Please read Part 1. of this blog first.
As a release title for the Xbox in 2001, Bungie finished Halo's Multiplayer by the skin of their teeth and although there was a lack of vehicle based maps; the two that did have them became instant classics to many fans.
Multiplayer maps in Halo CE:
- Battle Creek: N/A
- Sidewinder: Hogs, Ghost & sometimes Scorpions.
- Damnation: N/A
- Rat Race: N/A
- Prisoner: N/A
- Hang 'Em High: N/A
- Chill Out: N/A
- Derelict: N/A
- Boarding Action: N/A
- Chiron TL-34: N/A
- Blood Gulch: Hogs, Ghost & sometimes the Scorpion Tank.
- Wizard: N/A
- Longest: N/A
Now here is where things got interesting... Developed by +Gearbox Software Halo CE for the (PC/Mac) came out in September of 2003. It was clear Gearbox really got what made Halo's style of game-play so fun and unique for many fans. *Spoiler* it's the vehicles. By adding the Banshee, Rocket Hog and other weapons Halo PC was all fun in the sun.
The list of maps in Halo PC:
- Death Island: Banshees, Ghosts, Scorpions, and Warthogs.
- Danger Canyon: Warthogs and Ghosts.
- Infinity: Warthogs, Ghosts, Banshees.
- Timberland: Warthogs, ghosts and sometimes the Scorpion.
- Ice Fields: Warthogs, ghosts and sometimes the Scorpion.
- Gephyrophobia: Ghosts and Lots of Banshees.
In Halo 2 there were more maps with vehicle support in them than in the first Halo release. (Quite a few of the maps that didn't support vehicles in Halo 2 were remakes of Maps from the first Halo or other Bungie games long ago.) Looking back at the marketing campaign on Bungie.net, you can see from some of the images below; vehicles were a high selling point for Halo 2. Leading the pack in the majority of marketing images was the Warthog. This marketing ingrains in our minds the Warthog is quintessential Halo. Halo 2 also introduced the M12G1 "Gauss-Hog" which began dominating the playing field on maps like Zanzibar and Headlong, cementing our love for the king of the road.
Multiplayer maps in Halo 2:
- Ascension: A single Banshee.
- Backwash: Sometimes had Ghosts.
- Beaver Creek: N/A (CE Remake)
- Burial Mounds: Warthogs and Ghosts.
- Coagulation: Banshees, Warthogs and Ghosts. + Tanks.
- Colossus: N/A
- Containment: Two Kinds of Warthogs, Banshees, Tanks.
- Desolation: N/A (CE Remake)
- Elongation: N/A (CE Remake)
- Foundation: N/A (Marathon 2 map Remake)
- Gemini: N/A (Marathon map Remake)
- Headlong: Ghosts, Warthogs,and a Banshee.
- Ivory Tower: N/A
- Lockout: N/A
- Mid Ship: N/A
- Relic: Warthogs and Ghosts.
- Sanctuary: Sometimes had Ghosts.
- Terminal: Wraith, Warthogs, and a Ghost.
- Tombstone: N/A (CE Remake)
- Turf: Had a lone Warthog.
- Warlock: N/A (CE Remake)
- Waterworks: Warthogs, Ghosts, Banshee and Tanks.
- Zanzibar: Warthogs and Ghosts.
In 2007 Halo 3 is released on the new Xbox360, touting the biggest vehicle sandbox to date. As well as some of the biggest and by far the most open Maps in the series.
Here is the list of Vehicles in Halo 3:
1. Warthog 1+2 (Gauss and .50cal versions)
2. Mongoose 1+1
3. Scorpion Tank 1+1
4.Chopper 1
5. Banshee 1
6. Ghost 1
7. Wraith 1+1
8. Hornet 1+2
9. The Prowler
10. The Elephant 1+ 1 + Crew
Multiplayer Map vehicle support in Halo 3:
- Assembly: N/A
- Avalanche: Ghosts, Wraiths, Hogs, Hornets, Geese and sometimes Choppers and Scorpions.
- Blackout: N/A
- Citadel: N/A
- Cold Storage: N/A
- Construct: N/A
- Epitaph: N/A
- Foundry: N/A
- Ghost Town: Geese.
- Guardian: N/A
- Heretic: N/A
- High Ground: Ghosts and Geese.
- Isolation: Ghosts and Geese.
- Last Resort: Ghosts, Geese, and a Gauss Hog.
- Long Shore: Ghosts.
- Narrows: N/A
- Orbital: Ghosts and Geese.
- Rats Nest: Lots of Hogs, Geese and a Ghost.
- Sandbox: Choppers, Hogs and Geese.
- Sand Trap: Choppers, Lots of Hogs, Geese, a Banshee and 2 Elephant Mobile Bases.
- Snowbound: A lone Ghost.
- Standoff: Gauss Hogs, Geese, sometimes had Banshees and Choppers.
- The Pit: N/A
- Valhalla: Warthogs, Banshees, Geese and sometimes Wraiths and Scorpions.
