Majestic Map Pack Impressions

At this very moment, thousands of Spartans are littering new battlegrounds with their blood and stinking corpses. Gross? Well... yeah, but the key words in that sentence were new battlegrounds. That's right, today marks the release of the Halo 4 Majestic Map Pack, the game's second DLC pack. Halo 4 has been somewhat lacking in the small-scale maps department and as awesome as BTB is, it can't hurt to complement the games map library with three new 4v4 maps.

Of course, the real question is... are the maps any good? Well what better way to find out than by listening to the opinions of a single stranger? Well, I try to be pretty impartial when it comes to this sort of thing, so hopefully my immediate first impressions combined with a more refined look at the map pack as a whole will suffice. That's right, below you can find my live-recorded first game on each map as well as final opinion on the pack. Take a look and a listen, and then decide for yourself whether the maps are worth your hard-earned mulah.

I'll be putting these up over the next few hours, a first impressions video for each map and a single video covering the entire pack. enjoy!

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Thanks for watching and reading everyone! So, to those of you who have already played on these maps, what do you think? Which is your favorite, and more importantly; how badly do you want to get in that Hornet on Skyline? Discuss below!​

 

Funny enough, my first three games on Crimson were legendarily good. Then every one after that was a disappointment Let's see if this set beats Noble for first place on my favorite DLC.

Skyline - SWAT
This was absolutely amazing. I always do well on my first times on maps, but this was just ridiculous. I got 30 kills in this one, the first 6 being a beautiful streak. Everyone I came across, the sightlines just felt right. Boom. Move on. Melee, turn, headshot. Move on. It was brilliant.

Landfall - Extraction
This was just a bunch of fun. I didn't do so well personally, but as a team we wooped them 5-1. I defended each site with my Storm rifle (perfect for the corridors of the inside) and my Autosentry (surprisingly useful!)

Skyline - Slayer
Back to skyline, I felt a bit more sober. I grabbed my favorite loadout, complete with Active Camo, and set out to spread the legs of the enemies. Ended the game with 23 kills, and two achievements - 5 kills with Active Camo active, and 3 ordnance drops in one game. Very satisfying! You'd think the small map would be uncomfortable, but the sightlines and passageways are just right.

 

The Skyline video will be up soon. I haven't had any luck in finding a game on Monolith yet, but that will be up sometime later today.

 

I feel like monolith is getting the short stick on this DLC. But I really like Skyline and Landfall so far.

 

Skyline is up!

 

As far as the forging goes, Landfall is the only good one.

Skyline is just too small of the map and Monolith is too open.

Landfall has objects like bridges, containers, and railings, which are awesome for making physical structures. It's pretty much a a mix between Longshore and Orbital from H3 for me. Right now, I'm working on a progressive infection map on it, and I gotta say, it's like the map was designed to make maps with linear progression.

 

Landfall is by far the best map in the pack. The maps look better than the maps in the Crimson DLC.

 

If there are thousands of dead Spartans everywhere then wasn't the program a failure. Also Spartans never die the go Mia. So technically should be "the failed spartan project leaves thousands of Mia Spartans everywhere". Just sayin

 

I played Monolith once. Once. It was horrible. That's when I stopped writing above.

We played Regicide, and the king successfully holed up in one of the bases with a sniper and a rocket launcher with bottomless clip and unlimited grenades, teammates respawning instantly at his side while he beats you down with a frag grenade to the face from across the map. It was hell. He'd hide, and I'd throw grenades expertly at his feet... as an overshield goes over him... then two rockets and a sniper bullet hit me.

 

I played Monolith once. Once. It was horrible. That's when I stopped writing above.

We played Regicide, and the king successfully holed up in one of the bases with a sniper and a rocket launcher with bottomless clip and unlimited grenades, teammates respawning instantly at his side while he beats you down with a frag grenade to the face from across the map. It was hell. He'd hide, and I'd throw grenades expertly at his feet... as an overshield goes over him... then two rockets and a sniper bullet hit me.

