GRcade

Benj wrote:How do you get those stats of your last week of play? x

Daniel wrote:Team Doubles is my favourite and Multi Team (apart from when it gives Team Swords)....

Still the best Shooter of the next-gen. Has outlasted Cod too even though it was released months before it

shas'la wrote:

Daniel wrote:Team Doubles is my favourite and Multi Team (apart from when it gives Team Swords)....

Still the best Shooter of the next-gen. Has outlasted Cod too even though it was released months before it

outoftime101 wrote:Is this a remake or a brand new map and any details on when its due?

Let's head off the inevitable influx of questions at the proverbial pass: We currently have no information on how or when Assembly will be made available. When we know, we'll let you know. We promise.

This weekend at PAX we’re lifting the veil on Assembly, the map previously known as Purple Reign.

Sarge wrote:

outoftime101 wrote:Is this a remake or a brand new map and any details on when its due?

No info about when it's due out.

Let's head off the inevitable influx of questions at the proverbial pass: We currently have no information on how or when Assembly will be made available. When we know, we'll let you know. We promise.

This weekend at PAX we’re lifting the veil on Assembly, the map previously known as Purple Reign.

As part of their Penny Arcade Expo presence, team Bungie lifted the mysterious curtain on their latest Halo 3 multiplayer map called Purple Reign Assembly, giving PAX attendees a new map to frolic about in. But knowing that it isn't a Midship, Gemini or any other Halo map remake, the big question is whether or not Assembly plays splendidly or if it is any fun at all. And we're pleased to tell you that, yes, it's an unbelievably well designed map that ranks high among our Halo 3 favorites. Impressions after the break.

First, let's get a few Assembly informative bits out of the way. Bungie did not and refused to talk about any specifics regarding Assembly including how it'll be released, when it'll be released or even if it's paid content. Knowing that info, let's jump into our hands-on impressions.

Assembly is a medium, medium-large sized space with plenty of room for 4v4 multiplayer matches of Slayer, Oddball, CTF or even King of the Hill matches making it a very versatile map. As far as cosmetics are concerned, Assembly is a true Covenant looking map with plenty of reflective purple walls to navigate through, greenish yellow grav lifts to launch you towards the heavens and gray walkways to ... uhhh, walk on. The coolest part of the map's look is the Covenant Cruiser that hovers overhead and is seemingly assembling some kind of Covenant structure. Hence the map's name.

Taking a look at the map layout itself, the best way we can describe its unqiue characteristics is by comparing it to a few other Halo maps even though it was made very clear that Assembly is NOT a remake or inspiration map. To us though, Assembly is a bit like Midship, Ascension and Gridlock combined. It's a circular multi-level Covenant map (Midship) that uses a central multi-tiered focused layout (Warlock) where players call fall off the outer ledge or jump from outer platform to outer platform (Ascension). Collectively speaking, it's a medium sized circular experience with numerous nooks and crannies on the outside, ramps and lifts on the inner rim, a few towers on the sides and a central structure where the action seems to always be focused towards.

After playing a few rounds, we were intrigued by some of the map's "features" including the central most lower part of the map that houses the Gravity Hammer. It's an interesting location because the Hammer is surrounded by four explosive fusion cores and a few times we saw players toss in a grenade or two on an unsuspecting Hammer-whore which only resulted in a severely weakened Hammer-whore. Speaking of Assembly's central location, on the upper most level players will spot active camouflage floating in some sort of super charged light beam. This too is a perfect place to chuck grenades into to rack up a few double (or triple) kills. We also loved the map's outer towers where jumping along the wall and navigating up towards the platforms is encouraged and those who make it up alive will be treated with rockets. Explosively useful rockets at that.

Now you ask, how does it play? Surprisingly enough, Assembly may be our favorite Halo 3 multiplayer map yet. It's a nice mix of close quarters combat, open long range combat and risk versus reward scenarios that you don't see too much in other maps. At times it's chaotic, other times you'll feel like you're stalking your prey and at other times you'll wonder why you can't walk ten feet without being loaded full of BR bullets. Honestly, Assembly is a very well designed map.

After surviving the reading that was required by the wall of text, we're sure you want some visually entertaining Assembly footage. You're in luck! Here's over a minute and a half of some off-screen Halo 3 Assembly gameplay footage set to musical deliciousness that is Benny Hill. Enjoy.

This is straight from PAX, so take from it what you will! I imagine this is something to do with the rumored "Expansion Pack" that has been hinted in past Halo videos. "You may have finished the fight, but the ride isn't over just yet" - Words that have intrigued all of us Halo 3 fans for nearly a month, perhaps these words may now have been answered. There are however literally hundreds of things this could be, so we'll wait to see what "Mythic" actually is. We've contacted Microsoft for an official comment on this.

A few things we can see:

* There's a Dev System underneath, which could mean a fair few things.
* The options in the menu are Multiplayer only, no Campaign options.
* The version of the game is 1.2 (Retail Halo 3 is currently 1.1)

According to Joystiq, Bungie's Brian Jarrard explained that the Mythic picture was taken prior to the PAX kickoff and wasn't meant for public consumption. Jarrad then made it clear that the Mythic screen is "really not that exciting" and has "gotten kind of blown out of proportion." We attempted to get someone at Bungie to talk about it, but mum is the word.

According to a post over on Ascendant Justice Forums, there will be a new set of 30 Halo 3 achievements that will be releasing in the near future and they even include screenshot proof (ninja-taken during PAX) to prove it. Content that may have something to do with that Halo 3 Mythic rumor we heard about the other day. The achievements, which look to be based on the Heroic, Legendary and (speculated) Mythic map packs, look rather legit seeing that the descriptions, achievement names AND off-screen photographic proof are supplied. But, as is customary with Bungie, we're in the dark regarding how they'll be implemented, whether or not the content has anything to do with the Mythic stuff or even the E3 stuff. That is if this is legit news.

Rumored Halo 3 Achievements

1. Heretic Skull 25pt
2. Citadel Skull 25pt
3. Assembly Skull 25pt
4. Sandbox Skull 25pt
5. Orbital Skull 25pt
6. Longshore Skull 25pt
7. Tank Dropper 25pt
8. Zombie Repeller 25pt
9. Delicious Brains 25pt
10. Save This Film 25pt
11. Have Fun Respawning 25pt
12. Killtacular 25pt
13. Awww, Too Bad 25pt
14. ... Get the Horns 25pt
15. Post Mortem 25pt
16. Ghost Patrol 25pt
17. Blades of Fury 25pt
18. Pull 25pt
19. Hammer Time 25pt
20. Look Both Ways 50pt
21. Road Rage 25pt
22. Flag Dropped 25pt
23. Defend This 50pt
24. Came... From... Behind... 50pt
25. Alas, Poor Yorick 25pt
26. Double Double 25pt
27. Vidmaster Challenge: Brainpan 25pt
28. Vidmaster Challenge: 7 on 7 0pt
29. Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch 0pt
30. Vidmaster Challenge: Annual 0pt