- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: Hangbrain
The first Electric Sheep level is usually the point at which most people lose track of the plot until they read the Story Page :P We're inside the Marine's mind, or dreams, or something, as he leaves a dying universe and looks for an alternative (do cyborgs dream of electric sheep?)
I believe that the Electric Sheep levels somehow represent the strange medium between universes; to the Marine it is real enough, even if it is all in his dreams (Hanger 96, anyone?) The terminal uses Thoth's manner of speaking; perhaps we are observing some sort of interior monologue as the Marine passes between universes, alone with only his Jjaro's influenced thoughts and dreams. He dreams of difficult, unbalanced combat, trying to overcome hordes of moving targets, of shifting paths over certain death, of unknown objectives and vague missions. Is this a warrior's nightmare?
There are a lot of strange things about this level. Why does the Enforcer prefer to attack the Ticks over you? Why is every copy of this level fully functional (all the teleporters are active, although most are unreachable)? What is the purpose of the fourth switch (nearest the terminal), which is never activated? But perhaps we will never know these things.
The dream levels just drip of atmosphere (even more than the regular game levels). Though, I admit it's difficult to see why we're put into these levels at specific stages in the game. For instance, if you retrace your steps back on Where monsters are in dreams, you go to a 'failed' ending. It would make more sense if we failed to do something (a la Rubicon), then it would have consequences. In Marathon infinity, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Interesting. I really wish I could play Infinity now.
From the way the level is described, it seems to be monotonous,
or it seems to tease you in a way. This could reflect the Cyborgs
feeling of frustration, trying to find the right path but not succeeding.
Maybe the unreachable teleporters are other paths, either failed
or paths that haven't been attempted yet.