Welcome to the first of three Map Feedbacks that will be up on this blog. I will go over a few key things on each map and talk about pros and cons I see. I ask for your feedback on the maps, and on what I think about them. Feel free to disagree with me as these are just the views and observations of one blogger, based on the games he has played. Beware, there are spoilers ahead.
This week’s map is High Ground. For me it is a bitter sweet symphony of weapons, vehicles, key locations and gametypes. At first look, this map backed up the appropriate name it was given. From the back of the base to the gentle waves in the water, the ground slopes gently downward through the gate, then becomes a sharp downhill wasteland.
Looking at the base, it reminded me of the torn up stone that is Zanzibar [one of my favorite maps from Halo 2]. For each slick and smooth metal structure, there is a broken wall and bent fencing. Aside from high-spawning lasers and scattered brute spikers, the base is overloaded with carbines. If this was a map on Halo 2, those green laser-pumpers would not excite the average gamer. This is not Halo 2 though friend, this is the new hawtness. Each weapon is strong on it’s own and very balanced. The carbine has been turned into an excellent battle rifle competitor, where as it used to serve as placeholder until you could get the BR.
There are many twists and turns that don’t just serve as unique places to mount weapons. Gamers transformed from Spartans to Ethan Hunt when air duct crawling became an integral part of navigation to breach the base. There are loads of back hallways, small staircases, and tight rooms loaded with scattered grenades that make this map exciting at every turn.
All the detail and excitement is not isolated to just inside the gate of the base though. Once a brave soul ventures out of the safety of the base, they will find a rocket launcher, sniper, bubble shield and half-dead grass scattered on a deserted rock landscape. This hill made itself known to me as a kill zone that should be avoided unless a gametype sends you that way [which many do]. If the danger doesn’t come from nearby rocks, then it rains down from people perched in trees or the deadly laser tower which overlooks this beach.
I find King of the Hill and Territories to be the toughest gametypes on this map. The spawn points will make or break you as you try to achieve your objective. Territories is very stressful and tough to me, while CTF is a slightly more relaxed, but equally challenging gametype. this map was built perfectly for a flag game. There are so many entrances into the base to get the flag, but there are just as many nooks and corners to hide and defend it from. High Ground is also an excellent map for Slayer. There are so many weapons that no specific one becomes overpowered and makes each game challenging and exhilarating.
I find the first phrase of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground [later remixed by Red Hot Chili Peppers] to have a strong relation to this map and the Beta in general.
People keep on learnin’
Soldiers keep on warrin’
World keep on turnin’
Cause it won’t be too long
This map is one of three great maps Bungie decided to grace us with during the Beta period. Although very asymmetrical, this map proves to be very balanced in all areas. This may be my favorite map out for the Beta.
Readers, what do you think? Have any different feelings about weapon placement and gametypes? Speak up.
This map reminds me a lot of Zanzibar, but with a smaller more focused feeling. I think that in Territories it is extremely difficult as a few of the territories are behind enemy lines and you have to pass through some others to even reach these.
Sometimes I feel like there isn’t enough ways into the base, but that’s when I’m on Offense. When I’m on Defense, there’s always a way someone sneaks in.
Perfect for a 4v4 match, and I can’t wait until we all perfect different ways of entering the base.
I thought that was a Chili Peppers song.
I love this map—there’s room to wander i na fight, but never by being too far from the fight (as with Zanzibar, also one of my favorites). The weapon choices are fairly prime, and I love the turet action on this map—I feel like friggin Ah-nald Swartzenegger with that thing in my arms.
THe Bunker entrance is neat, and semi clautraphobic, and there are so many levels, corners, and drops that I feel like this map will provide some prime shot-gun games of cat-and-mouse.
I can see this map being a future choice for Zombies, Halo-ween, and a few other custom games based on suspense.
I found territories to be a lot more fun than the previous example, with territories “locking,” and going by the total ruled by the end of two rounds per team.
I can’t wait to play this map in the launch ame, and really, really hope that it can stand the chaos of 6v6 or 8v8.
This is my favorite map as well. Territories is actually FUN now… possibly becoming my favorite gametype (though that’s partly because of the novelty).
Like Zanzibar, 8v8 will probably be a little much (at least for flag/bomb games) but that won’t stop people from trying. And by “people,” of course, I mean “me.”
