Marathon 2: Durandal Critic Reviews

Where the action of Doom’s XBLA debut sucked me back in, I didn’t have quite the same attraction to Marathon: Durandal, especially considering the stomach-churning byproducts of its “new and improved” look. It’s a good, smart shooter, but I don’t think it’s aged as well given its more deliberate pace.

I think it's quite a bit better than DOOM in almost all aspects. But it's impossible to ignore the fact that everyone who has played Marathon has gotten nauseous. I've never seen this happen with a game before, but obviously anything that leaves people feeling worse than when they booted it up, can't get a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

If you can get past the potential motion sickness, you've got a simple but lengthy and engrossing adventure with Marathon: Durandal.

First and foremost, it has just as much charm as id's classic Doom, with hilariously bad pre-rendered enemies, a fresh feeling of exploration and multiplayer options galore, both off-line and through Xbox Live. The second is a rapid frame rate that induces motion sickness.

The spiritual predecessor to Halo is an interesting glimpse to the dawn of the shooter age, but the gameplay feels dated at this point.

While Marathon: Durandal has its feet planted firmly in classic gaming history, the gameplay just doesn't work by today's standards.

Despite being ahead of "Doom 2" in many respects, it's simply nowhere near as fun to play. Saddled with clunky combat, it's impossible to come to this with fresh eyes and appreciate what the fuss was about.

An interesting curio for Halo fans, but expensive.

The Marathon fan base out there who played the game over 10 years ago will most likely be the only ones to get any real enjoyment out of this one.

Marathon is certainly interesting for aspiring game designers and historians who want to observe Bungie's roots. But as a $10 offering in 2007, it just doesn't hold up very well.

Its use will result in two separate emotions - boredom and a desire to play something else.

A Marathon title on XBLA could have been a fantastic way for Halo fans to see their favorite developer's roots, but thanks to bad controls and an illness-inducing interface, the game struggles to even serve as a window into the past.

A blast from the past that should have stayed unblasted. Play the free version if you must.