Ian and I put in a marathon Marathon session and plowed through up to "The Big House." Marathon co-op was never something I got to do back in the day. It was an Appletalk-only gig, and I was the only guy around with a Mac anyway.
We had to fiddle with the aspect ratio on Ian's non-HD tv to regain perepherial vision, but other than that, it's a good adaptation.
As a game, Marathon 2 holds up even better than I remember. Durandal is possibly the best character in video games, and all the terminal text is wonderful pulp sci-fi.
It's an odd symmetry, being here and playing Marathon with Ian, considering we first met seven or eight years ago over Marathon: Red.
Ian
@machall productions .com
"There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to."
August 2, 2007, 13:39 EST
So by now, there's a good chance that if you have a 360 you've heard that Marathon:Durandal has been ported and detailed up for Live Arcade. While my co-workers may argue that Doom was better, I have a lot of love for the series.
It's been ported by the creaters of Burning Monkey Free Verse. When I heard that part of the news I had to laugh. The same chat channel that I met and eventually teamed up with Matt on was a Marathon fan channel. (I think it was on a program called 'Hotline') Matt went by the screen name Forensic where as I went by the ever creative handle of _IAN_. Also on the channel was Bruce & Mark. (Hippieman & HaveBlue) who both now work at Free Verse. When I heard that that Bruce was the lead on the project I had to smile at how it sort of came full circle.
Now, I'm going to talk about the port, not the original game. It's still the same damn game it was when it was released. So all the gripes of level design and confusing back tracking is still there and really doesn't need to be discussed here.
With all that said, I'm biased toward the 2.5d shooter. The port is pretty spot on. It feels just like the original, though I'm not keen on the Interact button (Switches, terminals, doors) be so far from the rest of the controls. The art is very well done. My hat's off to the wall texture artist. Most artists when they tried to up res those graphics made their own thing. This artist remained so faithful to the source material it almost looks like he painted between the pixels of the original art.
The creatures and guns are also really well crafted to their source material, though I would have liked more frames of animation than the original clips. But I understand what they were going for.
I also would have liked the co-op option to better support respawning. Halo style. As it is, when you die, you warp to the start spawn with just your pistol. I would prefer that you warp to another player's location and if both(all) players die, the level resets. Otherwise with enough lava deaths your eventually have a team of players trying to punch Juggernauts to death because they ran out of gear. (Though considering you can have 8 players in co-op, this could be an amusing sight.)
My last and largest complaint of this port is that if you play single player on a 4:3 ratio screen you will be in for some stomach aches. Instead of squeezing the screen down and increasing the FOV you are instead limited to an infuriating tunnel vision that will have you wildly whipping your view around so you can figure out where you are. This is just down right unacceptable. (Hippie, what the hell?)
So if you can set you screen to 16:9, do so and switch you Xbox to the same. Even if you lack an HD screen. Otherwise enjoy playing with blinders on.
Now if you play spit screen, there's no problem. That width is ideal for the game.
All things considered, I still played the game till 1am last night.
Matt
@machall productions .com
A heads up
July 31, 2007, 19:01 EST
We're going to be redesigning the "Sell your soul for a cookie" shirt, so if you want the old design, order up. They're not going to be available after, let's say... August 4th.
Ian
@machall productions .com
While I promised not to apologize for my work...
July 30, 2007, 04:28 EST
...That doesn't mean I have to like it. I'm constantly told that people prefer me post something over nothing. So after the last four days of swearing at my canvas and throwing away sketches, I posted this. I don't like. Not in any capacity.
It has nothing to do with the content. It's the lay out, readability, the close crop. I am now sick of this realistic style. I need to find something that is reads better. But at the same time not lose my God Damned Mind in the process.
When I fail to draw it's absolutely infuriating. Drawing is supposed to be the one thing I'm good at. (besides UT) And when I fail at that, it makes me feel like a failure.
Expect another comic later in the week so I can get this off the main page.
Ian
@machall productions .com
Busy being Emo.
July 30, 2007, 00:18 EST
And no one wants to listen to an me be emo.
Matt
@machall productions .com
July 25, 2007, 15:46 EST
Schrodinger is fine, by the way.
Ian
@machall productions .com
WARNING: I'm going rant about my cats
July 25, 2007, 02:13 EST
You were warned...
Yeah... there's nothing false about this comic. Our cat, Schrodinger, vanished Tuesday. We assumed he ran out the door when we weren't paying attention. It was only after he was found again, by some local kids, that Matt noticed his window's screen was missing. We found the screen on the street, three stories below our apartment.
Jes rewarded the kids with a cake.
Schrodinger stole the cake's box.
I'm sure Matt is now quite sick of listening to Jes and I dote over our cats. We've been kind of sickeningly obsessive over their cute antics. What can I say, I grew up around the buggers and I enjoy'em.
Also, this is Pixel, his sister. I felt her choice of hide out was fitting.
Ian
@machall productions .com
Snow Flakes
July 17, 2007, 03:16 EST
Yeah, it's weird looking, but part of the promise I made to myself, was that with this comic I would keep screwing around with the visuals whenever the mood struck me. Will they all rock out loud? No. Some fiddlings will be better than others.
Matt
@machall productions .com
July 11, 2007, 02:38 EST
We did a guest comic for Mr. Stevens over at Diesel Sweeties.
Ian
@machall productions .com
Meh.
July 10, 2007, 02:01 EST
#$%^&*!... My damn eye won't stop twitching.
Matt
@machall productions .com
It's true.
July 6, 2007, 04:34 EST
I had to rename him to "Stonewall Riots."
Ian
@machall productions .com
July 6, 2007, 04:33 EST
I felt like challenging myself a little with the art on this one. Pretty happy with the result, but the softness looses some of the brush work. Ah, well, I'm picky.
Matt
@machall productions .com
All in together, now.
July 4, 2007, 17:48 EST
After several years of pretending to live with Ian in a cartoon dorm room, I am now actually rooming with Ian and Jess in San Francisco.
Matt
@machall productions .com
Judeo-Christian Motifs in "Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego."
June 25, 2007, 22:56 EST
