Avalanche is a port of Sidewinder, a Halo 1 map, in the new Halo 3 Legendary Map pack. It is a map set in snowy glaciers, and provides very entertaining gameplay. Read more for full review.

Design

While this map is mostly ice, it has a certain beauty to it. The designers worked to capture the way the snow flows and moves, and they did a really good job. Around the base of trees, there are holes where the snow packs down, as anyone who has gone skiing will tell you. There are also walkways that seem a part of the snow, like trails through the forrest during winter. All in all, it provides a haunting effect, and is one of the most visually stunning maps. The light is of a uniform quality, and that is nice and bright. The forerunner artifacts are cold, metallic, and glassy, and make the map feel old, desolate, and beyond human understanding. The various patches of ice, that caused so much fun or trouble in the first game, are there, although their effect has been greatly scaled down.

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Gameplay

Avalanche has wonderful gameplay. The level flows smoothly, both on foot or via vehicle. This was a problem with its predecessor, Sidewinder, where when you fell out of a vehicle, you were doomed. While vehicles provide an advantage to the occupants, they are not required, and feel more like an accessory. While teams can still pin each other down from hills, a skilled team can quickly dispach any such problems, and gameplay flows. The map is blissfully simple, although its size can cause confusion, mainly due to the effort of remembering where each weapoon is located. The powerups are useful, but not scattered everywhere, and provide for that one helpful edge that can result in a win. The connecting tunnels allow players to quickly dash from one area to another, although vehicles can fit through as well. The man cannons allow defenses or attacks to be launched quickly, and are much more of an element in the maps than any of the other Halo3 maps. All in all, gameplay has that one quality that made halo fun, that indescribable quality. The lack of cover can be bothersome, but the awesome size prevents too much camping.

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Forge

Avalanche is perhaps my favorite forge map. I am still debating weather it beats foundry or not, but if it doesn’t, it comes awful close. Avalanche has the largest pallate of objects that can be placed, and the widest variety. In addition to the standard walls, corners, bridges, boxes, and shield doors, there are ramps, energy blockers (walls that you can see through, but not move through), and a ready to use tower. These towers can provide very entertaining, when used properly, as building a base with a tower can add a whole new element to the game. These towers also make quite attractive floating bases, and can result in all new psuedo-platformer style gameplay. The energy blockers are useful, to say the least. Their odd shapes can prove hobbling, but players will soon learn to accept that. One problem is they seem to fall over too easily. I was continually bracing mine with a crate or something till they settled, but for players who do not have that option, more stability would have been nice. The ramps are quite useful, as a quick staircase can be made by stacking one ramp, flipped to form rectangles at an offset, on top of the other.

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Overall

Avalanche is a great improvement on a great map, and will be a fan favorite for a LONG time. The gameplay feels so fresh, so fun, yet has an element that is indescribeable. Forge really feels innovative, and just seems to work without effort. All in all, this is my favorite new map.

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