Halo 3... Very, very unimpressive.

[Hoax]

Now I want to play UT....

[sam, an eggplant]

Halo's only real innovation was the shielding system, which meant that you could never be put into a situation where you couldn't continue playing. If you survive the fight, you can continue. No need to worry about health or ammo, since you can pick up enemies' weapons as well.

I'm playing through halo2 vista (I know, I know) and it does look like total dogshit but is a really tight well tuned FPS.

[Velorath]

Halo's success has nothing to do with Marathon. 99% of the people who buy and play Halo have never heard of Marathon. Hell, I've never even played the game. I was still in elementary school, and wouldn't own a PC for another few years.

A little late with this response, Bungie made the Marathon games available as freeware a few years back.  You have no excuse for not playing them.

[Strazos]

The pictures tell me all that I need to know.

Even if it was a good game, my point still stands. 

[Hayduke]

I used to play Marathon in our science labs.  But the truth is it wasn't really anything special.  Marathon, like Halo, was just blessed to be a decent FPS on a platform with no competition when it came out.