The best map, nothing less. I swear Cosmic Rick, I have had more fun on this map than any other. Well deserving a feature and winning BoF. 10/10
just played this in matchmaking (1-bomb), loved it. only one thing: the laser seemed a bit overpowering...the map just doesn't seem structured for it. other than that, perfect: 9.5/10
I love the forging of this map, don't get me wrong, but its playabillity sucks. The attackers are so over-powered. Their start and vehicals get them to the absurd abounts of power weapons very quickly, and then they have both the big guns and the vehicles. Also, the center structure is a death trap to anyone on the ground. There seems to be almost no cover on this map for people on foot. I'll give it a 3/10 because the forging is godlike, but the gameplay fails hard. And its all about the gameplay.
I'm afraid I have to disagree, I've been fond of this map for ages, and I've played it a few times even just today in Team Flag, and had a blast each time. A key principle of 1 sided objective is giving the attackers more to work with in terms of weapons and vehicles, and accounting for this in terms of the defenders by working geometry (specifically, the D base in particular, as well as it's balance with opposing structures like the middle structure). I'd say that this map does a really great job of this, with D base's daunting structure accounting nicely for the advantages that attackers are given in the form of weapons/vehicles. Even then, I'd say that this map doesn't over do attacker power by any means. Defenders are given a sniper rifle right from spawn, which is particularly potent on this map, and the position of which enables a smart team to cover an attacker push on rockets and possibly grab those for defense as well. Attackers are given laser in terms of quick routes from initial spawn, but this makes sense, as if defenders had the quickest route to laser then attacker vehicles would be made all but redundant, and also the D team would pretty much have full weapon control if they were smart about covering rockets. As I said, I played this map multiple times just earlier today in Team Flag, and enjoyed it immensely each time, regardless of being an attacker or defender. This isn't an over balanced 0-0 final score map by any means, nor is it an under balanced 2-2 score map as you are making out, in all my extensive experience both in customs and MM (the latter being the real test due to the random element of MM, even then it stands tall imo). To be fair, this is a large scale middle level Sandbox map, geared around a decent amount of vehicle play, you can't expect an easy on foot run all of the time, on foot action must be balanced with vehicle play or there would be no point in having vehicles at all, and the map's size would make this a very bad circumstance.. The real beauty of Halo in standard MM terms is the fantastic balance of on foot and vehicle action, and I feel that this map is a great example of this principle in practice. Even then, I have to disagree with your point in particular. I myself am a very anti-vehicle player in terms of the choices I make, you'll be hard pushed to find me in a vehicle on any map, even on Heavy variants I stick to on foot play just because I enjoy it more. This is exactly how I play Utah Mambo, and I never feel too overwhelmed as a foot soldier, either by vehicle dominance or geometry dominance. In fact, the middle structure in particular is my main on foot path, and I feel it really excels in this sense. The ground section of the middle structure is nicely street like, with sweeping LOS, broken up to give head on charges a good chance if you're smart. It is covered nicely from the outside on both left and right sides, and it's hardly as if you have people on top of the middle structure have an easy time shooting down those below. I find the middle structure, and its balance with opposing structures, to be one of this map's strongest qualities by far.
Just droppin a line to say major props for Bungie picking up the map, its well deserved, great game play, the middle area makes the map the most dynamic I think, plus the weapons and vehicles are a great balance which isn't easy to do!
Wait, there IS such thing as Kentucky Tango? If you could, link me to the map in a message, I would love to see it.