A few months ago I said I'd play through 20 Marathon scenarios and then write reviews about them.
My first 11 reviews are on Simplici7y, but Marathon EVIL and Rubicon X are not on Simplici7y, so I have decided to post the reviews here. So here goes...
Marathon EVIL
My score was 3 out of 5 stars.
Marathon EVIL is a campaign notable for having new monsters, weapons, and graphics. The new enemies are fun to fight, and the new weapons are unique. Also, there are a lot of innovations in level design that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Alas, there are big problems with the story and gameplay.
The plot is riddled with spelling errors and it’s terribly disjointed. I believe it was written by five different people and cobbled together at the last minute, so expect a lot of inconsistencies and abandoned plot threads.
There is a pervasive lack of ammo which is made worse by two Rebellion levels. To add insult to injury, the EVIL devs on several occasions put a huge stash of ammo in front of the player, but provide no way to reach it. At first I thought a secret might grant access to the loot, but no, I checked in the Weland level editor, and most of those ammo caches were never meant to be claimed. The devs were just teasing the player!
Many levels had a distinct lack of health rechargers or save terminals. Most of the level objectives were unnecessarily convoluted and unfortunately it was all too common to get lost or stuck trying to figure out where to go next. I used the “Eat the Path” plugin to help navigate the complicated terrain of EVIL.
New weapons include a Gatling gun, Pfhor shock staff, nuclear mortar, and a really cool rail gun that can shoot through multiple enemies. New monsters include some kind of headless drone that explodes when it dies, a really tough Pfhor "Mystic," a horror-themed devlin, and numerous haxored traditional enemies such as cyborgs that shoot bullets and un-killable turrets.
Level notes:
1: A no-combat level with pointless hallways populated by bobs who will invariably block your way and need to be killed. At least the bobs using the teleporter at the end looked cool.
2: This level does a great job of conveying a horror theme. You must navigate dark, blood-splattered hallways as unhuman shrieking sounds emanate from the unknown. The new Devlin enemy is introduced in the best way possible, by a close quarters ambush that highlights its strength in melee combat. The automated defenses were an unexpected challenge. The area-based health recharger was creative but also not intuitive; I fear some players might not recognize it for what it is.
3. There are two ambushes in which a horde of hunters teleport directly on top of the player. This is BS. Apparently the player is supposed to run forward to lure the hunter hordes into range of automated defenses or a crusher trap, but how are you even supposed to know those things exist? Finally the player gets a cool-looking chain gun like in the official Marathon art. Then you get to use it for a boss fight with a unique premise! The subsequent platform puzzle was dumb.
4. The crusher puzzle was a great scary fake out; I was sure I was going to get smooshed right up until the last second!
5. The new Mystic bad guy was given a great introductory sequence.
6. A working elevator that will stop at four different floors, wow that is impressive! The invisible unkillable Devlin was BS.
10. Firing cannons to destroy the capitol ship was inspired.
11. Requiring grenade jumping to complete a level is always a bad idea. Also, I got softlocked by hitting the elevated spacedock panel before I was supposed to. So don’t do that.
12. The activated teleporter stations were unique. The puzzle of trying to hit switches in very rapidly flowing water was different. Having the player visually move the moon out of orbit was something I’ve never seen in any previous Marathon scenario.
13. A great architectural rendition of a castle!
14. The puzzle at the end in which the player had to put in the correct code was daunting at first; but upon careful consideration the solution wasn’t too hard.
15. It’s a level inspired by Bungie’s Blaspheme Quarantine!
16. The narrative ending to this campaign will have most players scratching their heads. It comes completely out of nowhere. But then again, that statement could be used to describe most of EVIL's story.
17. This level can only be accessed by using the level skip cheat from the main menu. It’s supposed to be EVIL’s equivalent of a “Vidmaster Challenge” and I will admit it is quite challenging. The architecture of the central tower was really impressive. I can’t understand why one of the best levels of EVIL was kept out of the main campaign and its existence will probably never even be known to most players.
EVIL and Rubicon X Reviews
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MurgenROoF
- Spazeroid
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Dec 26th '22, 15:58
Last edited by MurgenROoF on Jan 11th '23, 15:37, edited 1 time in total.
Marathon EVIL starts great and then becomes a complete waste of time.
As in the levels are literally designed to waste your time.
As in the levels are literally designed to waste your time.
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CitizenKane
- Cyborg
- Posts: 181
- Joined: Oct 31st '06, 15:51
- Contact:
I loved EVIL, probably my favourite third party scenario after Rubicon. That is despite its many flaws as you mention.
I totally agree about the narrative ending, particularly how the text in the final terminal inexplicably switches to the third person to describe what happens to the player afterward. Very strange indeed.
My favourite levels are probably (2) Ten Thousand Spoons, (10) We Be Ground Pounders, (11) For This I Went To College and (12) Code 42. Funnily enough each of those uses the Jjaro texture set, which I always thought EVIL made particularly good use of.
