Legendary Map Pack

The Legendary Map Pack is the second map pack released for Halo 3. It was released on April 15, 2008 for 800 Microsoft Points, before being reduced to 600 Microsoft Points on July 7, 2008. Following E3 2010, the Legendary map pack was further reduced to 160 Microsoft Points. In 2017, the map pack was made available for free to all players in 2017 to celebrate the release of all Xbox 360 Halo titles via backward compatibility on the Xbox One. All Legendary Map Pack content is included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Players who bought the map pack at full price, prior to July 7, were additionally given a free year-long subscription to Bungie Pro, though this benefit was no longer offered following the price decrease.

Description

The Legendary Map Pack blends old and new. Ghost Town’s asymmetrical mix of confined spaces and long lines of fire makes for frenetic games. Avalanche re-imagines the original Halo classic, Sidewinder, with new features, tweaked vehicles and massive outdoor spaces. Significant changes bring big improvements to the map, yet its contours and cliffs should provide a welcome sense of familiarity. Blackout, on the other hand, is the purest remake to date – all-time favorite Lockout gets a graphical overhaul, but retains its challenging mix of ramps, platforms, tunnels and hallways.

Maps

Avalanche

Main article: Avalanche

The spiritual successor to Halo: Combat Evolved's large snowy vehicular map Sidewinder, Avalanche is the Halo trilogy's then-second-largest multiplayer map. All Human vehicles on this map are snow-camouflaged, and two vehicles, the Hornet and the Scorpion tank, are now available on this map in Matchmaking. However, the Hornet, which was a Transport Hornet, was "toned down" for Matchmaking due to balance issues. Avalanche was codenamed Cottonball.

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  Avalanche.

Blackout

Main article: Blackout

The remake of the popular Halo 2 map; Lockout, Blackout was designed with a human theme layout unlike its predecessor Lockout, which had a Forerunner theme instead. However, they were both based in cold climates. Blackout's setting is an abandoned drill platform in the Arctic, and has spectacular views of icy oceans and glacial formations. Blackout has a few spawn point changes that differ from Lockout. Blackout was codenamed Moonlight Sonata.

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  Blackout.

Ghost Town

Main article: Ghost Town

An entirely new map as announced by Bungie, Ghost Town bears a slight resemblance to the Halo 2 map, Turf. The map also may remind some players of a map of another popular FPS game, Counterstrike, due to its human-themed layout. Ghost Town was codenamed O.K. Corral.

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  Ghost Town.

Delayed Maps

A couple of alternate maps were originally slated for the Legendary Map Pack, though they did not progress as fast as expected.

For this reason the maps Assembly and Orbital were not released in this map pack. However, these maps are now complete and were released as part of the Mythic Map Pack.

Forge Filters

Main article: Forge Filters

A Forge Filter.

Forge Filters are forge objects that change what the map looks like by using effects. The effects were made to make the custom game and forge experience more entertaining according to Bungie.

There are six different Forge Filters to choose from, each one changing the map's look in some way. They are "colorblind"; "gloomy"; "juicy"; "nova"; "old timey" and "pen & ink". Cold Storage also has Forge Filters.

Achievements

The Legendary Map Pack achievements were not released with the map pack, but instead included in the later Title Update 2 on September 23, 2008 alongside three Vidmaster Challenges.

• Road Rage - 25G - On a Legendary map, get 5 Warthog chaingun kills during any ranked or social match.
• Flag Dropped - 25G - On a Legendary map, get 2 Flag Carrier kills during any ranked or social match.
• Alas, Poor Yorick - 25G - On a Legendary map, get 3 Oddball Melee kills during any ranked or social match.
• Double Double - 25G - On a Legendary map, get two Double Kills during any ranked or social match.
• Look Both Ways - 50G - On a Legendary map, get a Splatter Spree during any ranked or social match.
• Defend This - 50G - On a Legendary map, get a Flag Melee kill during any ranked or social match.
• Came... From... Behind - 50G - On a Legendary map, get 3 Assassinations during any ranked or social match.

Media

Trailer

Main article: Darkness

The trailer was called "Darkness", after the poem of the same name written by Lord Byron. The spoken lines are the beginning portion of this poem concluding with a line from the middle. It was also voiced by David Scully (who voices Avery Johnson and most of the Sangheili). The trailer was released on April 3 & can be downloaded from Bungie here.

ViDoc

Main article: Halo 3 ViDoc: Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map

A Video Documentary called "Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map" by several DLC designers, contributors and leads was posted on Bungie.net on April 9.

It features three different Bungie employees for each map that worked on the particular map and is done in a machinima style. It goes in depth about the canon behind the maps, their overall design and structure, as well as some of the Forge items available. The Forge Filters were shown in action for the first time. You can download it here or watch it here

Trivia

The Legendary Map Pack was advertised on in-game billboards along the highway in the game Crackdown.

Gallery

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  Avalanche.

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  Blackout.

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  Ghost Town.