More Halo Maps Due In March

by Christopher Goodchild on February 15, 2011

Wait, what? When did this happen?

A new pack of three Halo maps has been announced, two competitive and one Firefight map, this time set somewhat later during the Covenant invasion of Reach.

These maps have been developed outside of Bungie by Certain Affinity, a team founded by one of Bungie’s ex employees a few years ago that have done work on multiple other games’ DLC including Map pack three for Call of Duty World at War and First Strike for Call of Duty Black Ops, a standalone downloadable title Age of Booty (Which was actually quite good by the way) and Co-created the Halo Waypoint… What would you call that? Tool? They also did some work on a little game called Halo 2 with the Blastacular map pack as their first project.

Now that I’ve filled you in on Certain Affinity, here’s a shiney, shiney trailer.

Is it just me or does this one seem more polished than the last? New music too.

The three maps are all set around Reach this time, whereas one of the last was on a Halo ring.

Here’s the official press release from Bungie:

Condemned: Condemned takes place aboard Orbital Station Gamma, a massive space station high in orbit above the planet Reach. Prior to the Covenant’s overwhelming invasion, Orbital Station Gamma provided long range communications for UNSC fleets and a vital lifeline between Reach and Earth. During the Battle of Reach, the station suffered terrible punishment at the hands of the Covenant but a few fortified sections remain intact, fully pressurized, and ready for combat. Condemned supports 6 – 12 players in a variety of action-packed game types, including Team Slayer, Team Objective and Free for All.
Highlands: Highlands takes place on the top-secret Military Wilderness Training Preserve on Reach. The Preserve is a large, wooded area where Spartan super-soldiers trained long before the war with the Covenant began. During the Battle of Reach, the Preserve was the site of key battles between the alien invaders and a group of Spartans who used their familiarity with these UNSC training grounds to significant tactical advantage…but not everyone who enters these woods makes it out alive. Highlands expands the fight with massive-scale engagements for 8 – 16 players in Big Team Battle, Team Slayer and Team Objective.
Unearthed: Unearthed takes the battle for Reach to a large Titanium mine and refinery located in the Viery civilian sector of the planet. This particular mine was built to take advantage of the exposed titanium inside a massive meteor crater. The titanium produced here is used in much of the UNSC hardware, from the chassis of the Warthog to the meters-thick armor plating of capital ships like the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. While this facility was quickly abandoned when the Covenant arrived on Reach, it still has significant tactical (and economic) value and it won’t be long before both humans and Covenant return to battle for control. Unearthed allows up to 4 players to launch a counterassault against the Covenant in Firefight and Firefight modes such as Generator Defense.

Condemned

Another space station with a view. This map looks similar to Orbital from Halo 3 in theme but more like Cold Storage (Or Chill Out from Halo) with a hint of Chiron (Halo 1 as well) in actual play-space. Just guessing mind you. Could be very wrong.

Highlands

As an epic Halo fan(boy), I’m very happy to see that the mentioned “top-secret Military Wilderness Training Preserve” is the one where the Spartans trained in the Halo books. This map has a more Halo look to it than the others, except for the sky and Covenant Cruiser glassing the planet in the background.