Sloppy Potatoes

Send the family away, order some pizza, Halo 3′s Mythic Map Pack available for all on April 9

Yes, I am a Halo fanboy. But the greatest first person shooter on the planet is getting another map pack and it’ll be here on April 9.

Few games drew as much fanfare as Halo 3 did, and few have as many loyal followers as the epic masterpiece. Those fellows over at www.bungie.net are nice enough to keep a running log of players and matches played.

Now, remember, this game released on Sept. 25, 2007 — yes, going on two years ago — and there are still 34,000 people playing online right now, and it’s noon on a Tuesday. Bungie numbers show 696,898 unique players logged 1,430,596 matches in the last 24 hours. That’s a year-and-a-half later folks. Oh, and the UNSC campaign kill count — baddies killed by Xbox Live-enabled Halo 3 players in the single player game — is 9,777,665,269. Yep, 9.7 billion.

So, I’m not the only one rocking the Halo Underoos, and I won’t be the only one downloading these maps for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) either. The pack includes new killing venues Orbital, Assembly and Sandbox, along with skulls to collect and achievements to gain.

I haven’t played any of them, all I know I’ve read and seen pictures, but I can tell you just a couple things about these maps.

Orbital

Orbital reminds me a little of  Halo 2′s Elongations, without the ridiculous conveyer belts. It’s based in a space station with what looks like several tight corridors and doorways. Click here to go to a pic from Bungie’s vault.

Assembly

Assembly has been described as very Midship-esque, an exciting comparison. Midship was one of my favorite multiplayer levels in Halo 3. If we get that, and can find a way to get Bungie to integrate Lockout remake Blackout into the MP hoppers a little more, that would offer the greatness of Halo 3 multiplayer in both of Halo 2′s best maps. Assembly in HDness.

Sandbox

The map that’s been most talked about is Sandbox. This MP map has multiple levels of battlefield and is a dream for players who love the Forge aspect of Halo 3. Forge allows players to rebuild maps how they see fit within a budget set by the game’s makers. Sandbox is as it’s name implies, a sandbox where there will be few bounds for created content. I’m going to provide links to a couple screens because of the baddassery possible here:

• Some of these links will take a while to load, but the thumbnails page with all the pics loads up really fast.
• A Warthog obstacle course created on the top tier of Sandbox
• One of the craziest bases you’ll ever see.
• The lower level, with forged spawn points visible
• This photo takes a long time to load on my broadband connection, but it is explody, chainguny, bodiesflyingallovery and worth the wait.

What do you think about the upcoming maps? Microtransactions? Are you going to buy the Mythic Map Pack? Let me know in the comments.