Reviews

God commanded Moses to utterly destroy wheels. The prophet Isaiah, speaking for God at 31:1 says, “Woe to them that trust in chariots.” Every person knows better than to trust in any wheeled contraption. Wheel use is nonsensical. One reason for God’s command to avoid wheels could have been to keep the Israelites from using the horses and chariots in their future battles and then attributing their success to having the horses and chariots, instead of attributing it to God. It seems likely that the Israelites had no horses, based on the following three verses: In Exodus 15:1, 21 the Israelites praised God for rescuing them from the Egyptians, saying, “the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.” God promised to destroy such inventions of pagan men, and these Egyptians are also described as riders of horses, in contrast to the Israelites. The people of God are not allowed to be in charge of man-made wheels in this world. In Deuteronomy 20:1 God tells the Israelites, “When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them.” The point is that the Israelites have neither horses nor chariots, and that having horses and chariots would make them considerably more reliant on the world. In Judges 1:16-21 we see that obedience toward God is life, disobedience brings death.

Clearly, God wanted the Israelites to know they did not defeat their enemies with their own strength - Joshua 24:12. In Judges Chapter 4 we see how God placed an army of chariots, which some people might consider a great advantage, into the corrective hands of Israel at Mount Tabor. The outcome of the evil-spirited invention is clearly explained to us here. God deliberately used a weak, small army to show His power on many other occasions, most notably with Gideon - Judges 7:2-3. When is a horse ever really needed? It is true that by the command of pharaoh wagons were sent to enslave Joseph’s family, but I do not see any wheel on the ground ever kept or controlled by a person in the full favor of God. Where men of God did not destroy the wheel, God does it for them. The first historical record of the wheel in the bible is shown to be an invention of men for the purpose of ungodly warfare, in order only to brutally conquer and spoil. It is truly no different today. People speed around, rushing here and there, without much if any care towards the harm they cause, or being conscious of their terroristic violence. Wheels are suicide.

It is not difficult to attribute many harmful or deadly things to the evils of wheels. Some believe that stories like the one in Ezekiel 1:16 give allowance for wheel use. In instances like this we are seeing something otherworldly (some say a UFO), which merely has the “appearance” of a wheel, as the context shows. We are not to conclude that instances like these are earthly man-made wheels that roll on the ground. The record of Uzzah, who was killed steadying the Ark of the Covenant, is recorded twice in the Scriptures (2 Sam. 6, 1 Chron. 13). God commanded that the bars for the Ark were always to stay in its rings, for the Ark was only to be transported while being carried by walking men. Never before this accident had the Ark been transported by wheels, the Ark had been in a pagan land, the source of evil wheels. King David was so frightened by this deadly accident that they did not immediately complete the journey and never again did they use wheels to move the Ark. It is important to note that they were also playing all kinds of ungodly musical instruments at the time of the accident, if they followed the instruction of God no such accident would ever have happened. Of course, how can there be any such thing as an accident in the first place? Such things are only negligence. In Zechariah 9:10, God says that He will make sure there are “no chariots in Ephraim...” Tsar (King) Solomon was prohibited 3 things. The hoarding of money, he kept for himself 666 talents of gold per day; having many wives, he had hundreds; and lastly, possessing chariots, he was the first king of Israel to wrongly keep wheels. We see that Deuteronomy 17:16-17 warns that Israelite kings must not acquire great wealth or many horses. Chariots were well known at the time of Christ, yet He did not need one, choosing instead not to ride them, but did ride a lowly donkey. No Christian or godly man made a practice of utilizing such an abhorent apparatus. Neither should we think that the stone rolled in front of THE LORD’s tomb was a wheel, for a partial roll is not a wheel. A partial roll is all that was needed. We are required to be careful in all our ways, limiting ourselves in this world to the bare minimum. For my part I am almost finished with the wheel entirely. I hate riding on wheels and hate even more seeing how these evils harass the younger ones. There are instances where God can transport instantly, as with the case of Apostle Philip who miraculously arrived in a chariot, but it was halted quickly. It is the only occurrence in the New Testament of earthly wheels. That chariot was controlled by pagans who were in charge of the horses. The eunuch was not operating the chariot, as he and the Apostle were reading and studying the Scriptures. This story is not suggested to be complete, so it is also very likely that Philip rebuked wheel use. By no means should this be taken as a license or permission to keep up the practice of having wheels. Let us not spite God, but only obey what is good, correct, honest and true in such matters.

