- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: BTE
Posted by: x Foman123 x
Huge, massive maps always sound good in theory but never work out in reality. I remember extremely similar posts during the early days of the Halo 3 Forum pre-release. People wanted massive maps, miles long, with Pelicans and crap all over the place.
The simple truth of the huge maps is that they are not fun to play in multiplayer, even if they are fun in campaign. Even on Halo 3's larger maps, such as Sandtrap and Avalanche, huge portions of the map tend to go untouched during the vast majority of multiplayer games. Go here and compare the heatmaps of a smaller "big" map (like Valhalla) with Sandtrap or Avalanche. The difference is stark.
With a medium-to-fast-paced FPS like Halo, extremely large maps tend to result in frustration and boredom. Definitely not what Bungie wants in a multiplayer experience.
You could blame most of that on the wide open areas that provide you with no cover. If you look at the heatmaps, the untouched areas are usually the ones without any kind of cover out in the middle of nowhere. In Sandtrap there is a little "ledge" on one of the sand dunes that is red because its the only place where you get some kind of cover from enemy fire. Halo 2 had a map (Containment) which solved this in many ways by giving the player a good amount of cover all around the edges of the map, and through the middle of the map, under the open terrain.
As for Coldsnap. God that map is horrible. Doesnt have enough cover on huge open areas (problem with Sandtrap and Avalanche) and the map is HUGE. I thought the pelican was a weapon and the Ghosts were grenades. Then you get only 1 ground entrance/exit which is extremely thin, and long.
You are also right indeed that was one of my favorite maps to play on in halo 2 and that map was huge and implemented the banshee really quite well that's why I loved it and that map did just fine, just imagine a map double that size perhaps triple that size with a lot of cover and places to hide from hordes of people dropping in from vehicles and other things that would be an experience. Great example BTE.
-Shogun