the wrong place to be talking about System shock.

*points Thesmellyone 2 in the direction of ttlg/forums*

Play Marathon free with Aleph One at http://source.bungie.org. Data files are at http://orbitalarm.bungie.org/downloads/alephone.html

I understand they are hard to compare, but tehy always have been and always will be. Like Q3 and UT and MoH and RtCW. But in teh end I'm not comparing them because tehy're similar, simply in which people prefer. As of yet tehre is no official pc port for marathon however Basilisk II is a good 68k emulator. DOOM was released on the Mac and anyone who says it wasn't should really do their homework - I HAVE IT FOR ONE THING! Admittedly the artwork in marathon particularly on the Bobs is pretty poor. But some of the enemies are really cool. As far as graphics go DOOM is 16-bit. Otherwise it wouldn't have been nearly possible to run on a SNES. Even with all the changes they made. Nobody here can lecture me on Marathon unless they themselves have a Mac with it, and those people will probably agree with me (witha few exceptions). The fact is, tehy are different games but they are comparable, particularly in the enemies and the initial plot (not counting Marathon's many developments).

The fact is, DOOM is better than Marathon.

The fact is opinions aren't fact based.

and here's my opinion: both are great, but Marathon is just that little bit better

Another of my opinions: You are a pompous, arogant veteran witha closed mind to anything you yourself do not support.

You are a pompous, arogant veteran witha closed mind to anything you yourself do not support.

Sez 'ee

Thesmellyone 2 said:

As of yet there is no official PC port for Marathon

See the post above yours?

cool, i'm a veteran

Iori Branford said:

See the post above yours?

Yes I do. Aleph one is not an official relase by bungie though is it?

Thesmellyone 2 said:

DOOM was released on the Mac and anyone who says it wasn't should really do their homework - I HAVE IT FOR ONE THING!

Of course it CAME OUT, but DooM was released on Dec 10th, 1993 for the PC. It was released on the Macintosh on Nov 4th, 1994, around the same time as Marathon. By the time it came out on the Mac it was already a year old and of course wouldn't seem as impressive to mac users.

Most people were never really bothered with its technical superiority. It was more the gamplay. A thoughtful space shooter or a frantic shoot fest?

Thesmellyone 2 said:

A thoughtful space shooter or a frantic shoot fest?

Which one is which?

...DOOM is the frantic one.

I pick Doom. I had never even heard of Marathon until now.

The games sounds interesting, I'll try it.

EDIT: Doesn't work on XP.