Hello everybody.
Today I thought I would share my opinion on a certain map that I feel would fit perfectly in Halo 4’s new style of gameplay. I am talking about the map Relic. Aside from it being one of my all-time favorite maps, I feel that it really could bring some solid gameplay to the Halo 4 sandbox.
Armor Abilities
So the first thing that obviously should be considered is “How would Armor Abilities play out on this map?” Well, to be honest, one of the map’s original downsides would actually work very well with Halo 4. The map was rather big, and had some kinda of wide-open areas. Many players were unable to cover this distance without being taken down. Enter: Armor Abilities. With abilities such as Thruster Pack, Hardlight Shield, Hologram, Sprint, etc., we would be able to cover this area much easier, while still providing for an open area for Vehicles to combat within.
Capture The Flag & Gameplay
Relic was considered one of the greatest one-flag CTF maps by many players, and the reason for that was due to how different the game played out. Unlike many other maps, most of the game wasn’t centered around running the flag a large distance, but rather about the combat back and forth to be able to get into the base and be able to reach the flag. For those unfamiliar with the map, the flag was stationed at the very edge of a large structure, pointed towards the capture point. For a visual representation, click here (Note: those ramps on the side were only present during Slayer games, not CTF matches). The flag seems close, but in all actuality, it’s rather far away. The team must first fight their way to the back of the base, and then make it all the way up the tower to the flag. The defending team has plenty of opportunity to fight off the attackers. Sounds like it’s all in favor of the team on defense, right? Wrong.
This map was very unique. First, the map featured a teleporter. However, this teleporter needed to be activated first. The problem here was that the activation panel was in the enemy base. The defending team would try to defend this position as much as they could, for if the attacking team flipped the switch, they then had a way to quickly cross the map, right into the enemy base. On top of that, the flag had generally a lot of defense to it. However, once the flag was grabbed, it could be instantly tossed off the structure to the valley below. When this happened, the game immediately flipped. Everything was then in favor of the attacking team. There was no structure to hold out in. No defense. It was very unique how it all switched like that.
How could this be useful to Halo 4? Well, there seems to be a lot of back and forth between whether or not being able to drop the flag is a good thing or a bad thing. A solution? Minimize the flag carrying time, and provide a map focused on getting the flag rather than carrying it a long way.
Other Mechanics
Now with our wide variety of mid-long range weapons, I could see the larger area provided by Relic proving to be a solid map. Again, with the wider space, I believe that it would fit well with the faster gameplay. With the map changing as the game progresses (teleporter being activated, sniper tower being shot off it’s perch, etc.), it really provides for an excellent real-time map-evolving experience unlike most Halo maps.
Lore
The original description read “Covenant scripture dictates that structures of this type are memorials to Forerunners who fell in battle against the Flood.”. Seeing as how shield-world are thought to be strongholds against the Flood, it is easy to believe that they would construct a memorial in such a sturdy location.
What do you guys think?
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Additional OP Comments
Jetpack
Many people have mentioned the chance of Jetpack ruining the map’s concept. There are a few ways to solve this:
*Perhaps enlarge the tower so that it is higher than the Jetpack’s maximum height.
*Lower the are beneath the flag into a sort of gully that makes the “height” larger, without actually making the structure bigger.
*Put a one-way shield wall around the tip of the structure, ensuring that you can drop down from the structure, but not find a way to fly up to it (Similar to the shield-wall behind the Core on The Spire in Invasion).
*Remove Jetpack from CTF gametypes. Generally, all CTF maps should have some general structure to defend, and Jetpack might simply just work against the gametype in general.
