Orbital

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Orbital is one of three maps in the Mythic Map Pack designed for Halo 3. Orbital, along with Assembly and Sandbox, ships with the Limited Edition of Halo Wars. It was released on Xbox LIVE Marketplace with the two other Mythic maps on April 9, 2009.

Setting

Main article: Quito Space Tether

Orbital takes place inside the docking-station for the Quito Space Tether, a space elevator above South America that transports cargo and people in and out of the Earth's atmosphere easily. The map is the setting of the Epilogue in Halo 3: ODST. The map contains plaques dedicated to Doctors Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa, the creators of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. Orbital also contains many aesthetic elements, such as windows showing the Earth, electronic devices like display screens, escalators, and even a video phone. Overall the map has a feel of advanced technology.

Design

It is said to be best for asymmetrical objective games, like Capture the Flag and Assault, but also has some natural deadlocks that makes Slayer interesting and Infection "terrifying". It's essentially two overlapping hallways in horseshoe shaped levels, so each team can see the other one's spawn through a window above or below them, but they are separated. Both bases of the map have operable doors that are important for objective games. At this time, it was said to be something that would appeal to fans of the map Elongation. The map was later teased under the codename "Space Camp" in the 14/02/2008 Bungie Humpday Challenge, before later being confirmed to be the same map as "Moonbase Alpha". More details were later revealed in May 2008 alongside "Purple Reign" and "Smuggler", confirming the map's setting of a UNSC space station. The first screenshot of the map was revealed in November 2008.

• The male that can be heard over the intercom is Bungie environment artist Chris Carney.
• The view of Earth on some of the monitors is actually a screenshot from one of the Halo 2 trailers.

Easter eggs

• Some of the computer monitors across the map make reference to Cairo Station.
• Several terminals within Orbital have schedules on them labeled with the names of several notable locations in the Halo series, for example: Charybdis IX and Gilgamesh.
• The lift at the bottom of the shaft has a total of 7 flashing lights.
• By the escalator at red base, a newspaper clipping can be found on the floor reading, "Covenant on Earth!", similar to the crumpled newspaper on Longshore.
• On the various screens around the map there are text boxes containing the standard Lorem Ipsum text.
• There is a secret room just under and to the left of the rocket spawn.
• The Orbital Skull can be found on this level.
• At both entries, there are signs that say "Welcome" written in many languages.

Glitches

• Through use of glitches, Orbital offers an opportunity for players to experience direct exposure to space in Halo 3, except for the Valhalla Banshee glitch found only in the Halo 3 Beta.
  • Many players have escaped from Orbital via the windows. Using teleporters, players can find their way to an invisible floor above the map, that allows the player to walk around. The death barriers above the map kill players instantly, but they are easy to avoid once a player determines their locations.

Gallery

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  Orbital Map.

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  An escalator leading towards another chamber, and on the wall is the tribute to Tobias Fleming Shaw.

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  A loading dock with Sniper Rifle in sight.

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  Another hallway with two Mongooses in sight.

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  A hallway with vegetation on the wall, as well as two information tubes displaying "Welcome" in several languages.

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  The main control station.

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  Orbital Heatmap.

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  The surface below.

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  A Spartan-II passing by a window in Orbital.

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  A battle on Orbital.

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  A band of the Milky Way Galaxy, as seen from Orbital.