Hostile conditions did not prevent the Covenant from seeking salvage on this buried Forerunner construct. Snowy wastes are a dangerous place to be caught in the open, but the chilly underground vaults, grafted to a buried Forerunner structure, are no safer.
Snowbound is a flexible space, but best suited to Slayer and Skirmish games, although it is big enough for vehicles to pick up speed – as long as they’re careful not to head past its automated perimeter defenses. Doing so on foot is suicidal – the turret guns, if you stray too far, will make short work of you. Try not to let yourself get backed out there.
There are two bases, known to Bungie as High(2) and Low Bases(1), since one is obviously vertically higher than the other. It’s also important to note that the interior of High base is also damaged, as the flickering lights and buzzing indicate. The ramped exteriors of both bases make them easy to climb, even in a Ghost (located beneath the Underpass(11)), and there are usually ranged weapons and grenades atop each. Although Low base would seem to have a natural disadvantage, in reality, each is a fine perch to shoot at the other.
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Between the two bases lies the only unshielded entrance to the Forerunner installation below. This is the only way to get a Ghost in there, since the other entrances and exits are all protected by Covenant one-way fields. A Ghost will simply bounce off. That entrance is also a grenade trap, so if you hear anything falling behind you as you run inside, keep moving.
The Ice Cave Tunnel(9), center, where the pipe disappears into the ground,
Down inside that tunnel is an ice-covered cave of sorts, and beneath your feet, evidence of a Forerunner structure. There’s also an exit that leads to a ramp(7). It is shielded by one of those pesky one-way doors, and in the Beta at least, there’s a shotgun right by that shield, which should lead to some interesting flinch matches.
Up the ramp, you’ll find two fusion cores – either of which can be destroyed from almost anywhere in the map – so when someone invariably tries to hog the Ghost, wait ‘til they fly it past there and open fire. The resulting explosion usually gets de-pimps their ride.
To the right of the ramp, as you walk up, is the entrance to a narrow icy tunnel(10). In here there’s an Active Camo power up, which works well against the snowy backdrop, but hardly assures you total invisibility. To the left, is one of Snowbound’s most exposed areas, and is that rare place where YOU are sometimes at the mercy of a newly spawned player, instead of the other way around.
The area of rocks at the far side of High Base is an interesting place for battles, thanks to the plentiful hiding places. Rock formations pretty much form a pathway between the rocks themselves and the high canyon walls beyond. You’ll find plenty of ranged weapons back there too, and a long, somewhat less exposed route between bases.
As you follow that route, you’ll pass a Forerunner “tunnel” that we call the Underpass(11). Although there’s usually some sort of goody in there (in the Beta, it’s the Ghost) the walls of that underpass are actually explosive, so while it provides cover, you don’t want to be in there when a grenade goes off. At first you might be confused by the underground stuff, but it’s really just a simple fork. Enter through one base and you can exit via the other, or pop out into the open via the tunnel or ramp exits.
Snowbound’s defining characteristic is its mixture of wide open spaces above, and cloistered tunnels below. The fact that every possible entrance to an interior space save one is protected by a shield door makes it a difficult place to breach if a team is dedicated to defending it, say in a game of Oddball. Learning how to take advantage of the way the shield doors work is vital. In addition to the protective shield doors, players inside both high and low base can see what’s happening above them via transparent one-way viewing ceilings.
Equipment (varying by game type) usually appears inside the two bases, so you ought to have something useful or nasty to take with you into the underground spaces below. In the beta, the low base holds a Spartan Laser and a Power Drain. High base holds a Beam Rifle and a Bubble Shield.
Read about High Ground and Valhalla
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