By Dimorphic
With the Heroic Map Pack Bungie released three brand new maps that had never been seen before in Rat’s Nest, Foundry and Standoff. With the Legendary Map Pack they’ve gone for a mixture of old and new introducing another three new maps; Blackout, Avalanche and Ghost Town. The maps have a wide variety of different gametypes that can be played on them and each have their own distinct visual style. New Forge objects have also been introduced with this new map pack that let you build your own unique map.
Ghost Town
Ghost Town was the first map from this pack that was announced. Set near the jungle from the first mission of the campaign, Ghost Town is a map that has been crafted for balanced Team Slayer and objective gametypes alike. The perfect player limit is four on four as the small nature of the map leads itself to become a little chaotic at times, though you could push it to six on six if need be.
Having played both Team Slayer and a range of objective gametypes including King of the Hill and Territories I can say that the map is best suited to King of the Hill and Team Slayer. Now I hate King of Hill, it’s one of my least liked gametypes in Halo 3, but the way that Ghost Town is set up the gametype shines. Team Slayer is also a lot of fun, being designed to be close together having spawn points near all action points on the map means that players have to be alert at all times.
Avalanche
The reincarnation of the Halo 1 classic Sidewinder, Avalanche is set in the middle of a U-shaped snowy chasm with interlocking caverns underneath the map that house a large man cannon that is a source of quick transport from one base to the next. Avalance is the BTB map that we have all been waiting for (execpt that it’s not Coagulation/Blood Gultch), it incorporates all the vehicles in the game (varient specific) and introduces the Hornet as a default spawning vehicle for the first time. Being such a large map there arwe two rocket launchers, two sniper rifles and a Spartan laser on the map.
The coolest addition to this map is the huge man cannons that throw you from one side of the map to the other in the span of a few seconds which makes games of Assualt and CTF all the more fun, as the man with the flag has a chance without relying on teammates in a Warthog (or the like).
Having a map of such epic size means that it is best suited for team based gametypes, with the ideal number of players being 16 (eight on eight). CTF, Assualt and Team Slayer are fantastic fun on the map, with often full scale vehicle based fights going on. In my first Team Slayer match on the map there was a Hornet/Banshee dogfight going on in the sky, two Warthogs, a Scorpion and a Wraith causing mayhem on the ground and a lone player with the Spartan laser keeping things in check. Needless to say that it was great fun.
Blackout
The remake that everyone has been waiting for, Blackout is the object for object remake of the Halo 2 classic, Lockout. The only thing that has changed from Lockout to Blackout is the asthetic design and a few equipment placements. The map plays exactly like I expected it too, with the fond memories of Halo 2 lan’s flooding back to mind upon firing it up.
No doubt some people will be unhappy with the remake, as it does feel a little smaller than the first one but that is only until you get used to the new art design on the map. Instead of being carved into the snowy side of Forerunner installation like Lockout was, Blackout is a weather survey station located in the icy waters of Earth. It is easily my new favourite map in Halo 3. Guardian was good, but it, like Avalanche is to Sidewinder, is only a spiritual successor, to have the actual map back is a great addition to the game.
Bungie, like with the Heroic Map Pack, have added new Forge items. The most interesting of these is easily the camera filters, which change the visual look of the map. From grainy old-style footage to gloomy, dark visuals the filters will undoubtably add a lot to the machinima community, but as for gameplay and Forge created maps they may not be all that useful. Along with the camera filters come new sniper tower placements, ramps and the like that will serve the Forge faithful well.
While the value of the first map pack can be argued, the Legendary Map Pack is fantastic. All three maps are of the highest quality and will become many players instant favourites. The new Forge additions lend more gameplay and replayability to a game that is already overflowing in both accounts. Buy it.
Yeah I agree that for Forge it really outdoes itself. Mind you, I didn’t find the maps that fantastic. I was frequently irritated by Ghost Town’s layout and Lockout was similar in that I never knew what level enemies were on. It made it very hard to strategize and Avalanche naturally lags for me but that should be fixed soon and I thought it was a decent enough map, though I never know where weapons and things are and it felt a little bare to me. No action really away from the bases as they promised in my playthroughs.