A Hands-On preview of the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack .

by Sith Lord Jim & Shadow Wave

“At XboxOZ360-gamer (x360), a few of the staff were given the privilege of having an early Hands-On with the new Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack which will be available on Xbox Live Market Place as of April 15th. What follows are two distinctly different impressions from two ardent Halo gamers here at XboxOZ360-gamer, so that you get a broader idea of what to expect on April 15th when you grab your copy of the new Halo 3 Legendary Maps Pack for the small asking price of just 800 MSP.

UPDATE from Bungie:

“We’re happy to announce that there will be a special limited-time promotional offer for those of you who purchase the Legendary map pack. Everyone who buys the new maps between now and a to-be-determined cutoff date will be awarded a special four month subscription to Bungie PRO.

For the unfamiliar, Bungie PRO is our special service that dramatically increases your Halo 3 file share ability. You get 24 storage slots and a maximum of 250MB compared to the default 6 slots and 25 MB. Bungie PRO is normally sold as an annual subscription for 750 points.

You can read more about the service itself in this old story from Roger.

So here we go with our two intrepid writers impressions.

Hands On Impressions #1: – Sith Lord Jim

© 2008 Jim McIntyre

“The halo series has always offered an incredibly varied multiplayer experience. Halo 3 is certainly no exception to that rule, and with Forge and a multitude of game options, it offers the most variety of any console game to date. Further adding to this already impressive amount of variety is the Legendary Map Pack, which is available from April 15th. The latest map pack features two revamped fan favourites and one completely new map.

Click any pic for full size view

Black is the new Lock… Out…. As a revamped Lockout, Blackout is guaranteed to become an instant favourite of many. Structurally the map is almost identical to Lockout, with only a few slight changes. According to the map description Blackout is set on an abandoned drilling platform and the pipes and wires all around help convey that idea really well.

Blackout is perfect for free for all and small team battles, such as oddball and king of the hill. Visually the map looks great. Both the sky and the icy ocean below look top notch. All in all its an extremely well balanced and enjoyable map.

“Avalanche is set in a snowy forerunner power station on an under construction halo. Avalanche is the new Sidewinder, and although I understand why the changes that are in place have had to happen, I can’t really say I am happy about it.

Don’t get me wrong Avalanche is a great map, its just not Sidewinder. Movement around the map is now made easy and fast by the large amount of man cannons strewn across the map. Big team battle will be where the parties at with this map. Forget small team or free for all, unless you are wanting to have a very long match, as true to its predecessor, this is a fairly large map.

Its symmetric structure, and large amount of vehicles make it perfect for assault and capture the flag. Every vehicle makes an appearance and the majority have been painted in a more suitable camouflage color for this snow-filled map. Even the hornet, toned down as it is, has made it onto this map. While I didn’t think this one was as visually impressive as Blackout it is still fairly well done.

“Ghost Town comes from the Sierra 117 level of the campaign and is easily my least favourite level of the three. It is also the best looking of the three. Lush and yet decrepit, this map really stands out visually. It is set in the ruins of a town just nearby the hydroelectric facility in the Sierra 117 level.

The ruined nature of the town really makes the level seem very chaotic and after spending a fair bit of time with the map, I still struggle to find my way around it. This map would be excellent for small team games, but would possibly be a bit too large and confusing for free for all matches. Games such as territories and VIP would be great for this level.

“The Forge has also seen a few new additions, the most interesting of which is in my opinion the forge filters. These create different lighting effects, and can make for some very cool looking screen-shots. Other additions to the forge are sniper towers, ramps, and watchtowers.

All in all, 800 Microsoft points for such a great variety of extremely versatile maps, is a great bargain and well worth the purchase. If for nothing else, than the nostalgia that Blackout and Avalanche are sure to trigger, I recommend giving this map pack a whirl.

Our Second Hands On Impression #2:- Shadow Wave

© 2008 Ben Cadwallader

Blackout:

“ Classic Lockout. When you first enter this map, you will feel right at home, and while it’s not a frozen map anymore, its background of the ice water reminds us of what the original map was. Blackout’s new graphic design is an industrial themed map, and it’s for the better! The map’s lighting really works well and gives that “offshore oil rig” feel to it. In short, it’s great.

There have been small geographical upgrades in a lot of areas of the maps. Such as making those once annoying jumps a lot easier. This will make the maps a great deal more fun, as the once fun exploits are now official and easy to do. This makes the map more balanced.

Most of the weapons are all back, and right where Bungie left them, which is excellent. But it does make it feel less new. Now I said most weapons are back. The Needlers have been taken away this time around, possibly due to “noob weapon” remarks people like to message you after a game, as the needer could quite possible reek some havoc in some areas of the map. Even though it’s a bit disappointing for a needler fan, it’s probably for the better.

