Bungie has unveiled one of the maps for the April 15th Halo 3 spring Legendary Map Pack, which will cost 800 Microsoft Points ($10), and is the explanation for all those snow camouflaged vehicles.
Avalanche, which is a remake of the Sidewinder map from Halo: Combat Evolved, which should make those who were pwning their friends on the original Xbox (or the later PC version) on that map.
The Bungie announcement has a long discussion on the changes of the map. An excerpt:
Q: What’s different about Avalanche in terms of actual structural changes?
NS: Buelterman knows best. NO LADDERS!
LB: The basics are the same, but you’ll notice some new additions (man cannons), and some things missing (the interior tunnel between the bases). We also haven’t had any ladders in Halo multiplayer maps since Halo 1, so we had to re-design the interiors of the bases to accommodate that. There are a lot more quick ways to get around the level now, that’s probably the biggest change.
(Click “Read more…” for the rest of this excerpt.)
JS: Well the first thing that folks will notice is that the rear hallways that connected the bases have been removed. This was mainly due to the fact that people had a tendency to use them over taking vehicles. Being that sidewinder is all about the vehicles traversing this huge snowy plane, having folks mainly fight in a hallway just made the whole experience not as fun.
The other change that people will notice is that there is a new cavern area that connects the central section to the front of the map via mancannon. That route is very handy for when you’re getting pummeled from either entrance. It can be a fast way out of a hot zone.
One of the other great things that makes Avalanche different from Sidewinder is the addition of mancannons. Having the mancannons definitely changes up the on-foot aspect of Sidewinder. And they are great for launching the flag from one area to another when you’re in a jam.
MB: Most of the higher level changes from Sidewinder to Avalanche came about from the fact that the original map was just too huge for someone on foot, and objective games stalemated pretty frequently. The main structural changes included the additions of the mancannons placed at key areas to help the player on foot get from point A to point B as fast as possible. With those mancannons we were able to remove the back infantry hallways to move more of the action out into the main play area, which is what this map is all about. Another important change was the large increase of vehicles at your disposal. As a big team battle map we really needed to make it feel like the -blam!- was hitting the fan, and the best way to make that happen is to give the player a nice supply of vehicles. Let’s just say you won’t need to wait around long for a nice new set of wheels. We also opened up a few more attack routes into the bases to try and ease the stalemate issues that we saw on Sidewinder.
(Thanks, Bungie.)
