Marathon Aeon by Dugit

When you first play Aeon you'll experience a new kind of world where things are tight and crazy. I do enjoy Aeon but the first level is cramped and compact, also quite unorganized. I do have to say, it ain't broke. It just isn't the best either.

Overall great map, but just pointing out that in case you didn't know, on the level "Vae Victis" one of the computer terminals does not seem to work correctly

I've been a little late about getting a review for this and playing the lattest beta version. Taking time off of replaying Rubicon X, I downloaded the most recent version to Aeon to see if this was any good.

First of all, I would like to thank Dugit for putting music to his scenario. I've played way to many maps that did not have any music. I perfer music over background sound. The music selection was interesting. I's a nice change from the original and remixes of the Marathon soundtrack.

Next thing to cover is the difficulty. Before I got my chance to play the beta, I thought to myself that this was going to be an easy one. Boy, was I wrong about that. Theres enough old and new difficult enemies to pack a starship! It explains why theres so much ammo everywhere. I'd hate to be the one that trys playing this on Total Carnage. The enforcers, upgraded cyborgs, better aiming troopers, and S'pht are already a pain in the neck on normal (not that I can't handle'em). They may be as colorful as a clown, but they're as nasty as barney on steroids!

The mapping and texturing in the beta was amazing! I saw so many curves that I wished I knew how to do that. Spaceships were cool, the planet areas incredibley spacious, the shading very realistic, and so many other surprises. I'm kinda surprised that this is only a beta.

The alien weapon was pretty cool as blue. I not sure which one is better: the original purple, or the new Aeon blue.

The whole story, I didn't really pay attention to. It may have helped to read the terminals, because when I got to the latter section of the beta, I got really confused. At first, Bob is your friend and the Pfhor, of course, is your enemy. It's what everyone expects. Then, this Jjaro symbol dude beams me off a level and I lose all my weapons. After running through a map without anyone around, I get to the next level, only to find out that BoB is not a friend, and there are some grayish versions of Pfhor and BoB that are apparently my friends (ugh...). Jumping through the levels with the level start cheat (kept dying from BoB and the S'pht Kr on the first level when they aren't friendly), I now get BoB back as an ally, and now both the Pfhor and gray copies are enemies. But thats not all! Now theres Durandal on the side!

Over all (I'm going to HAVE to replay this and read the computers next time) this is a great scenario. It's very unique from other ones. Everybody that hasn't checked this beta out, should. It's a good one.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to my starship. I still have several scenarios to play (some to replay), A1 tools that one day will be downloaded and there manuals read, and I think I see Irons over there. I don't think that rocket launcher he has is a gift. I may have a SBR-23, but Irons can probley plant those rockets on the ground quicker than I can get his head in my sights.

Five stars.

Having rattled through Rubicon, Eternal and Phoenix a number of times over- having done the same with the Aeon public beta 1.0 a few months a go- I decided to have a go at it again. Frankly, I'm astounded as to how far the learning curve on this scenario has progressed.

Earlier levels from Our Lives a Mimicry to Rise and Fall of Dugit (bar Eternal Lucid Dream) have amazing attention to detail, but the texturing is still a little sloppy. It's good to see that for Asphodel and onwards, this has been rectified.

I'm not a particular fan of being given everything at the offset, but it's good to see that we're given a choice between pure carnage and more structured fights in the divergent chapters. My favorite, personally so far, is Venom.

By levels, however, I need to be a little more consice. Levels like Vae Victis/Command, Frameshift, and Lapsus are some of the best levels I've seen in a long time.

Keep up the good work. I'm still waiting on 1.9 :)

As someone who cut their marathon teeth on 3rd party scenarios like Siege of Nor Korph, Evil, Tempus Irae, Rubicon etc I'm very intolerant of maps where not enough thought and effort is put into lighting and making maps "feel" right. This is a scenario where the attention to detail really shows through. I took my time wandering around just enjoying the views (once I'd survived the great battles!). There are really only 2 things I'd suggest that stop me rating this scenario a 5 to of 5 (and perhaps these things will be rectified by the time the finished version is released).

1. Don't give the player so many weapons so early in the game. One of the things that made a scenario like "Evil" truly great was the weapons and ammo were handed out very sparingly and you often had to back up and play through sections again making more effort to conserve it as you would run out. Having to make do with a magnum for a while makes you REALLY appreciate it when you finally get a a shotgun or something. I would say there needs to be less health packs also and make some longer sections without save terms. Makes it harder but so much more rewarding.
2. (and this is critical to make this a truly 5 star scenario) It needs an art director. The menu, chapter screens and terminal art just aren't up to the quality of the maps. Great scenarios always have a great mapmaker and a great art director, not usually the same person! Other than these issues this is first class stuff and I haven't enjoyed playing a scenario this much since Rubicon (which this reminds me a little of). Great work!

Very nicely done. Gameplay is excellent. Though this was said before, i really enjoy the chaotic crossfire between allies and enemies, and being ambushed in tight spaces. Ammo is plentiful, but not too plentiful.

Architecturally, also very well done. The wide vistas, in particular, are a nice touch. A lot of mappers aren't very good about giving the player a good sense of the immensity of a particular space station or facility. Eternal Lucid Dream, with the lookout stations jutting out from the cliff face, did this particularly well. The stone areas, and the water pools/streams especially, look awesome. You've done some great things insofar as taking advantage of Aleph One's lack of geometry and viewing distance limitations.

Two minor things annoyed me a bit:

(1) Too many inoperable doors. Several times i found myself wandering around maps in circles long after i had already killed everything, searching for which door a particular switch opened, and being frustrated by the number of doors that were permanently inoperable.

(2) Too many texture sets. i believe this was mentioned earlier, in an earlier release, but while i see what you're trying to do with the variation in stone textures, at times it looks gaudy, particularly where you've added textures from the Pfhor set to the mix. It's difficult to appropriate this set in other environments, and i've very rarely seen it done successfully.

This almost seems like a complete senario. The level design is nice and makes it worth while to look around and not move on for a bit. I though they were very creative and non-straight forward, i like that. One thing though is that the alien weapon in hand is not blue. Overall this is very good and i would recomend it. I think the full version will turn out great.

I personally, think it is pretty amazing. The ammo and health packs were abundant, but the way the gameplay was, you needed most of it. I did find one HOM on "The Asphodel Meadows (III)" where one part of the water was not textured, but it is a Beta and there will be mistakes, glitches, etc. Overall, It is definitely something all Marathoners should play. The abundance in enemies and allies made it feel like a realistic, albeit chaotic battlefield. This scenario is something I am looking forward to.