This demo is designed to give you a fun and interesting glimpse into the Marathon world. We hope that after playing this demo over and over again, you will decide to buy the game. The game is longer, has more monsters, more guns, more carnage, and a futuristic story line that will make your head spin and your soul freeze with horror.
To be exact, this demo has four levels, and network play is restricted to two players. The full game has forty total levels, and supports network play with up to eight people.
The demo was constructed using only one of five texture collections, so the insane variety that you see in the demo is multiplied by five in the game.
This is not a CD-game. It ships on floppy disks.
***
Quick Start
(If you read this and feel like you have a pretty good idea of what is going on, then go and play the game)
To play the Demo, double click on the Marathon Icon.
In the Preferences dialog, click on "Setup Keys" to configure and learn the key settings.
Choose a difficulty level from the Preferences according to your vid-prowess. If you play action games rarely or never, then stay in Kindergarten or Easy. If you are a vid-master or are under the age of twenty-one, then you should NEVER play below Normal. (Unless, of course, you're a wuss.) That's right. Save Kindergarten and Easy for the older generation! Youth is only satisfied by Major Damage and Total Carnage. We'll be in touch with Big Brother to make sure that nobody is playing below their ability. (Isn't the Internet wonderful?)
Whoops. I wasn't supposed to let you know about Big Brother.
***
Anything else?
Sure there is. Here comes the standard industry plea for all of you to buy our game!! BUY OUR GAME! We don't just want the money, we want to create more people in the world who are good enough for us to play against as worthy opponents, not fodder.
Marathon will be in stores December 1994
Suggested Retail Price: $69.99, Street Price: $39-$45
For more information contact:
Bungie Software Products Corporation
P.O. Box 7877
Chicago, Il 60680-7877
(312) 563-6200
Fax: (312) 563-0545
America Online: Bungie1
eWorld: BungieCorp
AppleLink: BUNGIE
REQUIREMENTS:
FEATURES:
SUPPORTED HARDWARE:
INSTALLATION:
Double Click on the Marathon.sea file to decompress the software.
Once decompressed, you should see a "Marathon f" folder to your hard disk.
The following four files must be in the Marathon folder for Marathon to run correctly:
1) "Marathon Demo" - application file
2) "Shapes" - graphics file
3) "Map" - map data file
4) "Sounds" - sound file
TO START A NEW GAME:
Double click on the Marathon application. Use the Preferences to select suitable sound and graphics settings (see performance notes). Then click on the New Game button to start a new game.
PERFORMANCE NOTES:
There are a few things you can do if you need to speed up the animation in Marathon.
Sound Requirements
DEFAULT CONTROLS:
Walk Forwards: KP8
Walk Backwards: KP5
Turn Left: KP4
Turn Right: KP6
Dodge Left: Z
Dodge Right: X
Look Up: D
Look Down: C
Look Ahead: V
Glance Left: Shift Key + KP4 or A
Glance Right: Shift Key + KP6 or S
Fire primary trigger: Space Bar
Fire secondary trigger: OPTION
You can switch between weapons using KP7 and KP9. This scrolls through the weapon list. (Weapons are always put into the list in the same order.)
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
You are a security officer aboard the interstellar colony ship Marathon. You are returning from the colony when the aliens simultaneously attack your shuttle and the Marathon. You manage to get into an escape pod, and arrive at the Marathon about a half an hour after the Alien attack has begun.
Armed only with a pistol, and guided by Leela, one of the shipboard Artificial Intelligences, you are the last chance to save the Marathon and the colony from the attacking aliens.
***
Moving, Looking up and down, and Running
Use the cursor keys to move around. The turning keys don't actually move you, but instead pivot you. The forwards and backwards keys move you, and if the run key is simultaneously held down with a movement key, the corresponding movement is faster.
The dodge keys move you sideways to your view. This is very useful for dodging projectiles. It would be to your benefit to learn how to dodge successfully.
As you look up and down, your weapon will also point in that direction. As you move, your view will shift toward horizontal. The Look Ahead key will automatically return your view to horizontal.
Everything you see is automatically mapped for you. To access this map, press 'M'. Notice that time has not stopped or slowed down, and that you can explore while looking at the map.
Terminals and pattern buffers are twice as wide as switches. The pattern buffer has a red light on one side and an icon of a human on the other. Use the tab key to activate a pattern buffer, computer terminal or switch. The pattern buffer allows you to save games.
After you activate a computer terminal, the screen interface will display the terminal's text, and any map references made in the terminal. Note that some computer terminals activate teleport pads. Use the 'ESCAPE' key to abort a teleport terminal.
Some of the messages you get are from the different computers aboard the Marathon, some are log entries left by inhabitants of the Marathon, and some are just garbage, spewing out from the digital geysers created by the Alien compilers.
Switches are activated in the same way as terminals, but they usually change some physical condition aboard the Marathon. For example, a switch might activate a platform or a door.
Select a weapon using the KP7 and KP9 keys. You start with only the pistol and your fist. When you collect more weapons, it becomes increasingly important to remember how much ammunition you have for each weapon. Some weapons are better against certain aliens than others. You should experiment. After a weapon is emptied or discharged, it will automatically reload if you have ammunition for it.
As you explore, you will find weapons, ammo and other useful items. To pick them up, simply walk over them.
Some doors work when you activate them with the TAB key. Others are controlled by switches, and some are very mysterious and are controlled by the higher powers of the universe. If a door doesn't open with the activate key, try looking around for a switch. Some doors just may never open.
The health bar on the left of the interface keeps track of the shield status of your battle armor. If you are hit when your armor is zero or if your armor goes below zero, then your body is rent in twain, and you die. Try to prevent this from happening. In the unfortunate event that death does occur you will be allowed to return to the place where you last saved the game. If you are close to death and need to power up your shields, look for a shield recharge station.
HINTS:
TROUBLE-SHOOTING:
Q: Marathon won't let me select thousands of colors, music, or stereo sound (or any combination of the above).
A: Make sure that you have the correct files in your system extensions (see sound requirements above). If that is set up correctly then try giving Marathon more memory.
Q: I can't select the gather and join dialog boxes. What is wrong? If I don't play network Marathon, my head will explode!!!
A: Try these things. Make sure you're on an appletalk or ethernet network. Make sure that there isn't already a game going on. (Did they start without you? All the more reason to kill them next game.) Finally, give Marathon more memory.
Q: Why does the demo end at level 3? I want more carnage.
A: The demo has only three levels. We know it was cruel, but if you want to play more, you need to buy the game.
Q: Why am I reading this?
A: 1. You have played the demo 35 times and you're looking for a hint so that you can find something new.
2. Actually you're not real and right now, you're inside a computer game, where someone else is directing your actions and wearing a virtual reality body suit. That other person is now making you read this instead of playing the Marathon demo for the 36th time...