halo reach noble map pack review

You can’t get enough of Halo: Reach, can you? Of course you can’t. Bungie‘s latest installment in the beloved sci-fi shooting series has been around for about 3 months and people just keep playing it non-stop and asking for more. Well, the wait is over, as the first batch of DLC just got released in the form of theNoble Map Pack; three new and cleverly designed maps to keep you from spending time with your family this holiday season.

Noble team, double time!

Upon downloading the DLC, you’ll get three maps; Tempest, Anchor 9 and Breakpoint, each one with unique virtues that set them apart from the rest and work really well in some particular game modes. These three maps seem to be the best the game has to offer so far, as Bungie clearly spent a lot of effort in making this downloadable content worth your time and money.

Let’s start with the biggest one, Breakpoint. It’s so big, it could feel rather awkward on your normal Slayermatch, but given its asymmetrical layout as well as an abundance of a wide array of vehicles, it feels right at home with Big Team Battle and objective-based game modes (especially Invasion, which literally screams to be played on this map). Considering the dimensions of the map, a healthy dose of communication with your teammates will be required in order to win, as well as a proper use of the vehicles at hand, which will clearly give tactical advantage to the team that use them best. In addition, there are Rocket Launchers, Spartan Lasers and Sniper Rifles, so even a mighty Banshee or Wraith is quite vulnerable if not used right.

Especially designed for Invasion: Breakpoint

Anchor 9 on the other hand, is a beautiful, detailed and completely crazy Slayer-friendly map. This UNSChangar bay surrounded by both human and Covenant forces fighting the hell out of each other, is pretty small, symmetrical and it offers some wepic space combat. Matches in Anchor 9 are frenzy to say the least; the stage forces you to start shooting almost as soon as you spawn, but still requires a fair amount of strategy from players in order to make good use of the tunnels, the open center area and the aforementioned space area to either ambush your enemies, protect a flag or to get stronger weapons. As you might imagine, this map is ideal for Free-for-all, Slayer, Team Slayer and to a lesser extent; Capture the Flag.

Epic mayhem: Anchor 9

The last of the bunch, a valley surrounded by long forgotten Forerunner structures called Tempest, is the one I liked the least, but it’s still an interesting, wide-open and symmetrical map that’s best suited for team-based combat and sniper mayhem. It takes place in an open area with a beach, some caves, a downedLongsword and some mancannons that really enhance the sense of uneasiness inherent in the way you can be ambushed, or how the enemy team could approach a flag, or just how your head could be blown off by a skilled sniper. Bearing some resemblance to Relic, this map is just perfect for Free for All, Team Slayer, Big Team Battle and Sniper, with Capture the Flag being the flagship game mode of Tempest.

Sniper and CTF paradise: Tempest

These maps are nothing short of amazing. They were designed to be competitive, to force you to communicate with your teammates, to think about your course of action if you are to succeed, and above all, they’re there to be fun, and that’s their biggest achievement. In addition, they are absolutely gorgeous, and in my experience, they ran as smoothly as they possibly could. Perhaps the only minor issue I had was that the maps do feel like they were designed to be played on very specific scenarios, but hey, even when in not-so-ideal modes (like playing Team Slayer on Breakpoint) they are still insanely fun.

Julian’s Final Say: Overall, Halo: Reach’s Noble Map Pack is an amazing addition to an already outstanding game. Trust me, it’s worth every single Microsoft Point.

• Those are gorgeous maps, featuring areas not found anywhere else in the game.
• Breakpoint is for Invasion lovers whereas Anchor 9 is for those who like it close and personal.Tempest is a level in between, and a perfect map for Forge enthusiasts.
• This DLC includes 7 new achievements worth 250GP. Some of them are really fun to unlock, like“Totally Worth it” and “Poppin’ & Lockin“.

halo reach, six easy Achievements

Halo Reach - Six Easy Firefight Achievements

To make certain Achievements very, very easy, set up a Firefight match with the exact settings below.

You can use this method for:

• Heat in the Pipe
• Game Set Match
• Crowd Control
• Blaze of Glory
• Firestarter
• Lucky Me

Set your Mission (Map) to Beachhead (you can do this anywhere but we found Beachhead to be the easiest to hit large packs of enemies)

Set your Difficulty to Legendary (for a score multiplier)

Under Game Options, choose Firefight Settings and Wave Properties and change these settings for Round 1, 2 AND 3 Round Properties. You have to change the settings for EACH ROUND.

