What i think of the community maps

So anyway today like most days i was playing halo. Only today is the 7th, which means only one thing.... 7 on 7th!! For those of you who are nubs, this is a playlist that pops up every 7th of the month and contains the best that ATLAS, the bungie.net map submission group has to offer. Anyway while i was playing through it, i decided i would give my take on each map i played over at the Optimatch forum. So here it is, a giant wall of text. ENJOY
 
  So far i've played ...

Topple:  I quite liked it. had a good mix or BR/carbine action in the center and CQC action round the sides.

IZ9 Coutryard:  Awesome design, i think it's about time there was a map with a more  intricate  layout so to speak. I played it on Br starts which i usually hate but i actually found it to be very good on this map. Maybe because surprise attacks from above are awesome. I did find though that it was quite easy to camp the spawns from the dunes with a sniper. Reduced clip size maybe?

Ber Ber Creek: A remake of Beaver creek you say? While it SEEMED surprisingly accurate for a forge remake, it just didn't have the same  feel. I can't quite pinpoint what's wrong with it though, maybe it just felt too large and uncontained. Somehow all the awesome stuff seemed to have diminished in importance and made way for endless BR from all directions.

Sand Towers:  CAMPING!!! Camping with snipers, camping with lasers, camping with hammers, campgin with maulers. It was all terribly bogged down in the end. I think the weapon layout simply doesn't suit a map that is open like that and with such watertight control areas.  

get rid of the laser, 0 spare sniper clips, add rockets or maybe even a sentinal beam to the middle and decrease vehicle spawn times. Then i reckon it would play better. Oh and BTW i played CTF on this map. Won 2-0, got a ton of laser kills.

Undulation:  Seemed pretty garbage to me. Why would you put a laser in a map with one hog and one ghost each with a drivable area the size of a shoe? And then it's just your common TS Br fest up top.


Conduction:  This map is insane. And in a good way. You can tell this is a map where you really can MASTER the layout. This map is paradise for the sharp-minded as you kill your way through the map hunting down power weapons with a never ending vital stream of infromation from your teammates in one ear and the sound of sniper bullets in the other. The layout consists of many levels, something which i believe has always been woefully lacking in halo 3 and as a result you can never fully trust your radar, making call outs vital.  

CQC weapons like the energy sword are quite powerful, but because there are so many ways in, out and around  camping  with them is impossible, and the only way to truly use them properly is to be ocnstantly on the move and with the upper hand. Suddenly sneaking returns as a gameplay element.

Another thing i would like to praise is the placement of dual wields WHERE YOU WOULD WANT THEM TO BE, and not in the middle of nowhere. Dual SMGs ftw. And because of the sheer diversity of useful weapons available, complex layout, and many, many different scenarios this map isawesome. Definitely the best i've played so far. Congratulations to whoever made it. Hell it's better than pretty much ANY default map in Team Slayer. Plz add to matchmaking.

Pilaster:  Not good i'm afraid.... not good at all.

Rat trap:  Why is it so hard for mapmakers to understand that splazer + dunes + open spawns = not good? And it also seems to spawn very quickly as well making those choppers and hogs rather pointless. Other than that though i thought it was very fun. Pulling a flag on that map is actually quite exciting and it seemed to me that to score a flag you needed brains over BR, which is a good thing.


Paranoia:  where to start..... First of all i would just like to say that i like the concept. I like it a lot, but the map just feels wrong. I think my main gripe is that hlf the time you have no idea where you actually are or where the fighting is taking place. I think you should put up some sort of indication as to which level the mancannons lead to. There's just too many to keep track of. The other thing i would do, is give each floor distinctive gemoetry, instead of them being identical. But worst of all... Where the hell are the SMGS? Plasma rifles? PP? Spiker anyone? If you're going to make a map centered around close quarters combat, put in something  more  than a couple of maulers with one clip.

Cryptic Fate V5:  This map is full of surprises. Admittedly, as i spawned i didn't think much of it. It just looked kind of unoriginal and mroe of the same. But then i looked upwards at the vast, sprawling upper platforms...

My game was one of AR/magnum start multi flag. And boy it was intense. My first impression wasn't particularly good. It was a bit dull if i am honest. But then we stole their flag from under their noses. And then they stole ours. Having stopped the flag inches from the return point we were able to recover it, and we got another capture.

At this point we thought it was all over, as we had pulled the 3rd flag, but boy we were wrong. Somehow they managed to keep on their flag and return it, whilst stealing ours. They then pulled our flag again, and  again. But with the score 2-2 Amazingly we once again managed to stop our flag in THEIR OWN BASE, and managed to keep them moff while we scored a third one. Epic game.
 
 
Overall though i think there are some pretty impressive productions, but at the same time there's a distinct lack of originality. It seems as if the authors are trying to be the next Pit or guardian.
 
 
 
 
EDIT: forgot to add halo 3 as relevant page. Could a mod move please?

