Map packs and expansions are a common commodity on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but only a handful is worth the points advertized. This is not the case with the Legendary Map pack for Halo 3. Included in this 400+ MB download are three maps that will cater to anyone’s play style. Unlike the last release, the Heroic Map Pack, the Legendary Map Pack doesn’t contain only mid sized maps but a variety.

First off is the remake of the most popular map in Halo 2, which was called Lockout, now re-imagined to become dubbed Blackout. Lockout was a very close quarter’s deigned map in the original and that hasn’t changed. And speaking of changes there are a few Bungie deemed necessary with this release. One of the most obvious is the general art direction. In Lockout, the general setting was a Forerunner Structure on the side of a mountain and maintained a simple range texture files with simple geometry. This is the polar opposite when referring to Blackout, which has its setting as an oil refinery in the Antarctic Ocean with the existence of a glacier flanking the facility. Textures in the remake are quite amazing in giving a good sense of the environment. As for the geometry, this isn’t just a cut and paste of Lockout so some changes have been made for playability reasons. One of the newest and obvious to veterans of Lockout is the additions of windows to the “Library” and the extension of the base of the Sniper tower. But there were things that Bungie did work to keep exact. For example, in Lockout, players that were on top of the BR tower would shoot the explosive barrels on the sniper tower to launch the Sniper Rifle towards them. This hasn’t changed in Blackout.

Then next map in the pack is another re-imagination of the popular large scale map in the original Halo called Sidewinder now renamed as Avalanche. Unlike the original, Avalanche is not a broken map. Sidewinder was known to be plagued with several geometry problems, but that didn’t stop the map from being one of the most played maps for epic CTF matches. There have been changes to Avalanche to make traversing around the map a more enjoyable experience with the additions of more vehicles, two way teleports and more man cannons than all the current maps put together. The new additions also improve the flow as well. Textures have been recreated and not updated. This map was created to fill that void in the current selection of maps did not have which was large epic sized maps.

The last map in the package is the only new map in the pack. Labeled as Ghost Town, the general setting for this map is an old run downed water reclamation facility in the middle of the jungle. This is achieved from the broken concrete platform and walls to the overgrowing vegetation that gives the feel of a map that is straight out of Gears of War. In terms of appearance, it’s by far the most eye pleasing maps in the pack. As for flow and game play, it doesn’t take very long to gain your bearing of or about where you are in the map very easily. This map was created for 4v4 slayer and single CTF matches but is not limited to such especially with Forge.

With the new maps come more items that can be used in the Forge. Aside from the new textured typical items such as crates and whatnot are the additions of screen filters that alter the HDR setting on the maps. This was added in primarily for machinma videos and screenshots of the sort but its only limited to the new maps.

In closing, this is a great addition to an already amazing online experience and should be purchased by anyone who is looking for a good time online. The map pack is currently going for 800 MS points ($10) and will eventually become free some unknown time down the road.