Personally, what does it for me, other than all the reasons mentioned before, is the sheer and unadultrated CARNAGE. ;-)
Level #33 (AKA one of the Vidmaster Challenge...hell, all of the Vidmaster's Challenge) is just pure joy to play. The one level clearly demonstrates how frickin' deadly the WSTE is, the third demo's that the flechette isn't useless, it's actually pretty cool. And, there's something to be said about a arena filled with enemies blasting grenades all across the room. The new, fancy-pancy shooters, which are supposed to be all "nasty" and "ultra-violent", they don't even come close to the level of carnage that Marathon showed.
...
Can you imagine what this level's going to be like if there was a Resurrection port of it later on after the original Marathon's done? It would be sick! (Although, I dn'oh if the UT engine can handle the carnage...)
: I'm sure someone has expressed the same kind of inquiry
: of this phenomenom. Was it the story? The creepy
: aliens? The ambient sounds? The flame thrower? The
: puzzles? The multiplay? WHAT?!! :)
: This game will forever be a memory filled with deep
: fondness for me. I loved Unreal and Half-Life, but the
: only other fps that almost came close to giving me
: that Marathon feel was Jedi Knight.
: As much as I really enjoyed Unreal and got scared as hell
: in Half-Life they still didn't give you that sense of
: realism or immersiveness that Marathon did, I think. I
: think the story was so strong that you almost imagined
: it to be really happening in some far off distant
: system. Am I on drugs? Probably. I thought Jedi Knight
: was another very gripping fps.
: I've often wondered how Marathon would translate on the
: big screen. Then I thought, forget it, they'd probably
: just skrew it all up and add the typical, romance,car
: chase,exploding crap all over, and cheesy lines.
: Anyway I'm rambling. But dam if that game still
: doesn't give me pangs of nostalgia.*sigh*