I totally agree about the narrative ending, particularly how the text in the final terminal inexplicably switches to the third person to describe what happens to the player afterward. Very strange indeed.
My favourite levels are probably (2) Ten Thousand Spoons, (10) We Be Ground Pounders, (11) For This I Went To College and (12) Code 42. Funnily enough each of those uses the Jjaro texture set, which I always thought EVIL made particularly good use of.
-
MurgenROoF
- Spazeroid
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Dec 26th '22, 15:58
Rubicon Review
At 84 levels, Rubicon is the biggest Marathon campaign ever created. I did a completionist run through the campaign, meaning I played through all 84 levels, found all secrets, and killed all monsters when possible. This impressive campaign has new weapons, new enemies, new chapter art, and new tilesets to create a really unique appearance. Combat is generally fun, and the story is one of the most polished I’ve seen. However, be warned that much of your time will be spent wandering through dark mazes looking for switches. The ubiquitous hellmazes are the single biggest drawback to Rubicon, and so I strongly urge you to grab the “Eat the Path” plugin, which helps with navigation, to preserve your sanity:
http://simplici7y.com/items/eat-the-path
In addition to Eat the Path, there are three other things I strongly recommend that you grab before you start your epic journey through Rubicon.
If you want to find all secrets you’ll want to have Dr. Sumner’s guide handy:
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AM3 ... 122933F4E0
If you want to see all of the possible branching paths, consult this chart:
https://www.pfhorums.com/viewtopic.php? ... rt#p182281
Finally, Rubicon hasn’t been updated since 2006, which means a few bugs are now present. So grab this great Rubicon Fix plugin to give yourself the best experience:
http://simplici7y.com/items/rubicon-x-bloom-monster-fix
I played the campaign on Normal difficulty, and unless you think you’re the most badass of Vidmasters, I recommend you do the same. Rubicon’s difficulty is not balanced for the higher difficulty levels and ammo supplies will not be sufficient.
Weapons:
The new weapons are generally fun. For example, there’s a lightning gun that disintegrates enemies, a short-range mortar for clearing out large groups of enemies or dealing lots of damage to beefy slow enemies like hulks, and a “maser” laser for sniping baddies at a distance; everything has a role to play.
Enemies:
There are a bunch of new enemies, as well as some returning baddies from Marathon 1. Yep, the hulks, wasps, and lookers from Marathon 1 are back, and they’re even more dangerous than before (hulks can throw grenades now!). Completely new enemies include a new kind of flying hostile S’Pht, a Thinker Pfhor that fires missiles while sitting on a throne, combat BOBs toting assault rifles, and even non-hostile alien miners that help to accentuate the story!
Graphics:
The new main menu graphics and the chapter artwork evince a surrealist atmosphere which syncs with the plot. Like in Marathon Infinity, Rubicon has several “dream” levels that either bend the laws of physics, have strange plotlines, or just generally imply that the player is an agent of destiny, traveling between timelines. Which leads us to…
The Plot:
The quality of the writing is high, and I felt it was true to Marathon lore — for example, Durandal is portrayed as snarky, and Tycho is portrayed as conceited. Rubicon’s plot actually splits into three “planks” after level 10. The planks are Pfhor, Tycho, and Salinger. Each plank represents a different timeline. It is possible to switch between planks, although the path is not always obvious. This is actually rather unfortunate, because the player will encounter numerous branching paths, but may not realize that they are in fact branching paths. Thus, people trying to play every level, or even just play every level within a particular plank, will need to take great pains to plan how they’re going to do it. The chart I linked above will be helpful, and also serves to illustrate how ridiculously convoluted the plank-switching can get.
The unfortunate result of this is that the Rubicon story comes off as disjointed. For example, the first 10 levels are about saving an AI named Haller from the Pfhor and rampancy, but once the “planks” start after level 10 the Haller plotline is unceremoniously dropped and never mentioned again.
In the Pfhor Plank the player will see much terminal text about human traitors helping the alien slavers, but nothing ever comes of it story-wise unless they transition over to the Salinger Plank. Many of the planks reuse levels from other planks, so even though Rubicon has 84 levels many of them are essentially modified duplicates, which unfortunately means there’s going to be some map repetition, especially for completionist players. Much of the disjointedness is also a consequence of Rubicon being an amalgamation of several separate mapmaking endeavors that got merged into one giant project.
Level notes:
It Begins With an Ending: The first level provides some forgettable lore, but more importantly allows the player to ogle the impressive new swamp graphics in a non-combat setting. I was unnerved after hearing hunter howls and looker chittering sounds, because those normally mean big trouble, but I was able to relax after realizing that they are just “normal” ambient noise for the new marsh setting.
Veni Vidi Curvasi: Giving the player almost no ammo and a level full of infinitely spawning monsters is bad. I guess this was supposed to feel like a hectic chase, but it fell flat.
