I posted my feedback over in War Games concerning the new Community Forge Island playlist. Wanted to have a general discussion here too about what others think about the new maps, since I haven’t seen much dialogue about them yet. Here was my post:
I personally was a little disappointed by the maps. I was hoping for a more varied use of the flat space and natural resources/boundaries to showcase the creativity forge island provides. I feel a lot of these maps look and play the same with the colored building blocks and limited traffic routes. A few of them were built out over the water, which – as I felt with almost all of the maps – could have been built using the Ravine canvas. Nothing really stands out to me about the maps.
Now, I will say aesthetically I thought Onyx looked great. That map almost feels like it could be a map actually released with the game. I think it should stay in the rotation because of how it looks. It plays basically the same as the others but it just looks really nice. I also feel Forgotten looks nice as well. Flying Shoe made more use of the flat space and natural resources than the others and while it is still symmetrical squared off map, it does have a different feel to it than the others. The addition of the warthog is an interesting touch. Besides Onyx and Forgotten, the other maps blend together and are rather mundane.
I guess I prefer more asymmetrical multi-tiered (3 levels at least) maps that give you greater range of movement and strategic options. It’d be nice to feature community forge maps that express this creativity, if not in the competitive slayer or objective game types, at least in game types like Team Action Sack or Flood. Mr Pokephile and Online Knights feature these kinds of maps on their YouTube channels and they look like loads of fun. Also, it’d be nice to feature a community forge playlist for BTB since the majority of players play this gametype and the large island provides a huge canvas for creating BTB maps.
Thanks for letting us express our opinions. I do appreciate the effort to give us more maps!
I’d have to agree. Besides onyx and forgotten the other maps either seem very bland or aren’t very fun to play on. Confined is decent, but there’s not much maneuverability in the map besides going downstairs. I’ve seen so much better maps made on forge island than these and it’s a shame that they didn’t get submitted or even made the cut. 
On a side note, I hate how the competitive modes in this playlist are being forced on us like this. I mean, yeah I enjoy a game of snipers here and there, but Slayer BRs with no secondary isn’t very fun. Most of my team just quits, and I’m left alone… I mean would it hurt to just have a basic slayer mode, oddball, KOTH, and CTF to test the maps entirely?
> I’ve seen so much better maps made on forge island than these and it’s a shame that they didn’t get submitted or even made the cut.
>
> Agreed Chariloe. Very much agreed.
I haven’t played enough on them to really comment on the gameplay at all, but I certainly was disappointed from an aesthetic standpoint. Forge island is such a visually impressive starting point that to cover it with blue-gray building blocks seems like a crime. Perhaps there is a map that I missed, but the ones I played on did not use the island canvass effectively.
I liked the maps but I don’t like that SWAT and snipers are in the playlist.
My initial reaction after an hour or so of playing was that they were a welcome change of pace from on-disc cluttered messes. The open spaces, arena style, and lack of ubiquitous obstacles seem to give AAs more of an opportunity to self-regulate. AC isn’t nearly so overpowered in my opinion.
About to hop on now for further play testing 
I forget the name, but one is very similar to narrows. It is also very good. I agree about onyx.
> I haven’t played enough on them to really comment on the gameplay at all, but I certainly was disappointed from an aesthetic standpoint. Forge island is such a visually impressive starting point that to cover it with blue-gray building blocks seems like a crime. Perhaps there is a map that I missed, but the ones I played on did not use the island canvass effectively.
Maximus, 100% agree with you.
> …change of pace from on-disc cluttered messes. The open spaces, arena style, and lack of ubiquitous obstacles seem to give AAs more of an opportunity to self-regulate. AC isn’t nearly so overpowered in my opinion.
Pulvis, I also will agree with this. The maps released with the game are boring to me. There is not one that stands out that I really like, compared to some of the older Halo games (e.g. - Chill Out from Halo 1, or Battle Creek/Beaver Creek from Halo 1 and 2.) I also really enjoyed Zanzibar on Halo 2.
You’re right about the new forge maps and the AAs. I tried a couple of loadouts. One with Jet Pack, one with Active Camo just to see how it played. AC is not nearly as effective as using it with the on-disc maps. I’m thinking of Abandon and Adrift here. Jet Pack also doesn’t seem as overpowered because you can’t fly all that high and be effective like on Abandon. Thruster Pack might be the better AA for most of these. They do seem to play more like the older Halo maps. I’d just prefer a few with some asymmetry and a better use of the natural canvas.