Bungie: Sidewinder + more awesome = Avalanche

by Dustin Burg { Mar 20th 2008 at 10:15AM }

After hearing about Halo 3's latest Legendary Map Pack addition being a "re-imagining" of Halo's Sidewinder, some fanboys' responses have been that of reserved excitement. Such reservation is probably due to the fact that Bungie openly made it known that Avalanche is not an exact port of Sidewinder as they had to make it more Halo 3 friendly. But such reservation may not be warranted, or so that's what Bungie is telling us.

Posting over on HBO, Bungie's own Sketch wanted to clear the air regarding Avalanche and what being "re-imagined" really means. According to the Sketch'ster, Avalanche is as close to the look and feel of Sidewinder as possible taking into account the design team's changes. Avalanche is not is considered a "spiritual successor" map such as Valhalla is to Blood Gulch or Guardian is to Lockout, but instead stays much more true to what Sidewinder had to offer. Sketch goes on to promise that "the overall layout and general play is going to feel very familiar" and really, we have every reason to believe him. Man cannons, more vehicles and more awesome should fit nicely into the Sidewinder recipe. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that Avalanche features the oh so iconic slippery ice that Sidewinder was known for.

Tags: bungie, bungie-studios, halo-3, legendary-map-pack

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Bmurph @ Mar 20th 2008 10:22AM

Sounds cool. I'm still a little bummed about the price though - esp. after buying the previous map pack and not getting full value.

largents @ Mar 20th 2008 10:29AM

DUSTIN...turn the page. You guys crack me up on the podcast when you are writing about the latest 360 games and none of you are playing the latest games. Maybe you should have a guest come on to review the latest for you.

stealth @ Mar 20th 2008 10:39AM

I'd still prefer a lockout or blood gulch.

STD Spanky @ Mar 20th 2008 10:38AM

Where'd that pic come from? Is that an official birds eye of Avalanche?

a ham sandwich @ Mar 20th 2008 10:37AM

i hope i can still whip around that corner and slide on the ice in a warthog!

Brave @ Mar 20th 2008 10:42AM

If that really is Avalanche, it seems a Lot more like Sidewinder then Containment, which I am quite thankful for

thadwhit @ Mar 20th 2008 11:09AM

I'm so hoping the 3rd map is Hang 'em High. Given the clue at the end of Luke Smith's post at Bungie, I am optimistic.

zigzag @ Mar 20th 2008 11:11AM

so you pay for a rehash of an old map?

Boff @ Mar 20th 2008 11:30AM

Yeah but come on, he's not going to turn around and say "Actually these maps are a bit shit and you'd enjoy the original ones a lot more so please DO NOT buy them."

Gemini Ace @ Mar 20th 2008 11:30AM

The price is still too high. The only way I can justify this is to wait until the Heroic pack is free, then get 6 maps for 800 points. Thanks, M$!

beans @ Mar 20th 2008 12:12PM

man...sidewinder...that brings back some college day memories...sidewinder was by far the best CTF in halo...games easily lasted 2-4 hours and it was non stop fun. I remember when my team first tried to run the flag through the grate in the middle section, that was pure genius...

beans @ Mar 20th 2008 12:14PM

and sniper duty!!! man, I loved and hated sniper duty...

PerfectStrategy @ Mar 20th 2008 1:05PM

Whoa, a few Halo noobs around here. The picture posted IS sidewinder from the original Halo: Combat Evolved. Avalanche's design is based on sidewinder but somebody not intimately familiar with Halo would not be able to tell they are similar at all. Sort of like CoD4's upcoming Chinatown compared to Carentan. Except Chinatown literally is just like Carentan, while Avalanche they changed some stuff like taking out the middle shortcut and the ladders.

Just read bungie.net for more info, they explain it better there. From what I've read so far, Avalanche is a Halo fanboy's dream come true.

Drew @ Mar 20th 2008 1:59PM

@Gemini Ace:
The Heroic map pack will become free at the same time the Legendary map pack is released, so if you bought Legendary, you would be able to get all 6 maps for the 800 points.

Mr.ESC @ Mar 20th 2008 2:48PM

Well I bought Heroic (not knowing Legendary was on the way and Heroic was going to be free) and the 3 maps barely add something to Halo.The 3 maps were quite lame and the truth is that I don't see myself buying this.

Bungie should at least give something to the people who bought the Heroic maps.

Ghostbuddy @ Mar 20th 2008 3:43PM

"and the 3 maps barely add something to Halo. The 3 maps were quite lame "

You have to be kidding me. How can you play Foundry and say that? You pretty much get the tools to make your own small map. What kind of unreachable expectations did you have to be that disapointed with the map pack?

If you feel jipped because you didn't know the maps would be free in four months thats your own fault. Bungie always makes their content free eventually.

"Bungie should at least give something to the people who bought the Heroic maps."

You paid for the maps, you got the maps. You get what you pay for. They don't owe you anything beyond what you bought. Like I said, Bungie openly stated the maps would eventually be free. They have been doing that since Halo 2. They want all of their fans to enjoy their work. Acting like you deserve more, is just greedy.

Anyways, from the description I think the third map is Lockout.