Honk if You’re An Underpaid Cyborg: The first of the hellmazes. Alas, there will be many more. Convoluted maze levels are bad enough, but this one includes searching underwater for a repair chip to proceed, and tiny easily-missable switches. At one point the player must drop down to a small dark ledge that’s barely visible. Ugh! At least there is one cool gimmick: In a flooded part of the ship there is a dry area. If the player opens the door to the dry area then water quickly rushes in.
Like Flies on a Corpse: There is nice architectural dichotomy between the interior parts of the ship and the smashed outdoors area.
Five Finger Discount: This is probably the level where most non-hardcore players give up on Rubicon, due to the infamous box puzzle. Basically, it’s a normal hellmaze, but the only way to get out is to use some innocuous boxes as stepping stools to access the ship’s ventilation shafts. It’s so out of the way and counterintuitive that at first I thought I was accessing a secret loot area, not a mandatory part of the level. Just down the hall from the box puzzle are some exposed wires. Naturally, the player will smash them because that’s the normal expectation, but this time smashing the wires will close off a loot room, which is a terrible design choice. The Haller core architecture was impressive and it looked functional. The 4 switch puzzle was both clever and intuitive, in marked contrast to the box puzzle.
I’d Rather Be A Lutefisk: This is an all underwater level. It is both unique and terrible, an example of a great idea but unworkable execution. It is probably the single worst level in all of Rubicon; I cannot understand why the devs decided to place most of their bad levels early in the campaign. Did they think player first impressions are not important?
Anyways, the Marathon engine just doesn’t do underwater combat all that well. It certainly doesn’t help that Rubicon’s water is exceptionally difficult to see through. Thus, the player will have both poor speed and visibility for the whole level. There will still be enemies to mess with you, however, including one particularly infuriating trooper that fires a slew of homing grenades that are very difficult to swim away from. On the upside, it’s pretty atmospheric as far as hellmazes go, with drowned BOBs floating lifelessly in the water. If (when) the dead guys get in your way, the corpses can be smashed to clear a path.
We Dream You: The transition from spaceship to moonscape was surreal and very cool.
Hairy Legs: So here is something new, a time-based mission. Stop the reactor from going critical within the time limit (15 minutes)! There is even a neat countdown clock, showing the player how much time is left. Now this feels like a hectic chase level! It is also, unfortunately, a hellmaze, with numerous teleporters, broken doors/lifts, and just a really counterintuitive level flow. The new Rubicon juggernaut also makes its first appearance here, and immediately proves itself to be the most threatening thing on the battlefield. The player won’t have time to fight everything, in fact Durandal explicitly recommends just running past enemies when possible, and he’s not wrong. But even if the player is too slow and fails to save the reactor the game won’t end, it just means the player will be heading to the Pfhor Plank instead of the Salinger Plank. Like so many branching paths in Rubicon, this one is not obvious, and the player might not even realize it existed.
Pfhor Plank levels:
Sea of Slime: The new Pfhor suicide drones have terrible hitboxes; it’s bad when putting your crosshair directly on an enemy and pulling the trigger has no effect. Later in the campaign a larger drone makes an appearance; the larger drone also has hitbox issues. The transition from overgrown swamp to orderly facility was neat.
Deep in the Aardvarks: It really looks like a mine; there’s miners, some kind of rail system with ore pallets awaiting shipment, and even rock crushers. Saving Carroway is not intuitive; I didn’t even realize the rescue sequence was timed until he was dead. Carroway’s survival or death results in another possible non-obvious plank transition.
Hex Level 73: This level has a unique turquoise color scheme. The new Pfhor Thinker enemy was fun to fight. It was also tactically interesting to fight enemies on multiple elevations simultaneously. Unfortunately, once the enemies are cleared out this level is one of the worst of the hellmazes. Expect to spend 95% of your time lost, trying to figure out where to go and what to do. The invincibility powerup here should probably get the award for “hardest secret to reach in any Marathon scenario.”
Okefenokee Trail: One of my favorite levels, it has a consistent architectural theme of elevated dry Pfhor outposts versus the muck of the swamp. The puzzle was clever. In the first outpost the player is shown how the switches work. Then in the next two outposts the player has to put that knowledge to use to find a way to circumvent the force fields. What fun!
Frog Blasting/Blasted Frogs: Dear devs: Please don’t create a hellmaze, with lots of underwater exploration required, and then provide no oxygen rechargers. Thank you, signed, all players everywhere.
Sodding the Logs: The player starts in a swamp with chest-high water, and will soon encounter lookers (suicide bugs) beneath the water that cannot be seen or shot. Meanwhile, large numbers of Pfhor will be taking potshots at you from the high ground as you frantically look for a way out of the quagmire. Amusingly enough, one of the lookers caught up to me and detonated, launching me up out of the swamp and onto the high ground where I wanted to be. Total luck, of course, but funny nonetheless.
Bump and Grind: A great combat level. The Pfhor ship architecture was superb.
Make It Better, Like This: A surreal secret level with several large arenas to fight in. It’s quite entertaining; the player just can’t Rambo through the hordes, but has to approach each fight tactically.
