First person shooter games with a decent story are a rare breed. First person shooters with a great story are practically non-existant.

We’ve all seen the pseudo-plots attached to games like Quake and Doom. When Half-Life emerged, it was the first FPS (on the PC) to have a decent plot. Deus Ex came out, and also had a great plot. However, most PC gamers, like myself, are unaware of a great series of games for the Macintosh. The Marathon series came out about the same time as Doom (and sadly are the same low quality gameplay), but the backstory for the games is so rich and detailed that the Marathon forums are still alive and kicking, and there is a HUGE webpage devoted to covering every detail of Marathon’s Story.

Well, the company that made Marathon is the same company that made Halo, the amazing FPS for the Xbox. It’s more modern, so it’s got fantastic gameplay, but I was very happy to discover that the backstory for Halo is almost as detailed as Marathon’s, and there is quite a bit to suggest that Halo is set in the far future of the Marathon universe. They’ve even set up a Halo’s Story page, just like Marathon’s.

This is one of those games where if you don’t want a plot, you can ignore it. But if you’re interested, there is layer after layer of fascinating stuff to examine.