The thing that really strikes me about all of Bungie's work in Halo 3 is the attention to all the small details. For instance, each base on Rat's Nest is painted to correspond to team color, but it's not done in some garish, obvious way, but actually looks like worn paint over concrete. And I still fail to see how anyone can say this game is anything but next gen. It's just so well done on so many levels. The realtime lighting (OMFG), the physics (lulz), the awesome tits (okay, there's no tits).
el la Impressiones (Espanyole):
Standoff is awesome. I don't know that there is another map in the Halo franchise that feels as good for team objective play. I'm normally not a huge fan of Neutral Assault, but it works really, really well on Standoff, at least in the early going. And I love the map without the sniper. There's a lot of really great cover and space topside that lets you flank and maneuver without having to worry about some asshat sitting way off on the very edge of the ridge playing Duck Hunt. Inside, there are some really tight quarters with plenty of entrances and exits that make it interesting to defend. And it looks amazing. Too bad you can't fire off a nuke. Bungle am fail at MAD.
I'm a little skeptical about Rat's Nest. The space is interesting enough, but the interior is a little confusing at first. There are a lot of little hallways and catwalks that afford multilayered assault and defense that remind me a little tiny bit of some of the play on Terminal, squashed down a bit. The outer track is interesting, but vehicle heavy, and in the few games I played I was spawned too many times either in the direct line of turret fire or almost inside the grill of a honking hog. With the hogs zipping around, I don't know if there is a safe place to be spawned save inside the bases. Fix your game, Bungle!
Foundry is tough to get a sense of in its default state. 6 on 6 Slayer is as frenzied as it gets. The map is very fast and very vertical, even though its really only three layers top to bottom. Lot's of interesting angles and lines of sight. There is a room in the far back corner that makes VIP a bitch. As offense, you have to round two corners to approach a team at the back of a hallway. It would have been nice to have more than one way in and out to make it a little less defensible. The spawns are a little strange as well and more than a few times, I would spawn along the far wall, turn and see one or two guys from the opposing squad over by the forklift in my direct line of fire. OMG, thanks for giving the sniper a gravity lift so he can get on top of the fucking level straight away, Bungle. Way to cut out the middle man!
I would say that of the three Standoff is the clear winner, but I'm going to reserve my judgment for a later date. Once the newness wears off and I've had some more playtime on each, I'm sure my opinion will change. And Foundry is a huge wildcard. I can't even imagine what the community is going to come up with on that bastard. Hell, day one we've got an amazingly faithful replica of Wizard and a somewhat suitable version of Midship. Played two slayer matches on Mage (yeah, that's what they call it. I would have went with Hogwarts) with a group of friends ("people" on know online and my ex-wife's little brother) last night and had an absolute blast. Really good stuff. Needler owns.
Overall, I'm happy to hand my Hamilton over to the Bungie crew (Bill Gates). You can really see the work they put into these spaces. Unlike other games (I won't name names), these aren't just carbon copies of single player levels with some walls slapped up to contain the play, but yet, they fit nicely into the game's universe.
Also: pistol, jaggies, 640p, and Gears of Space Acne.
stupid picture wont link. Its in my file share here but im so disapointed in myself for not getting the image to show I expect none of you to click it
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