• Turn on these skulls: Mythic, Catch, Tough Luck, Famine, Tilt, Black Eye, Grunt Birthday, Cowbell, IWHBYD. These skulls will increase your multiplier. Note: You can turn on Cloud if you want, but having radar helps you anticipate enemy drops and score more points.
• Now, for each Wave, Initial, Main and Boss, change these settings:
• Uses Dropship: Enabled (You will be able to hit clumps of enemies dropping from Phantoms for high scores)
• Squad Selection Order: Ordered
• All Squads 1-5: Elites (Elites are worth more points than Grunts and you can kill them in one missile hit, unlike Brutes)

After adjusting the settings and Skulls for ALL 3 ROUNDS, enter the Bonus Wave settings and make these changes.

• Bonus Wave Duration: 2 Minutes
• Uses Dropship: Enabled
• Turn on these skulls: Mythic, Catch, Tough Luck, Famine, Cloud, Tilt, Black Eye, Grunt Birthday, Cowbell, IWHBYD.
• Squad Selection Order: Random
• All Squads: Elites

Back out of the Wave Properties menu and make these settings in the Game Options/Firefight Settings menu.

• Wave Limit: No Limit
• Turn Count: No Turns
• Time Limit: No Limit

Enter the Generator Properties menu and make the following changes.

• Generator Count: Disabled
• Spawn Order: Sequence
• Loss Condition: Lose All

Enter the Scenario Settings Menu and make the following changes.

• Hazards: Disabled
• Weapon Drops: Enabled
• Ammo Crates: Enabled

You do not need to adjust the Custom Skull Settings. Back out to the Game Options Menu and choose Spartan Settings. Ignore the options here -- they won't matter -- and choose the Base Traits Menu.

• Choose Shields and Health and makes the following changes:
• Damage Resistance: Invulnerable
• Immune to Headshots: Enabled
• Immune to Assassination: Enabled (This is important -- even if you are invulnerable you can still be killed unless you enable this option)

Back out to the Spartan Settings / Base Traits Menu and choose Weapons and Damage and make the following changes.

• Damage Modifier: 300%
• Melee Modifier: 300%
• Primary Weapon: Rocket Launcher
• Secondary Weapon: DMR
• Starting Equipment: Jet Pack
• Infinite Ammo: Bottomless Clip (Crucial: No reloading!)
• Equipment Usage: Unlimited

Back out to the Spartan Settings / Base Traits Menu and choose Movement and make the following changes.

• Player Speed: 200% (You may go higher but it gets a bit difficult to control)

Back out to the Spartan Settings / Base Traits Menu and choose Sensors and make the following changes.

• Motion Tracker Mode: Enhanced Mode
• Motion Tracker Range: 150 Meters (This will allow you to spot dropships from afar)

Back out to the Spartan Settings Menu and choose Loadouts and make the following changes:

• For Loadouts 1-6, change Hide Loadout to Hidden (this will ensure that you have the Rocket Launcher you set for your primary weapon above for the entire match)

Back out to the Firefight Menu -- you can ignore the Elite Settings and General Settings menus.

Now, begin your game.

Heat in the Pipe:Since you are invulnerable and your rocket launcher will take out Elites in one hit, this just takes time. Your ultimate goal is to just hit clumps of Elites for high scores. After playing for a bit you'll learn the locations of Elite drops. Watch for the drop near the center of the map on the cement platform -- 8 Elites drop here at once! It took about 30 minutes and 750 kills for us to get 1,000,000 points.

Game Set Match:Invulnerability helps with this a bit! Basically, kill every enemy in every round and wave until the rounds start over. This takes about 30 minutes. With the ultimate settings outlined above, you won't have any trouble with this -- but you'll have to have some patience!

Crowd Control:The Killionaire medal can be won be killing 10 enemies within 4 seconds of each other. The easiest time to get this is during the Bonus round, where dozens of Elites will swarm around you. Just aim for the Elites -- or your feet -- and send rocket after rocket at them. Kill ten quickly and you'll get the Achievement.

Blaze of Glory:Since you are invulnerable and your rocket launcher will take out Elites in one hit, this just takes time. Your ultimate goal is to just hit clumps of Elites for high scores. After playing for a bit you'll learn the locations of Elite drops. Watch for the drop near the center of the map on the cement platform -- 8 Elites drop here at once! It took about 10 minutes for us to get 200,000 points.