This Hurts Less Than: Rebellion levels suck in general, but this one is particularly bad because the player is likely to stumble upon an overwhelming enemy force without weapons or health soon after the level starts. At least the fun combat later in the level somewhat redeems the terrible beginning.
Beg, Borrow, and Steal: A new type of Pfhor appears here. Keep an eye out for it, because it is very rare; I think it appears only once more in the campaign. It appears to be able to damage the player simply by being in close proximity.
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt: Forcing the player to wade through a maze of damaging tar at the level start is not cool. Arbitrarily closing off lucrative parts of the level based upon the path the player chose to take is also not cool; players should never be punished without warning for making normal, innocuous choices.
Wading in Vitriol: The boss battle was suitably awesome and epic. The challenge was welcome, and the new enemies added to a really satisfying conclusion to the plank.
Eat the Sword: The combat was suitably tough for a secret vidmaster level. The impressive architecture of the ship lends itself to some really intense firefights, especially the part in which the player has to drop down into the circular arena populated by BOBs and Defenders. Unfortunately, there is one part where a secret panel needs to be revealed to smash some wires in order to proceed; without using the Eat the Path plugin I never would have found those wires.
Toadstools: Did I say “satisfying conclusion?” I meant the combat was satisfying, not the story. Why is the player punished for almost single-handedly wiping out the leadership of the evil alien slavers who have been hounding humanity for decades? There’s no damn reason we should be dumped into a fetid swamp and be looking at a “bad ending” epilogue screen.
Tycho Plank:
Carpe Mumble Mumble Latin: Mutiny! Kill the enforcers! This level reminds me in a good way of the level Rise, Robot, Rise, from Marathon Infinity.
Iwannavacuum II: Using the bomb to blow a hole in the wall was inspired. The Salinger textures look great. There is a switch operated multi-floor elevator!
Core Wars II: The maser turrets were extremely frustrating until I figured out how they worked. Then it was pretty exciting to be dodging masers while trying to get an angle on a target.
Attack of the Wheenies: This does a better job of simulating a hectic chase than the aforementioned Veni Vidi Curvasi. I guess the difference is that in this level you have allies that can provide a distraction, plus you’ve got sufficient ammo to defend yourself when necessary.
There’s No Place Like Up: An interesting concept; you start way at the bottom of a pit and have to use platforming to climb up to the top. Marathon is not a parkour game, so platforming should really be kept to a minimum. It’s fine here, though, because it’s just one level that’s doing something different and new. The initial horde rush provides some really intense combat.
It’s Not My Brain: Architecturally speaking, this is the best rendition of a multi-story building I’ve ever seen in the Marathon engine. Props to whoever built this, great job! One of my favorite levels.
Get Over It: The idea is that the player finds an ammo cache but is immediately attacked by an unbeatable overwhelming force and must flee to the exit. There will be so many projectiles flying through the air that some of them will fail to render!
Since I was doing a completionist run and trying to eliminate all non-respawning enemies on every map, I decided to try to beat it. Here is how to do it on Normal: Start with invincibility from the previous level (right next to the terminal), immediately use your rocket launcher to propel yourself to the ammo cache, switch to the fusion pistol and use both fire modes simultaneously to target the juggernauts. Eventually you’ll have to circle strafe the juggs; afterwards any remaining fighters can be mopped up.
Lazarus Ex Machina: If the end of the Pfhor Plank was disappointing, the end of the Tycho Plank was confusing. Despite joining forces with a known villain, (I was expecting a Tycho backstab that never materialized) I somehow end up with a better ending than the Pfhor Plank? And then there’s the matter of the fate of Durandal, which doesn’t sync with the story in the rest of the Plank…
Salinger Plank:
First of all I want to say the Salinger-specific textures look phenomenal. They are certainly some of the best textures I’ve seen anywhere in Marathon. The architecture of these levels was also of a generally high quality and helped to accentuate the strong aesthetics of the tileset. For example, labs have isolation cells with captive lab rats and alien lookers that are clearly being studied, Dangi security checkpoints look functional, libraries have bookshelves and scientific equipment in them, ect.
Also, fighting lots of BOBs in the Salinger levels requires new tactics from the player. Close-quarters combat tactics that worked well on the Pfhor will prove suicidal when employed against BOBs, who have long range, high damage, high velocity weapons. The upside is that BOBs have low health, so they can be beaten with carefully considered ambush-style tactics by player. Forcing players out of their comfort zone and making them adapt to new challenges is one of the greatest strengths of Rubicon.
Blasted Vent Cores: Hiding a chip in low-visibility sewage was mean.
people under the stairs: What a weird level about fighting assimilated BOBs with your fists! It is definitely a different experience, and thankfully short enough that it doesn’t get tedious.
Comfortably Numb: Here is a rare thing, a Rebellion level that doesn’t suck! It’s actually pretty innovative! The player’s hearing, movement, and vision are distorted to simulate the traumatic experience of captivity, and the player even gets new fist graphics to show they’ve been stripped of their armor.
