EDIT: IGN had recently uploaded a video on their website showing off Heradlong in all its new glory. It is now officially confirmed, and now I officially love 343.
/Told you so
Recently in the Podcast, Frankie had hinted of two maps that will be coming in the CEA map bundle. One was Hang 'Em High, which was shown during the Anniversary trailer and mentioned numerous times by Frankie in the podcast. The other map, however, still remains a mystery. The only thing Frankie said about it was that it still had some spaces that weren’t textured, it was not a Halo CE map, and that sprint made it much more interesting to traverse.
Sprint is ideal for large maps with big, open spaces, right? Which means that the map Frankie mentioned is probably a Big Team Battle map.
Now, what BTB map has always been a fan favorite, and has always been requested as a remake? There are some maps, such as Waterworks, Sandtrap, and Terminal that have been obvious favorites, but no other BTB map has ever been requested more than Headlong. It has always been one of the greatest and most popular BTB map in Halo, and whenever there’s a thread asking people what maps they would like remade or in the Anniversary map bundle, the majority always mentions Headlong.
Aside from it’s popularity, I can also safely assume that the map Frankie was talking about was Headlong. Verticality plays a huge role in the map design; you never wanted to be in the wide open space underneath the girders without a vehicle. Sprint was made for players to quickly escape danger zones, and sprint could be a very useful AA for a map that large. There are also certain play spaces, like the girder walkway and the unfinished bridge, that required you to be careful about traversing the area. If certain jumps were not done right, players could fall into the open plaza and get annihilated by vehicles. Now, if sprint was implemented players could traverse the upper part of the map more easily and jump from building to building with ease. I feel like sprint would work perfectly with Headlong, and that’s just more reason to assume that Headlong is going to be a map in the map bundle.
Now, I know that Frankie did say that they were going to focus on smaller maps in the podcast. However, that doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be a BTB map or two in the bundle. Beaver Creek and Damnation are fairly small-medium maps. The only confirmed map that is physically large is Hang 'Em High, and even then Frankie said that Hang 'Em High was fairly compact and could be played with a small amount of players. So far there hasn’t been any BTB maps confirmed, and people can safely assume that 343i will be putting one or two large map into the map bundle. Seeing as how Headlong is the obvious fan favorite, other large maps are not as likely to be in the map bundle.
EDIT: So in the recent video g4tv put up, Frankie talks about having a map(s) from Halo PC and a map from Halo 2 at 1:11. Since we probably saw Timberland in the trailer, I think it’s safe to assume that Frankie was mentioning about it in the video.
So now we have:
Beaver Creek
Damnation
Hang 'Em High
Timberland
The New Firefight Map
Obviously we’re missing the Halo 2 map, which justifies even more how Headlong is a prime candidate for the map bundle. Lockout was a fan favorite, but then again, Lockout has been reused time and time again, remaking it yet again wouldn’t be the best option. Of course, Ivory Tower is out, due to Reflection. Both Headlong and Waterworks are the prime candidates, but then again, Headlong seems like the more loved map and, unlike Waterworks, has a level of verticality and tricky jumps that would be suitable for players with sprint.
UPDATE: In the recent Bulletin on 8/10/11 BS Angel announced that they would be showing 5 of the of the 7 brand new multiplayer maps at Halo fest. Damnation, Beaver Creek, Hang 'Em High, and Timberland are probably on that list, since thy are already confirmed.
However, what’s the reason behind revealing only 5 of the 7 maps? Obviously the firefight map has a special surprise that will probably by unveiled later, but what about the other map?
To recall at Comic Con 2010, Bungie announced Firefight 2.0 at their panel… before announcing forge world. Assuming that 343i follows this pattern, they might announce some important forge related stuff.
Now, I remember that people always discussed of a new forge world since the color palette became stale. In fact I remember that A 3 Legged Goat made a mega thread about Headlong as a forge world. Apparently, Forge City was a great idea. And if I’m correct, the map that won’ be shown is a Forge city.
Now you might ask, how is this related to Headlong? Well, as I said earlier, A Three Legged Goat’s original post suggested of remaking Headlong and making it another Forge World. I don’t know about you, but to me it all adds up. Halo Anniversary was heavily rumored around the time Goat’s thread was made, and someone who worked at 343i happened to stumble upon the mega thread. If I’m correct someone must have taken Goat’s speculation in account and started working on Forge City when Halo Anniversary was still in development.
This is just more reason to why Headlong is a prime candidate as a map in the bundle. I know all of this is speculation, but look at all of this and tell me it’s just pure coincidence. Bungie announced both Firefight and Forge World at Comic Con, and the 7th map just happens to be a firefight map. Shortly after Halo Reach’s release and sometime during CEA’s development people were complaining that Forge World’s color palette was too boring, and A Three Legged Goat made a popular thread about Headlong as a Forge City. More importantly, it’s confirmed that a Halo 2 map will be in the bundle, and Headlong is by the far most favorited and discussed.All this circumstantial evidence points to a Forge City, and Headlong is the number 1 suspect.