Good map….for the most part. I notice during 3 of my CTF matches, I was spawn camped pretty heavily. This map is good for that. It’s easy to control the offense spawn on the beach because it’s so narrow, very seldom did I spawn BEHIND the campers. This is most likely because of the close approximation to the flag behind enemy lines, so you end up bullet fodder.
Snowbound is a fantastic map, the shield doors are genius and the elaborate tunnel system is really fun. I noticed how much the ghost has been improved since H2, much more crisp but with less vertical firing from the guns.
Valhalla is always a great map, sad, we need a CTF on that map during the beta to secure it’s fate in the final cut.
I absolutely love this map. The basic design works very well.
For CTF and Slayer, it’s an obvious choice. But I’m still not convinced it’s the best map for Territories or KOTH. So far, it seems Crazy King games have the hill spawn either in only two places: in the middle between Rockets and Bubble Shield, or at the Grav Lift. I don’t actually remember it moving anywhere else. Does it? Surely it does! I just haven’t played it enough! (ah wait, it occasionally moves to beneath the Power Drain, that’s right…). Anyway, it’s a tricky gametype, because if you don’t have the hill move to the middle of the map, then people spawning at the beach will never have the time to move into the base and catch up. But that can be a two-way street I guess.
As for Territories, it feels very different than on Valhalla. I think this is because 2 of the territories are at major choke points (2 and 3). This map initially made me wish the time required to seize a territory was shorter, but then we realized that Team Multiplier is on, so that helps a lot.
One thing that is still irksome is the ease with which the defending team can spawn-kill the offense during Territories. All they have to do is move over the wall and prevent the attacking team from moving past the bunker area. Kill a few attackers, secure the power weapons, and keep them from moving. Not fun. We can play by the Honor System if we want, but I don’t expect anyone else to.
Here’s a suggestion for Territories on High Ground: make it Land Grab for a while instead, like on Snowbound. Just for comparison’s sake. That would retain the territory feel, but change it up a bit and give use something to compare with.
That isn’t a bad idea Burritoh. Land Grab would fit a lot better on that map it would seem. Well, and each round the spawns should be switched like they are already. They would be fun to play.
It is fairly easy for the defensive team to spawn camp and hard for the offense to break that wall. Like Stuicide said, 2 of the Territories are behind 2 others so as long as the defense holds those 2 then it is almost impossible for the offense to get any more than Territory 1. On Valhalla the Territories are more spread out which is nice, so even though there are still ones behind others, it works out nice in an Offense/Defense gametype and works quite well on that map.
I really like this map. With so many ways to go inside, and out, it makes a real teamgame. Strategy and comunications are a must, coordination and team play are the skills to match. Territories is a hard game, but it focuses in the point I mentioned below, and that for me is a big plus. Yes you can get spawn camped, but if thet do go to forward, youll respawn in their base, take that for a backfire. I`d love to see an assault game in this map to trully see how it goes. But i`m not too sure about a land gran in this map, it would be one sided on my opinion, but there is only one way to know that, playing it. Great games so far, both wins and loses, but great game, great games so far.
I’m not a big fan of Rumble Crazy King on this map. If you happen to be the person who spawns in the back of the base by the Mongeese, you’ll find that every time you die you end up spending at least 25 seconds trying to get to the hill only to have it move again. Something needs to be done about the spawns in that gametype.
Beyond that, I love this map for CTF and Territories. I enjoy the fact that the offensive people in Territories have to work their way in to the base if they really want to win. It helps that the more territories they capture, the closer they will spawn. Very nice.
I’d really like to see some One Bomb on this map though as well.
Good point to bring up B33S.
Captured territories also affect your spawns. If you capture 5 before anything, some of your team may spawn there. Perhaps a good strategy? One territories I played on Valhalla the other team went straight for 5 and captured it. It really helped them out. It made us all spawn midfield somewhere and they were spawning right next to 3 and 4 which gave them easy access. I can imagine this would be a good strategy on High Ground as well.
Slayer on this map leaves little room for more than one srategy. Grab the sniper and sit back on the beach. The bubble shield, rockets, and a slew of BRs don’t hurt either. The beach is armed for an assult, but in slayer it’s just plain armed to the teeth.
Well said Dweezle. I feel like I am still learning the map because there are so many nooks and weapons in places I had not realized. CTF and even slayer are so much fun on here.