The Exit Door Leads In: Ugh, and here is a Rebellion level that does, in fact, suck! The initial force field mechanic looks cool. But then the player is thrust into the standard Rubicon hellmaze with nothing but their fists against large groups of enemies. Baiting the defenseless player with weapons and ammo, only to then spring a crusher deathtrap on them, was cruel.
Long Walk on a Short Pier: It’s a vacuum level with a unique premise; you’re fighting outside of the Pfhor ship on its hull! I’ve never seen anyone attempt space combat like this in the Marathon engine before. Unfortunately, the level ends up becoming an annoying switch hunt. Trying to figure out where to go and what to do might not be a big deal under normal circumstances, but here the player is constantly hounded by respawning enemies, automated unkillable turrets, and the need to replenish oxygen.
Hell Pfhor You: Teleporting the player out of the level before he has a chance to figure out how to unlock the ammo cache was cruel. I know it's a secret level, but there are no save terminals available for most of the map! So a lot of people will end up having to replay the whole damn level if they want that ammo cache.
Not This Again! Oh my, it's a great callback to a certain Marathon 1 level! Hooray nostalgia!
Prize Payment Schedule: The player is given two possible paths to reach the level end. Cut the power to open the sewer access, or open up some additional rooms. The choice would be more meaningful if we actually knew which wire was which.
The Dotted Line: An interested concept! Stay on the line or a host of angry baddies will teleport in. I liked it.
The Tar and Feather Club: The player is immediately ambushed at the level start by high damage maser and pistol BOBs. BS! The rest of the level was fun.
Hard Vacuum: The freaking epilogue has an extremely dangerous maser turret waiting to ambush the player. What if I just fought like hell just to reach this epilogue, and have almost no health left? There's no save terminal at level start, so I got kicked back to the previous level and had to fight the very difficult final battle...again! Ugh!
Conclusion:
Overall I rate this campaign 3 out of 5 stars. It has enough new content that it can be considered a total conversion, and it showcases some inspired and innovative ideas. However, be prepared to deal with the hellmazes and the ideas that didn’t pan out.
At 84 levels, Rubicon is the biggest Marathon campaign ever created. I did a completionist run through the campaign, meaning I played through all 84 levels, found all secrets, and killed all monsters when possible. This impressive campaign has new weapons, new enemies, new chapter art, and new tilesets to create a really unique appearance. Combat is generally fun, and the story is one of the most polished I’ve seen. However, be warned that much of your time will be spent wandering through dark mazes looking for switches. The ubiquitous hellmazes are the single biggest drawback to Rubicon, and so I strongly urge you to grab the “Eat the Path” plugin, which helps with navigation, to preserve your sanity:
http://simplici7y.com/items/eat-the-path
In addition to Eat the Path, there are three other things I strongly recommend that you grab before you start your epic journey through Rubicon.
If you want to find all secrets you’ll want to have Dr. Sumner’s guide handy:
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AM3 ... 122933F4E0
If you want to see all of the possible branching paths, consult this chart:
https://www.pfhorums.com/viewtopic.php? ... rt#p182281
Finally, Rubicon hasn’t been updated since 2006, which means a few bugs are now present. So grab this great Rubicon Fix plugin to give yourself the best experience:
http://simplici7y.com/items/rubicon-x-bloom-monster-fix
I played the campaign on Normal difficulty, and unless you think you’re the most badass of Vidmasters, I recommend you do the same. Rubicon’s difficulty is not balanced for the higher difficulty levels and ammo supplies will not be sufficient.
Weapons:
The new weapons are generally fun. For example, there’s a lightning gun that disintegrates enemies, a short-range mortar for clearing out large groups of enemies or dealing lots of damage to beefy slow enemies like hulks, and a “maser” laser for sniping baddies at a distance; everything has a role to play.
Enemies:
There are a bunch of new enemies, as well as some returning baddies from Marathon 1. Yep, the hulks, wasps, and lookers from Marathon 1 are back, and they’re even more dangerous than before (hulks can throw grenades now!). Completely new enemies include a new kind of flying hostile S’Pht, a Thinker Pfhor that fires missiles while sitting on a throne, combat BOBs toting assault rifles, and even non-hostile alien miners that help to accentuate the story!
Graphics:
The new main menu graphics and the chapter artwork evince a surrealist atmosphere which syncs with the plot. Like in Marathon Infinity, Rubicon has several “dream” levels that either bend the laws of physics, have strange plotlines, or just generally imply that the player is an agent of destiny, traveling between timelines. Which leads us to…
The Plot:
The quality of the writing is high, and I felt it was true to Marathon lore — for example, Durandal is portrayed as snarky, and Tycho is portrayed as conceited. Rubicon’s plot actually splits into three “planks” after level 10. The planks are Pfhor, Tycho, and Salinger. Each plank represents a different timeline. It is possible to switch between planks, although the path is not always obvious. This is actually rather unfortunate, because the player will encounter numerous branching paths, but may not realize that they are in fact branching paths. Thus, people trying to play every level, or even just play every level within a particular plank, will need to take great pains to plan how they’re going to do it. The chart I linked above will be helpful, and also serves to illustrate how ridiculously convoluted the plank-switching can get.