Firestarter:Since you are invulnerable and your rocket launcher will take out Elites in one hit, this just takes time. Your ultimate goal is to just hit clumps of Elites for high scores. After playing for a bit you'll learn the locations of Elite drops. Watch for the drop near the center of the map on the cement platform -- 8 Elites drop here at once! It took about 3 minutes for us to get 50,000 points.

Lucky Me:With your jetpack set to run infinitely, you should have no problem sending missiles at clumps of Elites. They usually exit the Dropships in packs of four, so watch for that.

halo reach forge!

this is long over dueWeapons, Human

• Assault Rifle
• Designated Marksman Rifle
• Frag Grenade
• Grenade Launcher
• Magnum
• Rocket Launcher
• Shotgun
• Sniper Rifle
• Spartan Laser

Weapons, Covenant

• Concussion Rifle
• Energy Sword
• Fuel Rod Cannon
• Focus Rifle
• Gravity Hammer
• Needler
• Needle Rifle
• Plasma Grenade
• Plasma Launcher
• Plasma Pistol
• Plasma Repeater
• Plasma Rifle
• Spiker
• The target designator didn't make it into Forge World. Ferrix is sorry...

Armor Abilities

• Active Camoflage
• Armor Lock
• Drop Shield
• Evade
• Hologram
• Jet Pack
• Sprint

Vehicles

• Banshee
• Falcon
• Ghost
• Revenant
• Scorpion
• Shade Turret
• Mongoose
• Warthog
• Wraith
• Civilian Vehicles didn't make it into Forge World. Ferrix is very sorry...

Gadgets

• Explosives
• Fusion Coil
• Land Mine

• Health Station
• The Health Station is a standalone object and can be placed anywhere.

• Powerups
• *Custom Powerup
• *Active Camo
• *Overshield

• Cannons Men
• Vehicle Cannon, Man - the vehicle cannon, man is larger and more powerful than the regular cannon, man. Confirmed by Ferrix.
• Cannon, Man - the cannon, man is smaller and less powerful than the vehicle cannon, man. Confirmed by Ferrix.

• One Way Shield 2

• One Way Shield 3

• One Way Shield 4

• Special FX
• Colorblind
• Next Gen
• Juicy
• Nova
• Olde Timey
• Pen and Ink
• Purple
• Green
• Orange

• Shield Door, Small

• Shield Door, Medium

• Shield Door, Large

• Teleporters
• Reciever Node
• Sender Node
• Two Way Node
• Each node can be set up to either allow heavy vehicles, players, light vehicles, or air vehicles to pass through. The area of effect can also be changed. Unlike in Halo 3, there is no set point for where you exit a reciever node or a two way node. Whichever direction you pass through the sender node of the two way node is the same direction you will come out of the reciever node of two way node.

• Toys
• Die
• Golf Ball
• Golf Club
• Kill Ball
• Soccer Ball
• Tin Cup

• Lights
• Light, Red
• Light, Blue
• Light, Green
• Light, Orange
• Light, Purple
• Light, Yellow
• Light, White
• Light, Red, Flashing
• Light, Blue, Flashing
• Light, Green, Flashing
• Light, Orange, Flashing
• Light, Purple, Flashing
• Light, Yellow, Flashing
• Light, White, Flashing

• Barricades

• Camping Stool

• Crates

• Sandbags

• Street Cone

Spawning

• Initial Spawn
• Respawn Point
• Initial Loadout Camera
• Respawn Zone
• Respawn Zone, Weak
• Respawn Zone, Anti
• Safe Area Boundaries
• Kill Area Boundaries

Objectives

• *Infection Safe Area
• *Headhunter Score Areas
• *King of The Hill; Hill

Scenery

• No known objects at this time...

Structure








- Building Blocks

• Block, 1x1
• Block, 1x1, Flat
• Block, 1x1, Short
• Block, 1v1, Tall
• Block, 1x1, Tall and Thin
• Block, 1x2
• Block, 1x4
• Block, 2x1, Flat
• Block, 2x2
• Block, 2x2, Flat
• Block, 2x2, Short
• Block, 2x2, Tall
• Block, 2x3
• Block, 2x4
• Block, 2x4, Flat
• Block, 3x3
• Block, 3x3, Flat
• Block, 3x3, Short
• Block, 3x3, Tall
• Block, 3x4
• Block, 4x4
• Block, 4x4, Flat
• Block, 4x4, Short
• Block, 4x4, Tall
• Block, 5x1, Short
• Block, 5x5, Flat

