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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : Welcome to the first edition of our Tour of Duty series. I will start us off : with the first level of M1A1, named, suitingly, ' Arrival '. Now, in : earlier versions of M1A1, Arrival began with a small area that looks a : great deal like the Ground Floor of Pathways into Darkness. However, I : will ignore this intro for the current edition, seeing as it has been : removed from recent versions of Aleph One and it has little to do with the : level itself. : When we start the level, we're in the back of a small offshoot of a corridor. : It's not terribly dark, but it is dim. If we turn around and look behind : ourselves, we'll notice that we're backed up against a door. When we try : opening it, however, it acts as though it is locked. Based on the events : which transpire in the Marathon Manual , we can assume this door would : lead into Hangar 7A. Careful analysis of the map (most easily performed : with a map editor like Weland or Pfhorge), however, reveals that the door : is angled off away from the Hangar in such a way that it couldn't possibly : be connected to it. So where does it lead? Did something happen in between : the events of the Manual and the beginning of the level? Did we have to : perform a brief space walk in our armor? Who knows. : I find our first encounter with the aliens to have rather odd positioning. : After all, most new players would still be trying to get their bearings on : the controls when all of a sudden Pfhor Fighters come jaunting up from : both sides. It would kinda freak you, though, to hear the chittering of : the aliens from both sides in the middle of a poorly-lit hallway. Creepy! : Anyways, it isn't really that hard to deal with these guys. A bit of : punching should do the trick. The first terminal is kinda boring. In fact, : at this point, you're probably expecting Doom all over again (in other : words, no plot-line, just 'kill the aliens/monsters'). The rest of the : level is a fair bit more interesting. Indeed, at one point, you find a : window that you can see the Pfhor ship through. You'd normally just hurry : past without a second thought, readying your fists for some more : knuckle-splitting action. But when you do happen to find it, without any : explanation as to what it is, your mind is probably going to overload with : questions. 'What is that thing?' 'Is it dangerous?' 'Why do my bullets : pass through windows into the vacuum of outer space without any : explanation?' Er, no comment on that last one. ;) : You might be forgiven for not getting confused by how different the Compilers : are from the Fighters, but it is interesting to note that Leela doesn't : give us any description of what the "alien creatures that are capable : of interfacing with the Marathon's systems" look like on the last : terminal. She just says, and I quote, : "I have learned that there is an Alien creature that is capable of : interfacing with our systems. You must kill any of these creatures that : you find. It is a priority that we stop them. Even now, they are : penetrating my defenses." - Arrival , Terminal 4 : At this point, how are we supposed to know the orange robed guys are the ones : she's referring to? We can only guess based on how often the Compilers : seem to be located near a terminal. Indeed, a lot of people probably : thought we'd encounter a new enemy in the next level, only to encounter an : increased number of Compilers. I guess Leela wasn't in a very helpful : mood, eh? : It's interesting to note that, hidden inside the secret ammo cache (located : above the pit with all the Orange Fighters in it), there is a Napalm : Canister and some SPNKr ammo. This isn't the last time we'll encounter : something like this, though. Indeed, the trend carries into the first : level of Marathon Infinity, Ne Cede Malis . But I digress. : The music for the level is chosen pretty well, even if I don't necessarily : enjoy the song by itself. Interestingly, it would probably fit better on : a darker level. I say this because Arrival isn't necessarily dark. The : cramped rooms and hallways result in the area being lit up more by our : flashlight, and the lights in the more open areas are generally more dim, : rather than truly dark. What's more, the 'fog' on this level is blue, : making it less disturbed and more just plain melancholy. On the other : hand, I felt truly creeped out on the level ' Try Again ', which has the : same music, darker rooms, more open spaces, and red/orange fog. : On that note of being creeped out by red fog, I shall end the first edition : of Tour of Duty. On the upcoming edition, I'll discuss the next level, ' : Bigger Guns Nearby '. Tour of Duty is more directed at engaging the : community than voicing my own opinion, of course, so I will ask you all : various questions. : How did you like this first edition? What do you think I could improve on for : next time? What do you like or not like about this level? : P.S. - If you have a question you'd like to ask or a thought you'd like to : express (so long as it is related to the current topic), please feel free : to do so on this thread. : Cheers, : Perseus
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