The unfortunate result of this is that the Rubicon story comes off as disjointed. For example, the first 10 levels are about saving an AI named Haller from the Pfhor and rampancy, but once the “planks” start after level 10 the Haller plotline is unceremoniously dropped and never mentioned again.
In the Pfhor Plank the player will see much terminal text about human traitors helping the alien slavers, but nothing ever comes of it story-wise unless they transition over to the Salinger Plank. Many of the planks reuse levels from other planks, so even though Rubicon has 84 levels many of them are essentially modified duplicates, which unfortunately means there’s going to be some map repetition, especially for completionist players. Much of the disjointedness is also a consequence of Rubicon being an amalgamation of several separate mapmaking endeavors that got merged into one giant project.
Level notes:
It Begins With an Ending: The first level provides some forgettable lore, but more importantly allows the player to ogle the impressive new swamp graphics in a non-combat setting. I was unnerved after hearing hunter howls and looker chittering sounds, because those normally mean big trouble, but I was able to relax after realizing that they are just “normal” ambient noise for the new marsh setting.
Veni Vidi Curvasi: Giving the player almost no ammo and a level full of infinitely spawning monsters is bad. I guess this was supposed to feel like a hectic chase, but it fell flat.
Honk if You’re An Underpaid Cyborg: The first of the hellmazes. Alas, there will be many more. Convoluted maze levels are bad enough, but this one includes searching underwater for a repair chip to proceed, and tiny easily-missable switches. At one point the player must drop down to a small dark ledge that’s barely visible. Ugh! At least there is one cool gimmick: In a flooded part of the ship there is a dry area. If the player opens the door to the dry area then water quickly rushes in.
Like Flies on a Corpse: There is nice architectural dichotomy between the interior parts of the ship and the smashed outdoors area.
Five Finger Discount: This is probably the level where most non-hardcore players give up on Rubicon, due to the infamous box puzzle. Basically, it’s a normal hellmaze, but the only way to get out is to use some innocuous boxes as stepping stools to access the ship’s ventilation shafts. It’s so out of the way and counterintuitive that at first I thought I was accessing a secret loot area, not a mandatory part of the level. Just down the hall from the box puzzle are some exposed wires. Naturally, the player will smash them because that’s the normal expectation, but this time smashing the wires will close off a loot room, which is a terrible design choice. The Haller core architecture was impressive and it looked functional. The 4 switch puzzle was both clever and intuitive, in marked contrast to the box puzzle.
I’d Rather Be A Lutefisk: This is an all underwater level. It is both unique and terrible, an example of a great idea but unworkable execution. It is probably the single worst level in all of Rubicon; I cannot understand why the devs decided to place most of their bad levels early in the campaign. Did they think player first impressions are not important?
Anyways, the Marathon engine just doesn’t do underwater combat all that well. It certainly doesn’t help that Rubicon’s water is exceptionally difficult to see through. Thus, the player will have both poor speed and visibility for the whole level. There will still be enemies to mess with you, however, including one particularly infuriating trooper that fires a slew of homing grenades that are very difficult to swim away from. On the upside, it’s pretty atmospheric as far as hellmazes go, with drowned BOBs floating lifelessly in the water. If (when) the dead guys get in your way, the corpses can be smashed to clear a path.
We Dream You: The transition from spaceship to moonscape was surreal and very cool.
Hairy Legs: So here is something new, a time-based mission. Stop the reactor from going critical within the time limit (15 minutes)! There is even a neat countdown clock, showing the player how much time is left. Now this feels like a hectic chase level! It is also, unfortunately, a hellmaze, with numerous teleporters, broken doors/lifts, and just a really counterintuitive level flow. The new Rubicon juggernaut also makes its first appearance here, and immediately proves itself to be the most threatening thing on the battlefield. The player won’t have time to fight everything, in fact Durandal explicitly recommends just running past enemies when possible, and he’s not wrong. But even if the player is too slow and fails to save the reactor the game won’t end, it just means the player will be heading to the Pfhor Plank instead of the Salinger Plank. Like so many branching paths in Rubicon, this one is not obvious, and the player might not even realize it existed.
Pfhor Plank levels:
Sea of Slime: The new Pfhor suicide drones have terrible hitboxes; it’s bad when putting your crosshair directly on an enemy and pulling the trigger has no effect. Later in the campaign a larger drone makes an appearance; the larger drone also has hitbox issues. The transition from overgrown swamp to orderly facility was neat.
Deep in the Aardvarks: It really looks like a mine; there’s miners, some kind of rail system with ore pallets awaiting shipment, and even rock crushers. Saving Carroway is not intuitive; I didn’t even realize the rescue sequence was timed until he was dead. Carroway’s survival or death results in another possible non-obvious plank transition.
