Note: This refers to the single-player campaign, not the multiplayer.

Durandal has all the makings of a great sequel: improved graphics, a bangin' opening theme, a story richer than the first, and a notch up in difficulty from its predecessor. Where does it falter? Quite a bit, though not enough to ruin the whole experience.

As Durandal leads ex-colonists to the S'pht homeworld, you shoot your way through 28 levels, with twists and turns and psycho AI abound. It's engaging enough, even with a gigantic text dump for an ending. The homeworld looks far better than the first Marathon, with improved graphics and well-done ambient sounds.

However, there's no music. Atmosphere is pretty much boned by this, as there's a lot of empty space that gets boring pretty quickly. Level design is less puzzling and more open-ended, often involving searching for terminals or enemy kills or something - it's tedious and given Marathon's strict save points, backtracking and confusion are almost guaranteed. There are also chokepoints in the game where it just (drops you in a pit of lava) ups that tedium into sheer frustration. It's entirely unnecessary and forces repetition of way too many segments without bumping the difficulty down.

That said, it's still a fun ride in places. The scenes where BOBs and even a lost S'pht clan will aid you during battle, which can come in handy when there's not a lot of ammo to be found. Guns can easily be missed in earlier levels, but eventually you'll get what you need.

Marathon 2: Durandal takes some troubling steps back in its single-player level design, but has the makings of a good shooter. Perhaps it's better well-spent in multiplayer after all.