Click any pic for full size view

Bungie has thrown in some of the standard equipment, such as Bubble Shields, Regenerators. etc. Interestingly enough, Bubble Shield spawns near the Sniper Rifle – which is also useless for the Sniper as it would block their shots – we figure it’s there as an escape method. But near the battle rifle area, is the Regenerator. Which could create some interesting battles between the snipers and the battle rifle holders, as long as they avoid the snipers headshot.

Blackout feels like a great remake, the only let down is it’s close to identical as its original iteration. And while it’s one of the greater Halo maps, it feels a bit “old” already.

Avalanche

“ Classic Sidewinder. Stop those thoughts straight away. No, this is not an identical map like Blackout. This map vaguely resembles Sidewinder, but after driving from one side to another, you will notice that it’s quite different from the original.

To begin with . . . There are big man cannons everywhere, this is a geometrical part of the map that can’t be changed, as it’s a part of the fictional area of the map. This helps traveling on foot throughout the map a lot quicker and also proves for some humorous situations in a Forge map I’d made.

I made a “Death Trap” where if someone went on a man cannon, they would hit a another man cannon, which would in turn, bounce them into the maps other geometric man cannons, thus throwing them back to the beginning. However, they would then hit another man cannon, which would simply send them around all over again. I call it the Ferris Wheel. But basically I lined the area with rocket launches, fuel rods, missile pods, and scorpions, and took bets to see who could hit the player who is stuck in the loop. As they couldn’t move!

This map seems to be the first one to carry the Hornet by default. A lot of players have asked for vehicles from the campaign, and it seems they got them. The Hornet’s deadly rocket launchers have been disabled for multiplayer, so this has turned it into a flying Warthog basically. Don’t worry though, the Banshee and all other MP vehicles are up for the pickings.

In terms of comparing it to the original map, the big wall on the side where the old Covenant Turret was in Halo 1, has now been replaced by a simple cliff where you can fall off. Personally I miss the wall, but it helps to appreciate the background design. Both Ledges on the perimeter of the level are there, and are connected by Teleporters, but only to their side of their spawn. There is no longer a Teleporter to get to the other enemies side. This has been replaced by a Man Cannon which gets you half way there. Also to the new entrance into the middle cave – the new meeting point for conflicting sides taking the Teleport, or side route in the map.

The new cave is simple; it’s just a new meeting point for enemies taking the Teleport or Rocket Launcher route. Besides this new conflict area, this is a quick way to get to the top area of the map. When you walk in, you step on another Man Cannon which takes you straight up to the top. Convenient eh ? Anyway, this is a great idea, and helps stop the long silent gaps of waiting to find an enemy on the map.

Overall, Avalanche is a great map, and while appearing similar to Sidewinder, its differences vary the gameplay a great deal, and will prove for an excellent Big Team Battle Map. Oh I forgot, the map is HUGE!

Ghost Town

“Ghost Town is the one brand spanking new map in the Legendary Map Pack, and it’s a great one! It takes a similar graphic design to the Single Player level: Sierra 117, and it looks simply beautiful.

Gameplay wise this map is asymmetrical. It’s completely different from one side to another. It’s a fantastic map for One Flag (capture the flag) and general team slayer and standard slayer. This map has a huge number of different routes and interesting nooks and crannies to explore. There are the general set of weapons here as well, and a Mongoose to run around the block in, in the default settings.

To put it simply, this is the answer to the “Urban Warfare” map that people have asked for, but with a war torn theme and feel to it. It’s generally a fun map to explore !

Forge:

“There are a few additions to Forge in the Map Pack. Such as a Sniper Tower Block jumping with your vehicles. The main exciting additions are the blockable doors and openings. Avalanche has an energy wall that fits into most shaped doors or holes. While Blackout has doors that close to block off areas. These features can completely change the gameplay. What’s Blackout without the Shotgun? – We’ll know soon!

Forge also has Visual filters that can change the way the game looks. While it seems fun in my opinion, there are only two that could be used often enough to make it interesting. One option turns the colours up and saturation up, which makes the game look like a RARE game. Another turns colours down to look similar to the dark, moody Gears of War style. There are various other effects available to you, such as black and white, Sepia and one that makes the screen extremely blurry and will cause your eye balls to jump out of their sockets and run to the nearest fire, and kill themselves.

But overall the colour filters will provide some great effects that besides being fun for forge, Machimania users might find some benefit from them.

That concludes the impressions of the Legendary Map Pack, They are truly great maps, and I recommend picking them up!