Up until a few weeks ago, I had avoided playing Marathon RED for one simple reason. Based mostly on reports from players that I knew had already played the scenario, I assumed the scenario was too difficult to play except on the easier of the five difficulty settings. Since I play only on Total Carnage (Death Wish in RED) and I figured that RED was probably next to impossible on this setting, I decided that the scenario was not worth my time. It turns out that I was very, very wrong.
The temptation to play RED had always been there, but in the last two weeks became so strong, that I could resist no longer. I first played the entire scenario on Kindergarten (Easy in RED). This actually turned out to not be very difficult at all. It WAS quite challenging on this setting in several places, but in the end didn't pose too much of a problem.
Having completed it on Kindergarten, I decided that I would never be satisfied until I at least TRIED to play it on Total Carnage. I wish I could report to everyone that I completed the entire scenario on this setting, but unfortunately there were several levels that I could not quite complete without dropping back to an easier setting. I AM happy to report that I finished all of RED on Total Carnage except for parts of four different levels. Those parts I had to drop back to Normal to complete them.
Of the four levels that I could not complete on Total Carnage, I am pretty sure that those ARE doable on TC. I just did not have the patience to keep trying.
As a result of this experience I would like to retract all the negative things I said about RED and offer a sincere apology to the entire Marathon community, and in particular to Ian McConville, the creator of RED. The scenario truly should rank up there as one of the best scenarios to play.
