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Over the course of Halo 2's incredible lifetime, four separate "map packs" were introduced to the masses to create a more awesome and enjoyable experience via multiplayer.
As the end of Halo 2's life comes to an end April 15, 2010, I have started playing it again after a brief absence. This word gets used more often than not, and it has lost it's meaning over time, but I feel a sense of nostalgia while playing the beginning of my Xbox Live experience.
It's hard to believe that just under six years ago, I was waiting in line for a video game that was the epitome of what a sequel should be. Did I get exactly what I had hoped and wished for? Not exactly. Were there still many fun, exciting, and memorable moments? Hell yeah.
With all of this in mind, I loaded up my Halo 2 disc to play some matchmaking. I quickly discovered that my brother switched our Xboxes resulting in me having to redownload the map packs. It's hard to believe that some of the maps I redownloaded were not in the original packaging of Halo 2. It just baffles my mind to be honest. Perhaps it was the long years of playing on the maps that made them seem as though they were firstborn babies, instead of another generation of maps. With this in mind, let me list the map packs:
BONUS MAP PACK
*Released April 15, 2005
*Free (thanks to Mountain Dew)
Maps:
*Containment
*Walock
KILLTACULAR PACK
*Released April 15, 2005
*$4.99 (made free June 28, 2005)
Maps:
*Sanctuary
*Turf
MAPTACULAR PACK
*Released July 5, 2005
*$11.99 (made free August 30, 2005)
Maps:
*Backwash
*Elongation
*Gemini
*Relic
*Terminal
BLASTACULAR PACK
*Released April 17, 2007
*$4.00 (made free July 7, 2007)
Maps:
*Desolation
*Tombstone
Looking at the map packs released, what would you say is your favorite map pack? It's a tough choice. So many awesome maps made available during Halo 2's run. I've brooded over which one I would choose over the others; which map pack I would be willing to play along with the old maps and not be able to play the others.
If I combined The Bonus Map Pack and the Killtacular Pack (since they were both released on the same day, and I only paid for the Killtac) I would choose that over the others. Containment is a classic BTB map, Turf and Sanctuary are great medium maps, and Warlock is a great small map.
If I could not combine them, I would choose the Killtacular Pack. I'm a team objective kind of guy, and I have played many great slayer and objective gametypes on both Turf and Sanctuary.
While the Maptacular Pack has the most maps released, I find that only two maps (Terminal and Elongation) are what I would play the most. Relic is alright for BTB, but I never found myself proclaiming excitement when it popped up. Backwash was unplayable due to the 360. Gemini just felt meshed together.
Tombstone and Desolation are great maps, but they were released way to late for me to play epic multiplayer games. Two months later Halo 2 would be introduced.
So now I ask you again, what was your favorite multiplayer map pack? What tickled your fancy? Why did you choose that particular map pack?
Remember, April 14 is the last day to play Halo 2 and enjoy the maps the way they're meant to be enjoyed, online with friends. Let's make it a great day to be a Halo 2 fan!