So Monolith is the worst one? How good are the other two in comparison?

 

i find this news about Monolith amusing.
when i first looked at the map, the layout reminded me exactly of Foundry and Sandbox MLG forge maps. Just with a pretty skin/architecture on it.
so i thought, well, thats not my style, but at least it will appease the hyper-competitive crowd.
how amusing that it turns out to be a pisser

 

Monolith video is up. It is a rather simple map, with a few issues. it's certainly better than Solace but is the weakest of the bunch I believe.

 

Monolith video is up. It is a rather simple map, with a few issues. it's certainly better than Solace but is the weakest of the bunch I believe.

Yeah... Solace is pretty bad.

 

So Monolith is the worst one? How good are the other two in comparison?

I don't know if it's the worst, since I've only had one game on it. It's pretty fun with the mancannon and thrusterpack glitch - if you go into one mancannon and jump, you'll land on the mancannon on the opposite side. If you thrusterpack the moment you hit this mancannon, you'll be flung vertically at a high speed. I was so close to assassinating that SOB king this way, be he boltshotted me right after I missed.

As for the other two maps, I really enjoy them. Given the clause in my sig, Skyline plays really really nicely, considering it's size. It's the epitome of good short-mid range combat in my opinion, and the angle and sightlines are just right for varied gameplay, supporting 1-on-1 skirmishes while facilitating team battles well. My only gripe so far is how easily you can camp in each team's base, which when you add the right players, can be downright frustrating.

I really enjoyed landfall - and that's not just because it's freaking beautiful. You've got the mid-long range outside area, with a mid-short range are closer to the buildings, and a short-range area inside. It's got everything. Plays like silk for Slayer, and is a bunch of fun in Objective. When I first heard of gametypes, before ever, ever, ever playing modern FPS, I thought they'd be a lot more fun than they are - most maps just don't seem set up right for them. But for Landfall, I find that each gametype, especially Extraction, is brought to fruition where you can enjoy its greatest potential.

So as you can see, I really enjoy those two

 

...DOWNLOADING...

 

I can't wait to play objective on Landfall.

 

Good to hear. I'm not playing these for another two weeks so it's nice to see at least someone's having fun.

 

Updated with final video

 

I had a pretty fun two games on Skyline. Landfall was amazing. Monolith was pretty damn enjoyable for me.

Skyline SWAT: SWAT, like Tedium said, was rediculously fun. It played really well and the angles/sightlines compliment SWAT very well.
CTF: Capture the Flag was suprisingly enjoyable. I thin this might have been because the teams were balanced, for once. Super clutch game with my team winning by just a few feet.

Landfall Team Slayer: Landfall, like EVERYONE as said, is fucking amazing. All I have to say would be repetative, so let's leave it at that.

Monolith Team Slayer: I don't know about you guys, but this was super fun. Both teams did really well in holding a position and or pushing, which made for an exhilerating game. I did the best on this one, nabbing a 7 kill sword streak and some pretty weird Pulse 'Nade kills.

This is a great map pack, and I am exttemely excited to here about the next.

 

I had a pretty fun two games on Skyline. Landfall was amazing. Monolith was pretty damn enjoyable for me.

Skyline SWAT: SWAT, like Tedium said, was rediculously fun. It played really well and the angles/sightlines compliment SWAT very well.
CTF: Capture the Flag was suprisingly enjoyable. I thin this might have been because the teams were balanced, for once. Super clutch game with my team winning by just a few feet.

Landfall Team Slayer: Landfall, like EVERYONE as said, is fucking amazing. All I have to say would be repetative, so let's leave it at that.

Monolith Team Slayer: I don't know about you guys, but this was super fun. Both teams did really well in holding a position and or pushing, which made for an exhilerating game. I did the best on this one, nabbing a 7 kill sword streak and some pretty weird Pulse 'Nade kills.

This is a great map pack, and I am exttemely excited to here about the next.

Sounds pretty good. If I have shit games on it tomorrow, I'm holding you accountable.