Hex Level 73: This level has a unique turquoise color scheme. The new Pfhor Thinker enemy was fun to fight. It was also tactically interesting to fight enemies on multiple elevations simultaneously. Unfortunately, once the enemies are cleared out this level is one of the worst of the hellmazes. Expect to spend 95% of your time lost, trying to figure out where to go and what to do. The invincibility powerup here should probably get the award for “hardest secret to reach in any Marathon scenario.”
Okefenokee Trail: One of my favorite levels, it has a consistent architectural theme of elevated dry Pfhor outposts versus the muck of the swamp. The puzzle was clever. In the first outpost the player is shown how the switches work. Then in the next two outposts the player has to put that knowledge to use to find a way to circumvent the force fields. What fun!
Frog Blasting/Blasted Frogs: Dear devs: Please don’t create a hellmaze, with lots of underwater exploration required, and then provide no oxygen rechargers. Thank you, signed, all players everywhere.
Sodding the Logs: The player starts in a swamp with chest-high water, and will soon encounter lookers (suicide bugs) beneath the water that cannot be seen or shot. Meanwhile, large numbers of Pfhor will be taking potshots at you from the high ground as you frantically look for a way out of the quagmire. Amusingly enough, one of the lookers caught up to me and detonated, launching me up out of the swamp and onto the high ground where I wanted to be. Total luck, of course, but funny nonetheless.
Bump and Grind: A great combat level. The Pfhor ship architecture was superb.
Make It Better, Like This: A surreal secret level with several large arenas to fight in. It’s quite entertaining; the player just can’t Rambo through the hordes, but has to approach each fight tactically.
This Hurts Less Than: Rebellion levels suck in general, but this one is particularly bad because the player is likely to stumble upon an overwhelming enemy force without weapons or health soon after the level starts. At least the fun combat later in the level somewhat redeems the terrible beginning.
Beg, Borrow, and Steal: A new type of Pfhor appears here. Keep an eye out for it, because it is very rare; I think it appears only once more in the campaign. It appears to be able to damage the player simply by being in close proximity.
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt: Forcing the player to wade through a maze of damaging tar at the level start is not cool. Arbitrarily closing off lucrative parts of the level based upon the path the player chose to take is also not cool; players should never be punished without warning for making normal, innocuous choices.
Wading in Vitriol: The boss battle was suitably awesome and epic. The challenge was welcome, and the new enemies added to a really satisfying conclusion to the plank.
Eat the Sword: The combat was suitably tough for a secret vidmaster level. The impressive architecture of the ship lends itself to some really intense firefights, especially the part in which the player has to drop down into the circular arena populated by BOBs and Defenders. Unfortunately, there is one part where a secret panel needs to be revealed to smash some wires in order to proceed; without using the Eat the Path plugin I never would have found those wires.
Toadstools: Did I say “satisfying conclusion?” I meant the combat was satisfying, not the story. Why is the player punished for almost single-handedly wiping out the leadership of the evil alien slavers who have been hounding humanity for decades? There’s no damn reason we should be dumped into a fetid swamp and be looking at a “bad ending” epilogue screen.
Tycho Plank:
Carpe Mumble Mumble Latin: Mutiny! Kill the enforcers! This level reminds me in a good way of the level Rise, Robot, Rise, from Marathon Infinity.
Iwannavacuum II: Using the bomb to blow a hole in the wall was inspired. The Salinger textures look great. There is a switch operated multi-floor elevator!
Core Wars II: The maser turrets were extremely frustrating until I figured out how they worked. Then it was pretty exciting to be dodging masers while trying to get an angle on a target.
Attack of the Wheenies: This does a better job of simulating a hectic chase than the aforementioned Veni Vidi Curvasi. I guess the difference is that in this level you have allies that can provide a distraction, plus you’ve got sufficient ammo to defend yourself when necessary.
There’s No Place Like Up: An interesting concept; you start way at the bottom of a pit and have to use platforming to climb up to the top. Marathon is not a parkour game, so platforming should really be kept to a minimum. It’s fine here, though, because it’s just one level that’s doing something different and new. The initial horde rush provides some really intense combat.
It’s Not My Brain: Architecturally speaking, this is the best rendition of a multi-story building I’ve ever seen in the Marathon engine. Props to whoever built this, great job! One of my favorite levels.
Get Over It: The idea is that the player finds an ammo cache but is immediately attacked by an unbeatable overwhelming force and must flee to the exit. There will be so many projectiles flying through the air that some of them will fail to render!
Since I was doing a completionist run and trying to eliminate all non-respawning enemies on every map, I decided to try to beat it. Here is how to do it on Normal: Start with invincibility from the previous level (right next to the terminal), immediately use your rocket launcher to propel yourself to the ammo cache, switch to the fusion pistol and use both fire modes simultaneously to target the juggernauts. Eventually you’ll have to circle strafe the juggs; afterwards any remaining fighters can be mopped up.
