To this day, Bungie’s weakest Halo map packs still stand tall over most DLC for any other game. If anyone has mastered the art of crafting stellar, worthwhile DLC, it has to be Bungie. Their care and attention to the most minuscule detail is always evident and this simple fact shines brightly in the upcoming Noble Map Pack. Bungie was kind enough to invite me to their studio in Washington, to spend a day with their upcoming map pack. The Noble Map Pack has been a work in progress since August, shortly before the launch of Halo Reach. Each of the three maps comprising the DLC has been lovingly crafted based off of the collective cries of the Halo fan community. The map lineup is unsurprisingly outstanding, each map wildly varied from the others. Leading the pack, and my personal favorite, Anchor 9, a UNSC Sabre repair dock orbiting over Reach was crafted specifically for hellish close-quarters combat. The station has open dock doors that lead out into the safe, cold arms of space. The innards of the station are littered with narrow hallways, with a large dock area for some small skirmishes. Turrets can be found in the corners of the large docking bay, with a few side rooms lining the two-story interior. Anchor 9, is best played when outfitted with the jetpack. Anchor 9 is laid out in such a way that skirmishes can turn into chases, as there are plenty places to escape from near-death, including the docking bay doors leading out into space.
If you find yourself in a tight spot and you are decked out with the jetpack, you can run out the bay doors into the beautiful, low-gravity depths of space. Some wild shootouts can take place while hovering near the bay doors, and if you want to escape or make a sneak attack, you can work your way around a walkway lining the station. If you have a chance to take a look outside of the station, there is some great scenery including pelicans in the distance flying from other low-orbiting ships. Reach lies directly beneath the station, with a long fall to the surface if you happen to find yourself too far from the station. All of the matches I played on Anchor 9 were nail-biters thanks to layout of the map. As I mentioned earlier, Anchor 9 is the best map for any deathmatch mode with some insane shootouts that will always end with piles of dead. Every match I played on Anchor 9 was a blast, easily becoming the highlight of the strong set of maps. Another map that really led that to some great matches, especially for Invasion mode, was Breakpoint, a large map based around ancient, excavated Forerunner technology. The map is set on a mountainside camp blanketed in a layer of snow, built around the Forerunner ships. Plenty of vehicles are scattered throughout the outdoor portions of the map, including a few Banshees and a Falcon that can run the map if not dealt with quickly. Breakpoint is essentially split into two sides, both mostly outdoors with a few encampments littered throughout the map.
There are a couple methods of getting to the other side of the map, such as a highway tunnel, an underground tunnel dug through the mountains in the middle of the map, and a bridge connecting both sides on the lower end of the map. The half of the map where the Forerunner research took place contains a few more indoor areas, whereas the opposing half of map is filled with hills on a large downhill slope. Breakpoint has an extremely varied terrain, allowing for plenty of strategies whether it be close quarters, picking targets off from afar, or just straight up wreaking havoc in a Spectre. However, any team-based match will most likely rely heavily on securing some of the maps vehicles, which can easily turn the tides. Tempest wraps up the three-pack, a map set on a shoreline of a Halo shrouded in the mysteries of Forerunner bases. Each opposing base has a man cannon, not unlike the bases found in the much larger, Valhalla, from Halo 3. Tempest is essentially a much smaller version of the aforementioned map, with the presence of more cavernous regions and a beach littered with the debris of a fallen craft. Warthogs and Mongooses sit at each base, again, not unlike Valhalla. Most of the action converges at the center of the map, where both opposing man cannons launch players onto elevated rocks, with a path going between the rocks. While the map doesn’t come off as large as Breakpoint, it is still a big enough map to be the best choice for Big Team Battle, and any Capture the Flag variant, especially Multi-Flag.
Since most paths within the map lead towards the center, things can get pretty wild if you decide to delve into that territory. Fans of Forge are not forgotten in the new pack, Tempest has been designed in such a manner that it works well with Forge. With Bungie’s work on the Halo franchise slowly coming to a close, the Noble Map Pack is easily one of the reveled gifts that they obviously wanted to impart on fans. Each map is an absolute blast, with no single map really standing out as a weak one. Each feels strong, especially Anchor 9, a deep space map that is undoubtedly a blast when everyone is loaded up with a jet pack. Bungie continues to purvey that they know their audience; they listen to that audience, and create new experiences based off that feedback in an exceptional manner. All the maps work into the Halo fiction, beautifully, with a strong attention to detail, per usual. The Noble Map Pack will land on Xbox Live on November 30th, for 800 points. While 800 points may be seen as an expensive purchase, each map is worth its’ weight in gold. I’ve already put in a solid 6 hours into these three maps and I know without a doubt that I’ll be scooping the Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack DLC up when it lands on Xbox LIVE Marketplace next week. Make sure to read our interview with Bungie lead environment artist Rob Adams (by clicking here), about the Noble Map Pack and other Halo related topics.