So anyway today like most days i was playing halo. Only today is the 7th, which means only one thing.... 7 on 7th!! For those of you who are nubs, this is a playlist that pops up every 7th of the month and contains the best that ATLAS, the bungie.net map submission group has to offer. Anyway while i was playing through it, i decided i would give my take on each map i played over at the Optimatch forum. So here it is, a giant wall of text. ENJOY
 
  So far i've played ...

Topple:  I quite liked it. had a good mix or BR/carbine action in the center and CQC action round the sides.

IZ9 Coutryard:  Awesome design, i think it's about time there was a map with a more  intricate  layout so to speak. I played it on Br starts which i usually hate but i actually found it to be very good on this map. Maybe because surprise attacks from above are awesome. I did find though that it was quite easy to camp the spawns from the dunes with a sniper. Reduced clip size maybe?

Ber Ber Creek: A remake of Beaver creek you say? While it SEEMED surprisingly accurate for a forge remake, it just didn't have the same  feel. I can't quite pinpoint what's wrong with it though, maybe it just felt too large and uncontained. Somehow all the awesome stuff seemed to have diminished in importance and made way for endless BR from all directions.

Sand Towers:  CAMPING!!! Camping with snipers, camping with lasers, camping with hammers, campgin with maulers. It was all terribly bogged down in the end. I think the weapon layout simply doesn't suit a map that is open like that and with such watertight control areas.  

get rid of the laser, 0 spare sniper clips, add rockets or maybe even a sentinal beam to the middle and decrease vehicle spawn times. Then i reckon it would play better. Oh and BTW i played CTF on this map. Won 2-0, got a ton of laser kills.

Undulation:  Seemed pretty garbage to me. Why would you put a laser in a map with one hog and one ghost each with a drivable area the size of a shoe? And then it's just your common TS Br fest up top.


Conduction:  This map is insane. And in a good way. You can tell this is a map where you really can MASTER the layout. This map is paradise for the sharp-minded as you kill your way through the map hunting down power weapons with a never ending vital stream of infromation from your teammates in one ear and the sound of sniper bullets in the other. The layout consists of many levels, something which i believe has always been woefully lacking in halo 3 and as a result you can never fully trust your radar, making call outs vital.  

CQC weapons like the energy sword are quite powerful, but because there are so many ways in, out and around  camping  with them is impossible, and the only way to truly use them properly is to be ocnstantly on the move and with the upper hand. Suddenly sneaking returns as a gameplay element.

Another thing i would like to praise is the placement of dual wields WHERE YOU WOULD WANT THEM TO BE, and not in the middle of nowhere. Dual SMGs ftw. And because of the sheer diversity of useful weapons available, complex layout, and many, many different scenarios this map isawesome. Definitely the best i've played so far. Congratulations to whoever made it. Hell it's better than pretty much ANY default map in Team Slayer. Plz add to matchmaking.

Pilaster:  Not good i'm afraid.... not good at all.

Rat trap:  Why is it so hard for mapmakers to understand that splazer + dunes + open spawns = not good? And it also seems to spawn very quickly as well making those choppers and hogs rather pointless. Other than that though i thought it was very fun. Pulling a flag on that map is actually quite exciting and it seemed to me that to score a flag you needed brains over BR, which is a good thing.


Paranoia:  where to start..... First of all i would just like to say that i like the concept. I like it a lot, but the map just feels wrong. I think my main gripe is that hlf the time you have no idea where you actually are or where the fighting is taking place. I think you should put up some sort of indication as to which level the mancannons lead to. There's just too many to keep track of. The other thing i would do, is give each floor distinctive gemoetry, instead of them being identical. But worst of all... Where the hell are the SMGS? Plasma rifles? PP? Spiker anyone? If you're going to make a map centered around close quarters combat, put in something  more  than a couple of maulers with one clip.

Cryptic Fate V5:  This map is full of surprises. Admittedly, as i spawned i didn't think much of it. It just looked kind of unoriginal and mroe of the same. But then i looked upwards at the vast, sprawling upper platforms...

My game was one of AR/magnum start multi flag. And boy it was intense. My first impression wasn't particularly good. It was a bit dull if i am honest. But then we stole their flag from under their noses. And then they stole ours. Having stopped the flag inches from the return point we were able to recover it, and we got another capture.

At this point we thought it was all over, as we had pulled the 3rd flag, but boy we were wrong. Somehow they managed to keep on their flag and return it, whilst stealing ours. They then pulled our flag again, and  again. But with the score 2-2 Amazingly we once again managed to stop our flag in THEIR OWN BASE, and managed to keep them moff while we scored a third one. Epic game.
 
 
Overall though i think there are some pretty impressive productions, but at the same time there's a distinct lack of originality. It seems as if the authors are trying to be the next Pit or guardian.
 
 
 
 
EDIT: forgot to add halo 3 as relevant page. Could a mod move please?