Marathon RED

From Traxus

Marathon RED is a total conversion for Marathon Infinity which is known for its distinctive art style, advanced special effects, extreme difficulty, and dark storyline.

Contents 1 Story 2 Weapons 3 Volunteers series 4 Unreleased content 5 Related works 5.1 RED 1.1 6 References

Story

Weapons

RED includes a full arsenal of original weapons, with only the player character's fists and the WSTE-M Combat Shotgun unmodified from Infinity. RED's official website expands on the in-game story text with descriptions of how the new weapons work (in the context of the game's world).

• The .33 Mercury Pistol is a small, handheld machine pistol that fires like an Uzi. It has a 90-round round which is able to empty in about 6 seconds. This weapon can be compared to the Assault Rifle in terms of damage; in addition, it is a lot more accurate than even the KKV-7 Fletchette featured in Marathon Infinity. It has virtually no recoil.
• The DS Microwave is essentially a smaller version of the old TOZT, with slightly shorter range. By using the secondary trigger, you can launch the gas tank inside this weapon, which will explode with the ability to clear out an area of enemies. The launched gas tank may bounce once or twice before detonating.
• The Conch Miner's primary function is a beam of energy, which is devastating to machinery (like the fusion pistol). However, it has a medium range, and may not be able to reach enemies on sniper ledges. Warning, if fired into a wall at point-blank range, you will receive damage. Under no circumstances should this weapon be fired under liquid, as it will cause instant death. The secondary function is dropping a mine where you stand, which will not be triggered by you, but by approaching enemies as they step over the mine.
• The Version 3 Pulse Rifle rapidly fires uranium slugs in bursts of 2, and is suited to fighting tough monsters at close range; however, it's difficult to target smaller monsters with it. It's the only long-range weapon in the scenario that can fire underwater. The human Marines in the game carry this weapon, and drop ammo for it with killed.
• The Omega Cannon has a slow rate of fire, with four shots per clip. It also carries a large recoil, which may knock a player into a lower level or liquid. However, it can kill most anything it comes in contact with.
• The Fusion Mace is essentially regular mace wrapped in an energy shield. This melee weapon also has a charge feature not unlike the fusion pistols'. After charging, the mace does about 10x more damage.
• The RV-ST RPG is basically a hand-held rocket launcher in the form of a glove. It can reload in just four seconds, and carries 4 rockets. This is a good weapon to get out of a tight spot.

Volunteers series

From March 25 to April 21 in 2004, Mark Levin made a series of posts on Marathon's Story Forum under the title "RED Volunteers", writing a walkthrough and some discussion and analysis for each level of the scenario. See RED Volunteers for details.

Unreleased content

In the game's credit terminal, McConville wrote that he'd release an additional map pack soon.^{[citation needed]} One fan has promised to eat a pair of pants if this happens.^[1]

A full-fledged sequel was planned at one point.^{[citation needed]}

McConville also created "a series of shape and physics files that allowed the player to be any of the enemies in RED"^[2]. In 2004, Mark Levin mentioned having a copy of them^[3], but as of 2008 they haven't been released to the public.

Related works

A total of five RED-based network map packs by independent authors were submitted to Bungie.org following RED's release: 5ive Alive by n8; Purple Torch, Meerkat Wrecknophobe and Jerkcity by oogaBooga; and the single-level Space Mutiny by Phil Walk.

RED 1.1

During the RED Volunteers project, Levin decided to create a revised version of RED to address some of the more easily fixed bugs and playability issues in the scenario. McConville posted his approval^[2], and Levin began posting a series of threads inviting feedback on various details of the project.

On 2004 August 6, Levin released RED 1.1 Beta 1. However, a bug in 1.1 makes the second half of the game even harder than the original version.^[4] As of 2008, no fix for this has been released.

The idea for RED 1.1 was apparently first suggested by Blayne Scott^[5], although it may have been privately in planning earlier than that.

References

1. ↑ Forum post by User:Andrew Nagy, 2003 October 14
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "Re: RED volunteers: Should we make version1.1", posted by McConville, 2004 April 18
3. ↑ Forum post by Levin, 2004 April 18
4. ↑ http://forums.bungie.org/story/?read=33615
5. ↑ http://forums.bungie.org/story/?read=28783