: Am I the only one who looks at other games and sees Marathon in a new shell?
: Specifically Marathon 2. When I played through Half Life for the first
: time, I noticed a lot of "similarities". For example, your
: captured halfway through and lose all your weapons; a fusion gun with the
: ability to charge up and overload; aliens and humans, and BOBs in the
: guise of security guards (who fight back if you shoot too many); you go
: onto the alien ship at the end. Im positive theres more, but its been a
: very long time since I played through either HL or M2. But the real one
: for me is System Shock 2 (I havent played SS1 so I dont know what the deal
: with that is). SS2: Rampant computer Shodan, who uses you at her
: convenience, and then we have the enemy collective mind (The Many), who
: constantly tell you your fight is futile, and to join them, but attack you
: anyway. Sounds a bit like Tycho doesnt it? She hides behind the guise of
: Doctor Polito for some of the game- remind you of Durandal and Blake?
: There is another AI's present, Xerxes, who is on the enemies side, but who
: only does this after he sees they are winning (Thoth?). Your on a
: spaceship which has been taken over (a la M1), and whose crew are all dead
: or being turned into hosts for the enemy (Did something like this happen
: in M1? I havent played M1 or M Infinity so Im not totally clued up).
: Or am I just grasping at straws, having been corrupted by the Marathon
: influence?
Nope. It's just that these are common themes in sci fi. Authors, game developers, etc all use and re-use them.
Stan Lee's book "The Alien Factor" has nothing to do with PID other than it uses a 'crashed alien creature on Earth' theme and Germans looking for it. Pretty similar to the German subplot in PID. Indeed this subplot would make a interesting story in itself. Who gave the Germans the alien pipes and all the info about the pyramid back in 1938?
Cheers
Hamish
