B.U.N.G.L.E. league play is built upon carefully crafted, highly balanced combat arenas as much as the instruments of destruction wielded by its players. The default maps of Halo 3 are all perfect specimens of balance but for professional competitions, the playing field must be elevated and tuned to account for a skillset well beyond a mere General. To that end, our design and test team have been working feverishly, with the added support of the highly acclaimed usability test labs of Microsoft Game Studios, to raise the bar and deliver incredible arenas capable of doing justice to the B.U.N.G.L.E. level of competitive play.

BLOWOUT

Building on the foundation of the beloved Halo 2 map “Lockout”, Blowout promises to deliver an unparalleled experience for anyone who takes Halo 3 multiplayer seriously. The first and most drastic improvement comes via the addition of shield doors added in as many areas as the Forge budget will allow.

Not pictured – 6 more shield doors and 3 more Man Cannons.

These highly underrated walls-of-win create intense cat-and-mouse tactical battles as they allow players to pass while blocking their projectiles. Using a shield door effectively, skilled players maintain complete visibility of the battlefield and get plenty of time to think about their next move behind the safety of blue pulsing energy. Never again will you have to worry about being caught off guard, having your shields dropped and taking that final killing blow before you can react. Simply duck behind a shield door, catch your breath and plan your next move. In addition to offering a near limitless array of tactical considerations, these doors made of shields just look awesome and make sweet sounds when they’re shot. What more can you ask for?


Blowout also clears the map of clutter from "noob" weapons like the Sword, Sniper and Battle Rifles to really accentuate skillful gameplay with elite instruments of destruction like the Spiker and Sentinel Beam. Zooming scopes and burst-fire are for people who don’t possess the raw talent required to paint a target with giant spikes or light them up with a golden shower. And what’s better than one Spiker? How about SIX Spikers? That’s right, Blowout’s signature feature is the "Spiker Garden", located on the main landing platform. Take your pick from six shiny Spikers and more equipment than you could ever handle.

I'd like to be, on a platform over the sea, in a Spiker Garden, filled with bubs...

To cut down on the boring uneventful time spent traversing the map by foot; we’ve added a few strategically placed man cannons to quickly get you right back into the fight. Who wants to watch pro players walking when they could be flying through the air and raining down Spikes? The random trajectory of the man cannons means you’ll never quite know where you’ll land next. It will take the utmost skill to not fly off the map into the abyss.

Drainers. Bubbles. Regens. Spikers. Sentinel Beams. Oh my!

And the final ingredient to the recipe of win for Blowout is the incredible array of equipment scattered all throughout the map. These game changing items were put into Halo 3 for a reason – they are crazy awesome - and we fully embrace every type available AND we make sure they respawn as quickly as possible. Where else is it possible to have four, five, even six pieces of equipment active, for a single player, at the same time? Only on Blowout and only in B.U.N.G.L.E. tournament play.

Special bonus pro tip: The Ghost can turn the tide of battle like Gandalf coming down the hillside at Helms Deep. Use it wisely.

BUNGITAL

Our next signature map is built upon the foundation of the critically acclaimed, highly beloved anchor of the Mythic Map Pack – Orbital. While the original map is already close to being absolutely perfect in every regard, within B.U.N.G.L.E., simply using the best Halo 3 default map to date just isn’t good enough. Once again, using the power of Forge, we’ve been able to refine and enhance this space into something even more awe inspiring.

Behold Bungital – Shield doors, trip mines, active cover, spikers, energy drainers and more.

As with Blowout, the first thing we did was add shield doors over as many openings as possible. The long open hallways of Orbital married perfectly with the restricting nature of a shield door. The lower hall now boasts 4 shields and evokes situations not unlike the Darth Maul / Obi Wan battle at the end of Star Wars: Episode One. You can pace back and forth menacingly as your opponent glares at you through the shield door. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Dude this is soooo like Duel of the Fates!

But wait, it does get better! By adding a multitude of two-way teleporters all set to the same channel, Bungital offers instant travel through the map while adding a completely unpredictable and often game-changing random element to the mix. Imagine engaging in a heated firefight only to have your opponent escape into a teleporter right as his shields are fully dropped. You quickly pursue, only to find that you exit through an entirely different teleporter, finding yourself in a hallway filled with close to twenty fusion coils. Constantly adjusting to the situation at hand and maintaining razor sharp wits are critical for surviving Bungital.

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Random teleportation + a hallway full of rapidly respawning Fusion Coils = AMAZING GAMEPLAY.

We didn’t stop there. Tired of falling into that pesky maintenance shaft that separates top from bottom? With the addition of expertly placed man cannons, you can easily jump from high to low and then be taken right back up to the top again. Unleash your inner crouching tiger and razzle dazzle your opponent with incredible high flying acrobatics. Of course some things are better left untouched and the default Mongoose is still the fastest way to victory and should always be utilized when available.

Pictured above: A portable cover standoff. Not pictured to the right – the man cannon shaft.

Pro tip: Don’t fire your weapon as you enter a teleporter. You might end up in the Fusion Coil hallway upon exit and that won’t end well.


SHOWERBALL

To get a better idea of our third map and its specific style of play, imagine if Halo 3 “Griffball” and Halo 2 “Golden Showers” had a baby. But instead of one baby it was Octuplets and they were all dropped on their head. Those babies would be SHOWERBALL – the all new, addictive and highly competitive gametype from B.U.N.G.L.E.

Taking the impressive Griffball v2 arena constructed by “Nokyard” as a starting point, we opened up the dome to add some natural light and free up some budget. Then we sprinkled the play space with Sentinel Beams, equipment, man cannons and Mongeese. If there were a “Top Chef” style competition based on cooking up amazing Halo 3 gameplay, this recipe would surely take the top prize.

No cover, no tricks. Negligible damage dealt. The ultimate test of skill.

But with so much firepower being introduced into the game, we needed to temper things a bit to drag out the engagements and make a more spectator-friendly gametype. Thus, we altered some game traits to turn up shields and turn down damage dealt for everyone, resulting in a much more drawn-out affair, favoring perseverance and luck to actually land the killing blow. And, since we currently can’t set a Sentinel Beam as a starting weapon (surely a great justification to lobby for the next Halo 3 update), players will start out with the almighty Plasma Pistol.


The Future is Now

This is but a glimpse at the incredible new gameplay and maps coming to Halo 3 with B.U.N.G.L.E. Our internal teams are already hard at work creating even more innovative and genre-defining content as our new league continues to grow and mature. For more insights into B.U.N.G.L.E. gameplay, check out the other resources available on Bungie.net. And, as a special bonus, check out Bungie Favorites to get your hands on early prototypes of these amazing maps and gametypes. Halo 3 will never be the same.