I finally finished Devil in a Blue Dress, which is probably the biggest 3rd party Marathon scenarios out there. Made by the Marathon Map Makers Guild for the original Marathon and then updated for Marathon 2, it's some 20 or so levels which use the same graphics and sounds as the ones in Marathon and Marathon 2. I played the Marathon 2 version, and in general it has a cohesive story and good levels.

For the most part the levels were meant to be a bit longer and harder than the ones in Marathon, and they are. A lot more switches that have to be activated, less ammo to work with, although still enough if you're a fair player. There were two levels I had problems with.

One was an airless multi-level map with no extra ammo (except in a secret bonus room that I happened to find) while bad guys are being added to the map at periodic intervals. Lots of switches, with some that are hidden until other switches are flipped. Elevator and non-elevator shafts with multiple exits that you are going to need to go through to finish the map. You have to use the auto-map, even if it is a big mess with the overlapping levels, it still gives you a clue as to the different exits for the various shafts. You need fairly good 3-d conceptualization skills or you'll do what I did and wander around a lot.

The first time I played DiaBD I totally got lost in this map and gave up in frustration. This time I persevered and carefully explored everywhere. There are partial maps for the level so you can find the switches and this time I took the effort to read the terminals carefully to get the clues I needed to finish the level. The secret room helped, because I was going to run out of ammo, which is happened when I played this map last time. If you can get back to the beginning room, a teleporter is now available which takes you to the secret room. Lots of bad guys, but even more ammo.

The second hard level was also airless, although this time it was actually a non-breathable gas so that all the weapons still work. Once again lots of switches you have to find, lots of hidden doors to get to the different parts of the map. The map also keeps changing depending on how far you've gone: Doors open, can't be opened, sections change, once again a bit of a headache to keep your bearings.

After I got stuck I actually went to the MMMG web site to read the DiaBD FAQ, which gives hints to some of the harder levels. There was a hidden door that I had missed, and once I found it the rest of the level was non-trivial but doable. This was the second to last level, the last level being a relatively simple map, there's only one way to go most of the time. Lots of bad guys, only one recharger halfway through the level, and the last few encounters are in a section of the map where you can't get back to the recharger. I finished the level after a couple of tries with a little bit of health remaining.

This was a fun scenario. I've also looked at the next MMMG scenario, Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge. It's more ambitious, with new graphics, new creatures, new weapons. A time-travelling adventure where you can meet dinosaurs and explore an ancient pyramid. It's built on the Marathon engine though, so although the new graphics are neat, the resolution is not that great and the gameplay is not as fun as the Marathon 2 engine. I didn't play it for more than a few minutes, it was giving me a headache. The Marathon Infinity port will be done soon, so I'll try it again with that.