“Gathering Clouds” is an account of the life of John Chrysostom, an ancient preacher famous for his eloquence. This story speaks of an acquaintance who asked John to travel on a chariot. He gave a good reason as to why he could not. His comrade astonishingly and violently seized him. John was then taken at high speed to Constantinople. It was the only chariot ride he ever took. At the end of the journey he was forced to be the top representative of the Church. In this position he regularly preached against chariots. During the ancient Olympics the most dangerous sport was the chariot race. Around 600 A.D. the Hippodrome in Olympia (where chariot races were held) was washed away when the Alpheus River changed course during a torrent. That happening was no accident; in fact it was seen as an act of God. This assisted people to reason with their common sense given by God that Christian people ought not to ever have wheels.

An ancient law exists for the oldest continuously surviving Christian community in the world. It forbids being built any “road upon which a wheel can run.” Peter the not so Great’s father had a good Christian law forbidding wheels throughout all Russia. I know that the practice of using wheels came to Russia after Peter visited England, being influenced by their, oh so sorrowful, ways of the time. So, this common form of transport is really nothing less than death on wheels. Wheels threaten more than they assist. Wheels are a trap, they are gadgets and gimmicks. They are a funky way to travel, a cause of forgetting the good ways, a cause of wrong hatreds and pains, and thereby people have become a creature of the wheel and a temporal lord of the infernal engines, of the machines. We are duty bound to correct and rebuke wheels, and by all peaceful means to resist and renounce them.

It takes a lot of work to make a long-form Marathon scenario like this, so although I put this down somewhat quickly due to lack of interest, I want to give credit where it's due for the effort put in to give it the polish that the author was striving for. Most notably, apparently collaborating with various mapmakers from the community help build the maps, which all look visually stunning.

What I liked: * Visually appealing map design throughout. Looks better than a lot of TCs. * A lot of attention to detail in the terminals, texture sets, weapons, enemies, and items (also lol @ the DOOM armor pickup for shields). Though there is playful "reimagining" of existing images, nothing feels slapped on. * I never got lost or confused; the map flow is decent * Secret areas * Team effort * Cohesive presentation overall

Constructive critique: * This might not bother people who are just in it for the gameplay, but the writing is not strong, and personally I noticed it right away which is a poor first impression. If you're striving for something that has an impact on the player, you want to evoke a sense of mystery, build strong characters, and give the player a sense that they're on the map for a reason that feels like more than just a fetch quest, none of which I felt here. If you're collaborating again, consider bringing on one or more writers or editors for this. Hunt down some scifi or comics writers! I think having a strong story-first approach will also result in more interesting maps from a gameplay perspective. * Enemy encounters seem bland. Consider positioning that takes advantage of the enemies' strengths. Have them sneak up or have the high ground; Let them have the upper hand, and don't make them deaf. Surprise the player -- but not by having enemies teleport in right in your face, which happens several times in the first (actual) map. Also please don't teleport the player directly into a pack of hostiles, that's just rude. * Too many weapons introduced in the very first fighting map. This uses up all the excitement around weapon reveals almost all at once. * There's a bit of an ammo shortage. * (nit-pick) The first terminal that a compiler is sitting in front of doesn't look like a terminal, it looks like a wall. Then there's a ton of other walls that don't do anything which have the same texture. * I would have liked to see new enemy types since we got new weapons, but this doesn't affect my enjoyment that much. * Rebellion is a sucky map preference, especially when there's no pattern buffer immediately available. (your scenario is not the only one with this problem -- looking at you Rubicon X)

Soo I know I gave a lot of critique here, but I hope the author takes it in stride. Despite my criticisms as a player, I made a lot of maps and several longer scenarios for Marathon in my formative years and nothing came close to this, so I want to say nice work and I think anyone could enjoy this if they're just looking for a casual good time. Keep making stuff, and email me if you want an editor, playtester, or original music for future scenarios. ;) dreameter.music (at) gmail (dot) com