Yet, the other side to this was there were many maps that supported small vehicles like the Ghost and Mongoose, but lacked the size to support things like the Warthog. If you look at the list of maps above, you will see a decent balance of Large-scale Vehicle centric maps, Smaller "Arena" style of gaming and finally maps that catered to medium sized Attack/Defend game-types.
Which brings me to three key halo Play-styles that make up the population of Multiplayer. There are the Social, Competitive, and the Creative players. (Many players switch back and forth with what they enjoy doing and aren't locked into one rigid style of game-play.) With these play-styles we begin to develop what maps we really like playing on. Why those maps were enjoyable for us is easily reflected in what kind of player type you tend to gravitate towards most. Now I'm not stating you have to be only one kind of Halo gamer; for that's the wrong way to think about things. But there are aspects of the game that some players get more enjoyment out of than others. I myself enjoy Social-Competition the most. I have never made a successful custom game-type like Griffball or Zombies, nor have I made any amazing Forge maps, because I just didn't enjoy toiling for hours Forge in Halo 3. But I do love playing with groups of people and winning games. I'm not however a Hyper-Competitive Player like the ones that form clans which organize practice games and keep an eye on the game clock for when Power Weapons re-spawn. I don't enjoy the MLG game-types, and I hardly ever rage quit when my team is losing. Because I play for fun.
So when a vehicle like the M12LRV Warthog or the Mongoose in Halo 4 is so useless I can't drive around the map with my friends in tow, it really hits me hard as a player. All of the Large Vehicles in Halo 4 are 1 or 2 seats maximum. The lack of Cooperative vehicle mayhem hurts a key aspect that made Halo unique and fun for players like myself.
(Skipping Reach)
Here is the list of Vehicles & driver + passenger count in Halo 4:
1. Warthog 1+2
2. Mongoose 1+1
3. Scorpion Tank 1+1
4. Mantis 1
5. Banshee 1
6. Ghost 1
7. Wraith 1+1
The Multiplayer map list in Halo 4:
- Adrift: N/A
- Abandon: N/A
- Complex: Geese, Ghosts
- Exile: Gauss & M12LRV Warthogs, Ghosts, the Scorpion, and Geese.
- Harvest: 4 Warthogs and Ghosts.
- Haven: N/A
- Longbow: Warthogs, Geese and Ghosts.
- Meltdown: Warthogs, Ghosts, and the Mantis.
- Ragnarok: Hogs, Ghosts, Geese, Banshees and the Mantis.
- Shatter: Ghosts, and the Mantis.
- Solace: N/A
- Vortex: Ghosts, Geese, a Wraith, Rocket Hog, Regular Hog.
- Wreckage: Warthogs and Ghosts.
As you can see above, there are many maps in Halo 4 that have a good selection of vehicles... But so many of them are easily destroyed now due to the Plasma Pistol + Plasma Grenade combo picked in load-outs. Another reason vehicle game-play in Halo 4 isn't as fun as before, is the layout of the new maps. Some of the brand new Large Maps in Halo 4 are not open enough to allow vehicles to drive around uninhibited. Shatter, Meltdown and Wreckage are good examples of this "Cluttered" kind of Large Map style.
Even Exile (which is a good example of a decent Halo 4 vehicle map) has it's tight spaces. The most open area on the map (Which I have circled for you below) points to where vehicles tend to stay alive longer. So now you have your vehicle wedged against the wall, where you have the best sight lines for oncoming hordes of people charging you with their charged Plasma Pistol aglow and you may get a decent kill streak going. Oh did I also mention this is the M12G1"Gauss hog" I'm talking about and not the M12LRV. That Warthog usually sits at each base, rusting away the majority of matches.
Exhibit A:
Now, Meltdown is an example of a really cramped vehicle map that isn't much fun to play on. Notice the cramped path-like areas vehicles like the M12LRV must stay on, in order to traverse this sort of map.
Exhibit B:
So: with their freedom of movement gone, numerous blind corners, Power weapons and the PP+ PG combo lurking about; light vehicles like the M12LRV Warthog/Ghosts/Mongoose are no real use (or fun for that matter.) to players who used vehicles because they were practical in previous titles.
And on the cramped maps (Like Shatter) Slower vehicles like the Mantis get ambushed by players who just lay in wait in the tight spaces. Getting easy kills off a vehicle that would be quite formidable in an open area.
The Warthog is so loved it spawned it's own Easter Egg.
Speaking of Easter...
Do you remember the story of the Velveteen Rabbit?
The story about a boy who loved his stuffed animal with all his heart (and that stuffed animal quietly loved him back.) They were inseparable until the day the boy gets terribly ill and the nanny ends up throwing out many of the boy's possessions afterwards; including the stuffed Rabbit who he loved so dearly.
The Velveteen Rabbit was tossed into the trash pile, left unloved and broken in the corner...
The M12LRV Warthog is my Velveteen Rabbit 343i. And you have to be the ones that fix my unloved toy.
PS. The mongoose needs love too.
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