The SSM missile launcher in Marathon 2 packs quite a wallop; be sure to stay clear of targets to avoid splash damage. A similar weapon existed in the original Marathon game, but blocked considerably more of the player's field of vision, rendering it a bit less useful.

Marathon 2 was the first game in the series to feature underwater environments. Here the player is faced by a pair of flying security drones and a pair of the reptilian Flick'ta, indiginous to the swampy areas of the S'pht homeworld.

Not all BOBs are what they seem. In an attempt to confuse the player, some levels featured "simulacrums" that looked like BOBs, but were in fact a kind of proximity mine. Note the rather unnatural-looking yellow blood coming from the BOB on the far right. Marathon 2 used this feature, but it was present in the original game as well.

It should be noted that unlike other weapons, the Zeus Class Fusion Pistol will fire while underwater, but it will damage the player while doing so.

The moment where the Master Chief wielded two rifles in the E3 2003 realtime demo got a rousing cheer from the audience, but the Marathon cyborg did it first. Here, in Marathon 2:Durandal, we we see him fending off Hunters and Phfor Elite with dual shotguns, a very powerful combination.

Like the shotgun, the pistol could also be used in pairs, either firing simultaneously or alternately. The pistol in Marathon 2, in addition to getting a new model, seemed like a far more effective weapon than the original. Here the player tags one of the wheelchair-like Cyborgs in the shoulder.

Here a player prepares to turn the flamethrower on a pair of Hulks and some Pfhor fighters.

A pair of security drones sidle up behind a pair of Phfor Elites. Gee, where have we heard that term before? Elites carry a particularly deadly "alien weapon" which the player could pick up from dead Phfor. Like the plasma pistols and rifles carried by Covenant units in Halo, it was an energy weapon which could not be recharged.

One of the more visually imposing, if not actually the most dangerous, enemies in the Marathon series were the Hulks, also known as Drinniol. In terms of size and shape there is more than a passing similarity to Hunters, although the Marathon series featured another enemy by that name with entirely different features.

The rocket launcher from the original Marathon. Note that almost the entire lower left portion of the screen is obscured.

The Marathon games, like Myth and Halo after it, prominently featured cooperative play. With an ethernet network, players on different computers could play through the full story campaign of the Marathon games together, something I once convinced my siblings to do, straight through, over a single weekend.

The alt-fire of the assault rifle in Marathon was a grenade launcher. The Vidmaster's Oath required players to use grenades whenever possible.