Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack Impressions

So the new Halo 3 maps came out today with the Legendary Map Pack and quite simply, they are flat out fun to play and way better than the Heroic DLC.

Let's start with Avalanche, the biggest of the three and a throwback to the Halo CE map Sidewinder. Significant changes were made towards movement with tons of man cannons. Since this is a big map, it is also vehicle-heavy with Mongooses, Warthogs, Ghosts, Wraiths, and a Hornet. The map itself seems symmetrical and designed for Objective-based games like Capture the Flag and Assault. For those CTF and Bomb games, they bring nice moments of vehicle and man cannon madness of dropping to an opposing base with a warthog or mongoose to arm the bomb or get the opposing flag. There is a long way and a short way to navigate around this huge map and usually vehicle control will dictate the momentum of matches. I never had such fun in a huge map which surprised me since I'm not a fan of the big maps in the Halo games. Avalanche is truly worth a play-through with 8 or more people.

The next map is arguably worth the 800 Microsoft Points alone, which is Blackout, a direct remake of Lockout from Halo 2. From the snow of Lockout, Blackout is now in the nighttime at an oil rig in some wintry place. What I mean by direct remake, nothing is significantly changed for the map, but it seems bigger than it used to be. The weapons are at the same places (Spikers are the exceptions at some spots) and close-range combat at its finest. Lots of Slayer and Team Slayer matches happened at Lockout when I played Halo 2 and Blackout promises more playtime and memories in the times to come. This is highly recommend for 4 or more players for matches to feel somewhat special. It is also surprisingly fun for SWAT as well. Personally, my favorite strategy for rack up kills is the Bubble Shield and Sword combo as people will fall for it. Other than that, get ready to throw some grenades in tight spots.

Finally, there's Ghost Town, which Bungie described in the first place as a Counter Strike-like map. It seems that way to me with tons of opportunities for cover and many indoor places for close-range combat. The map's size is medium-sized, but big enough to try out some Objective-based games. Even though I recommend Slayer and Team Slayer for this map as well with Active Camo and Overshield present. This map can cater to long range and short range action, which offers somewhat of a balance. It is also surprisingly fun to play SWAT and Team SWAT with many opportunities for long-range headshots with the Battle Rifle. In the end, I'm also surprised how this map can to be fun to play in for 4 or more players.

Bungie arguably released the best DLC for a Halo game with this Legendary Map Pack. All three maps can provide memorable moments for saved films and interesting to mess around with Forge. Avalanche is now favorite big map in Halo 3, Blackout still remains the greatness of Lockout from Halo 2, and Ghost Town is one of the better maps in the game period. It is safe to say I will be playing Halo 3 again for a while with this new set of maps. Don't wait for this one to be free in a few months and spend 10 bucks (800 MS Points) as soon as u can to experience Halo greatness again.