Took me hostage for a good four days
In Tempus Irae you play the role of a heavily armed Vitruvian Man helping Leonardo da Vinci track down his missing tax receipts while 3 eyed Italians attempt to swat you with brooms. (Description generated by AI).
Seriously though, the original Tempus Irae is one of the seminal works in the world of Marathon scenarios, Nardo threw down the gauntlet in a big way, back when we were all just learning how. This update is a beautiful and faithful modernisation of that brilliant work. It's absolutely worth experiencing once more, or for the first time.
soliciting reviews: minus one star
omitting my review from the promised total carnage readthrough: minus one star
purging my review from simplici7y along with the entire nefx historical record: minus one star
reducing simplici7y to a splash page for the internet archive: minus one star
those loved by nefx today, beware
it was not ever
it will not always
i downloaded ale phone jp just to play it
I can honestly totally understand the negative reviews, but this scenario absolutely BLEW MY MIND with its plot, labyrinthine design and overall mysteriousness when I was roughly age 12. It is indeed VERY hard, and I'm honestly amazed it was so difficult to find where to go even though I've played it before and I'm 2 decades older now. Though it can be frustrating, in my opinion it is off the charts creatively and truly incorporates design choices I've never seen elsewhere, many devices I'd never have even considered despite developing for Marathon for my entire lifetime. To respond to what others have said - no, A1 didn't break the scenario, it already had its very inconvenient, unforgiving style and very difficult battles.
I really appreciate this! It worked first try, and this game is one of my all time nostalgic favs.
I like the idea! Got a chuckle looking at the Shapes in ShapesFusion.
Unfortunately, I kept getting 'Out of RAM' errors whenever trying to run a map with this Shapes. So I didn't really experience the joy in-game. :(
Very Good Demo.
After finishing KTA4 and Phoenix I had to stuff my face with some more Ryoko maps and this came in clutch. This scenario uses no AR and has pretty unorthodox progression. Not as convoluted as the other reviews say, methinks. Also has a lot of funny references to Rubicon so maybe you might want to play this after you've played that first
Highlights Marathon Infinity's weapon balance and enemy design. No reason not to play this if you're at all a fan of Marathon combat.
If I have a particular complaint, it is that the health/oxygen bars have a strange clipping at their edges (even and most notably when they are full). Although, I wonder if this is at all fixable...
EDIT: setting the size to Normal slightly mitigates the issue, but is no fix.
Beautiful sprites and mapping. Nice combat on TC. Weapons that feel straight out of Unreal Tournament in the best possible way. Can feel quite different from regular Marathon at times, but perhaps that is more to its credit than anything else.
Arcadey feel combined with the long breaths typical of Marathon campaigns, combat polished to an absolute fault and with its own identity, plain old good mapping and a satisfying arsenal. Everything garnished with a fairly good story that explains various new gameplay elements in an immersive way and provides awesome setpieces to play through, as well as great balance even and especially on Total Carnage. I see very little reason not to treat yourself to this scenario if you are able to.
i've been waiting for this ever since DOUCHEMAPS dropped
I played these levels long ago and playing them again was enjoyable. I like the details, architecture, and the clever designs. These levels are not easy but require thought before running in. I found the replaying these levels to be good. I hope you can design more. This package is well worth playing. It certainly captures the marathon flavor and action.
M2SE, you've been with us for many years, but it's time to retire. Now we have a whole new soundtrack now. I love how well the music fits with the levels and how some of the songs are remixes from M2SE as a little reference. This IS the M2 official soundtrack and nobody can tell me otherwise!
A fun romp. I really liked the 3rd level as it was a difficult, clever, level. Overall, very good.
I enjoyed playing this scenario demo. Worked well. Really nice detail and a clever layout with good complexity.
I just finished the 3 levels in this demo and so far it looks really good! I love all of the changes that was put into these levels and it makes it fun and refreshing to run through.
I can't wait to see more of this project.
1. Ribbons. This level was I guess supposed to be a stealth level. You start with no weapons and only a little health. There are no health rechargers or health canisters anywhere in the level, so you die in one hit! This made it the hardest level of the campaign. I just don’t understand where the stealth aspect was supposed to take effect. Enemy triggers seemed to be normal, it didn’t really seem to be possible to sneak past anyone without being detected. There are also two simulacrum Bobs next to some precious ammo. These enemy Bobs have lots of extra health, and while the terminals do warn you about them, it’s quite easy to blunder into them by accident and be instantly killed. Much of the level consisted of wandering around in underwater areas trying to figure out where to go, including one particularly nasty underwater area (“pump station”) with instant-kill platforms. This was my least favorite map of the campaign.
2. Satellite of love. Lack of ammo remains a problem, but at least now we have health rechargers! There’s some good combat, and I liked the circular architecture, which was appropriate for a satellite. Differential shading for this level was great, and helped accentuate the Jjaro tileset. The end has a bizarre gauntlet where you have to run past an un-killable fusion turret in order to hit a switch, which then disables the turret and allows you to proceed.
3. Harpooning. The ammo shortage has been resolved. There is a spectacular 5D space. Basically, there is a portal that starts out closed; it’s basically just a wall in the middle of nowhere. When you activate it, you can step through the “wall” to a whole new area. It’s really creative, and one of the best uses of the 5D space I’ve seen.
4. Melted Wires. Your goal is to activate an engine core that will turn on another 5D portal. There are several battles pitting Bobs vs. Pfhor, but both sides turn out to have a ton of reinforcements so player participation in these fights is actually just going to waste your small supply of ammo. In order to reach the engine core some difficult jumps across a lava lake must be made. The core itself features a decent platforming puzzle.
5. The Rift. Despite being the last level, it features the easiest combat. This is because you’ve got lots of ammo and easy access to health rechargers. Also, there are a lot of enforcers on this level, and they are hostile to the rest of the Pfhor, so enemy infighting is going to significantly thin out the ranks of the opposition. The campaign is unfinished (many of the terminals are missing pictures) but overall Marathon C might be worth your time if you want to see some examples of differential shading done right and some really cool 5D space.