- Bridges and Platforms

• Bridge, Small
• Bridge, Medium
• Bridge, Large
• Bridge, XLarge
• Bridge, Diagonal
• Bridge, Diag, Small
• Dish
• Dish, Open
• Corner, 45 Degrees
• Corner, 2X2
• Corner, 4X4
• Landing Pad
• Platform, Ramped
• Platform, Large
• Platform, XL
• Platform, XXL
• Platform, Y
• Platform, Y, Large
• Sniper Nest
• Staircase
• Walkway, Large

- Buildings

• Bunker, Small
• Bunker, Small, Covered
• Bunker, Box
• Bunker, Round
• Bunker, Ramp
• Pyramid
• Tower, 2 Story
• Tower, 3 Story
• Tower, Tall
• Room, Double
• Room, Triple

- Decorative

• Antenna, Small
• Antenna, Satellite
• Brace
• Brace, Large
• Brace, Tunnel
• Column
• Cover
• Cover, Crenellation
• Cover, Glass
• Glass Sail
• Railing, Small
• Railing, Medium
• Railing, Long
• Teleporter Frame
• Strut
• Large Walkway Cover

- Doors, Windows, and Walls

• Door
• Door, Double
• Window
• Window, Double
• Wall
• Wall, Double
• Wall, Corner
• Wall, Curved
• Wall, Coliseum
• Window, Coliseum
• Tunnel, Short
• Tunnel, Long

- Inclines

• Bank, 1X1
• Bank, 1X2
• Bank, 2X1
• Bank, 2X2
• Ramp, 1X2
• Ramp, 1X2, Shallow
• Ramp, 2X2
• Ramp, 2X2, Steep
• Ramp, Circular, Small
• Ramp, Circular, Large
• Ramp, Bridge, Small
• Ramp, Bridge, Medium
• Ramp, Bridge, Large
• Ramp, XL
• Ramp, Stunt

- Natural

• Rock, Small
• Rock, Flat
• Rock, Medium 1
• Rock, Medium 2
• Rock, Spire 1
• Rock, Spire 2
• Rock, Seastack
• Rock, Arch

- Grid

• The grid is a standalone object that costs $100 and is shown in the image above. It is a solid object, but objects do not snap to the lines on the grid, it is simply for visual usage and can be placed anywhere on Forge World.

* = I do not know the true location or name of this object.









Additional Facts Regarding Forge World's Objects

• The grid shown in the image at the top of the thread, and in the object list is a solid object.
• The Revenant is a brand new vehicle that is somewhat like a cross between the ghost and wraith.
• There are now two types of barriers; one being named a low volume barrier, and the other being named a high volume barrier.
• The low volume barrier acts like a hill in King of The Hill or a spawn area, except the low volume barrier sets up a barrier that if passed, will warn players to get back to the battlefield within 10 seconds or they will die.
• The high volume barrier is a more deadly version of the low volume barrier that acts as a death barrier, so when a player passes the set area, that player will die instantly with no warning.
• Players cannot swim...
• The teleporters can be edited to allow players, heavy vehicles, light vehicles, and air vehicles to pass though them. Each option can be either enabled or disabled.
• Teleporters can now be edited to increase the size of the teleporting effect. The size of the physical teleporter will not be changed, but the area of effect will either increase or decrease.
• Armor abilities can now be placed in forge, and just like a weapon, a player can pick them up and swap out their current armor ability for a new one.
• Every object has three different physical states, whether it is physical, whether it can be placed in the air when let go of, or whether it can fuse itself into other objects like with ghost merging or no-clip merging.
• The budget that you start out with on a blank canvas version of Forge World is $10,000. That is almost 7 times more than what we were given on Sandbox.
• There is no OLN on Forge World, each object has a set number of objects within its group that can be placed. This number is kept track of, and the player can refer to it at any time.
• There are roughly 150 different objects on Forge World, not including the objective items, spawns, teleporters, and any existing items from Halo 3.
• The respawn points now display a holographic spartan character above them.
• There is a new objective item named the Infection Safe Zone.
• Scenery type objects such as rocks are now placeable.
• There is enough budget and objects on Forge World to build a decently sized map that covers the entire World.
• There are 8 placeable Falcons.
• There are 4 placeable Scorpions.
• There are no civilian vehicles on Forge World.
• Only mongooses can change color.
• The target designator didn't make it to Forge World but will still be featured in othermultiplayer maps.