Lazarus Ex Machina: If the end of the Pfhor Plank was disappointing, the end of the Tycho Plank was confusing. Despite joining forces with a known villain, (I was expecting a Tycho backstab that never materialized) I somehow end up with a better ending than the Pfhor Plank? And then there’s the matter of the fate of Durandal, which doesn’t sync with the story in the rest of the Plank…
Salinger Plank:
First of all I want to say the Salinger-specific textures look phenomenal. They are certainly some of the best textures I’ve seen anywhere in Marathon. The architecture of these levels was also of a generally high quality and helped to accentuate the strong aesthetics of the tileset. For example, labs have isolation cells with captive lab rats and alien lookers that are clearly being studied, Dangi security checkpoints look functional, libraries have bookshelves and scientific equipment in them, ect.
Also, fighting lots of BOBs in the Salinger levels requires new tactics from the player. Close-quarters combat tactics that worked well on the Pfhor will prove suicidal when employed against BOBs, who have long range, high damage, high velocity weapons. The upside is that BOBs have low health, so they can be beaten with carefully considered ambush-style tactics by player. Forcing players out of their comfort zone and making them adapt to new challenges is one of the greatest strengths of Rubicon.
Blasted Vent Cores: Hiding a chip in low-visibility sewage was mean.
people under the stairs: What a weird level about fighting assimilated BOBs with your fists! It is definitely a different experience, and thankfully short enough that it doesn’t get tedious.
Comfortably Numb: Here is a rare thing, a Rebellion level that doesn’t suck! It’s actually pretty innovative! The player’s hearing, movement, and vision are distorted to simulate the traumatic experience of captivity, and the player even gets new fist graphics to show they’ve been stripped of their armor.
The Exit Door Leads In: Ugh, and here is a Rebellion level that does, in fact, suck! The initial force field mechanic looks cool. But then the player is thrust into the standard Rubicon hellmaze with nothing but their fists against large groups of enemies. Baiting the defenseless player with weapons and ammo, only to then spring a crusher deathtrap on them, was cruel.
Long Walk on a Short Pier: It’s a vacuum level with a unique premise; you’re fighting outside of the Pfhor ship on its hull! I’ve never seen anyone attempt space combat like this in the Marathon engine before. Unfortunately, the level ends up becoming an annoying switch hunt. Trying to figure out where to go and what to do might not be a big deal under normal circumstances, but here the player is constantly hounded by respawning enemies, automated unkillable turrets, and the need to replenish oxygen.
Hell Pfhor You: Teleporting the player out of the level before he has a chance to figure out how to unlock the ammo cache was cruel. I know it's a secret level, but there are no save terminals available for most of the map! So a lot of people will end up having to replay the whole damn level if they want that ammo cache.
Not This Again! Oh my, it's a great callback to a certain Marathon 1 level! Hooray nostalgia!
Prize Payment Schedule: The player is given two possible paths to reach the level end. Cut the power to open the sewer access, or open up some additional rooms. The choice would be more meaningful if we actually knew which wire was which.
The Dotted Line: An interested concept! Stay on the line or a host of angry baddies will teleport in. I liked it.
The Tar and Feather Club: The player is immediately ambushed at the level start by high damage maser and pistol BOBs. BS! The rest of the level was fun.
Hard Vacuum: The freaking epilogue has an extremely dangerous maser turret waiting to ambush the player. What if I just fought like hell just to reach this epilogue, and have almost no health left? There's no save terminal at level start, so I got kicked back to the previous level and had to fight the very difficult final battle...again! Ugh!
Conclusion:
Overall I rate this campaign 3 out of 5 stars. It has enough new content that it can be considered a total conversion, and it showcases some inspired and innovative ideas. However, be prepared to deal with the hellmazes and the ideas that didn’t pan out.
Last edited by MurgenROoF on Feb 10th '23, 14:07, edited 1 time in total.
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CitizenKane
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Good comprehensive review.
The one thing I'd say is that, having played Rubicon many times (never using the Eat The Path plugin), I never would have considered any of the maps to be "hellmazes", and that's certainly not something I'd have identified as a drawback of the scenario. I'd never even really given any thought to the box puzzle in Five Finger Discount, for example, that was pretty innocuous to me. In fact most of my favourite levels in the scenario are in the Chimera plank, so it's interesting that you consider most of the bad levels to be there, which I suppose illustrates the subjective nature of gaming!
The one thing I'd say is that, having played Rubicon many times (never using the Eat The Path plugin), I never would have considered any of the maps to be "hellmazes", and that's certainly not something I'd have identified as a drawback of the scenario. I'd never even really given any thought to the box puzzle in Five Finger Discount, for example, that was pretty innocuous to me. In fact most of my favourite levels in the scenario are in the Chimera plank, so it's interesting that you consider most of the bad levels to be there, which I suppose illustrates the subjective nature of gaming!