Marathon 2: Durandal cover art
Practiced Masteryretro FPS

Marathon 2: Durandal

Bungie's story-rich 1995 shooter of alien war and AI-narrated terminals.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION5 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    5/10

    Dual-wielded gunplay against alien hordes

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    Pfhor AI follows fixed behaviours

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    2/10

    Terminal-driven levels surprise once

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    6/10

    Ammo scarcity and route puzzles reward planning

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

Game details

Released
1995
Developer
Bungie
Franchise
Marathon
Platforms
PC, iOS, Mac, X360
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
IGDB critics
60/100
IGDB users
66/100
ShooterActionScience fiction