I havnt been able to decide whether or not I should waste my money buying the new maps. Not because I care about how they play or anything like that, but more to do with forge. I had an Idea for a reallly fun mini map back in halo 3 and was disappointed to find that it couldn't be done in reach's forge. The concept of this map was based around a massive treadmill mechanism that everyone would have to try and survive on (in mongooses) while being shot at by green plasma pistols which as everyone knows temporarily stops vehicles. (If what I said didnt make sense and your interested have a look at this thread I made earlier on which explains it.) http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-reach-forge-discussion/102899-treadmill-idea-sketchup-minimap.html The Important stuff: When I was researching the new maps I found that Highlands has pallets. The object I need to pull this map off. I also think I saw pallet larges and pallet metals. What im trying to ask is how big are these new pallets? how many of them are there? and can they be destroyed by killballs? Oh and aside from all that are the maps any good?
The metal pallets are about the size of a standard crate and cannot be destroyed like the pallet large (though i think the pallet larges might be a bit bigger). About the maps, condemned isn't my favorite as gameplay centers around an anti gravity area in the middle which can easily become frustrating. Highlands is a great big team battle map—probably my favorite yet. The aesthetics on both maps are astounding. I have yet to play unearthed as it is an firefight map.
Maps are great, but I haven't forged on them at all because it it pointless. I have no idea about the pallets. Srry.
I don't know about the forging side of the Defiant maps, so I can't give you much insight there. About how they play, I wouldn't recommend them. I still haven't got a chance to play Unearthed outside of customs, and even then the vehicular combat isn't fun because the rocket hog is nowhere near as fun as the standard hog (for me at least). Highlands has Hogs (obviously), but they never really last long enough due to the countless number of power weapons on the map. Actually, when driving the Hog, I think I've been killed the most by snipers. Snipers. The map does look pretty though. Condemned isn't bad, but isn't on par with those really fast-paced maps we're used to in previous Halos. Even with 6v6, you'll find yourself wandering around a lot. So, yeah... I wouldn't recommend the maps...