A Quick Look At Halo: Reach's Forgeworld

I just wrapped up two marathon days of playing Halo: Reach. In my over 20 hours of playing this week, I beat the campaign, played a ton of multiplayer, and messed around quite a bit in the new Forgeworld. Like many gamers, I didn't spend too much time in Halo 3's Forge. It wasn't the most user-friendly interface, and the opportunities for creativity were somewhat limited. Thankfully, Reach features a hugely improved Forge mode, complete with its own massive canvas named Forgeworld. Naturally, I immediately felt the need to turn that canvas into a really dumb battleground.

My creation was Rock Monster, a CTF map featuring dueling monsters composed mostly of giant stones. Up above, you can see a wide shot of the titans duking it out. Rock Monster on the left is heaving stones at...um, we'll just call him Dragon Mountain or something.

This is Rock Monster. The Red Team's flag is on top of his head. Sorry for the picture quality, I had to use my cell phone. We were playing on demo kits, so there was no way of saving direct screens from the game.

Red Team starts near the base of Rock Monster. Down near his legs, you can find rapidly respawning jetpacks to help out with the journey to Dragon Mountain. To get to the blue flag, they'll have to ascend these platforms until they enter the back of his mouth.

Once inside Rock Monster's mouth, they'll find a man cannon that propels them directly towards Dragon Mountain's open mouth (where the Blue flag is).

Things are a little tougher for the Red Team, because the trip will kill them if they don't ease the impact with a jetpack. However, Blue Team can still return the enemy flag here even if they die. The capture plate is directly where your dead body will fall if you do it wrong, so it's possible to sacrifice yourself and still earn a capture point.

This is Dragon Mountain. You'll see the Blue flag inside his mouth. He has land mines for eyes.

Blue Team starts on a mountain fairly near Dragon Mountain, and there are jetpacks near their spawn point. To get to the Red flag, they'll need to go across these platforms and drop down into the dragon's mouth.

Once inside the mouth, Blue Team members have to man cannon across the gap, dropping them onto Rock Monster's shoulder.

From the shoulder, they have to climb up a series of platforms to reach the flag on Rock Monster's head.

In our time playing, we found that Rock Monster's body is where a lot of the action happens. Run-ins with other teams or flag carriers are common here, and a misstep could mean a long fall to your death.

If the Blue Team does manage to get the Red flag, they have to precariously drop down into his mouth cannon in order to launch back to Dragon Mountain's mouth.

If players don't want to risk the launch to the other team's base, it's possible to make it from place to place by jumping on Rock Monster's stones.

If you time a jump just right, you can reach the Falcon that's halfway between the monsters. This spot is great for picking off mid-air enemies as they go back and forth.

That's Rock Monster. It works as a CTF map, but it's clearly thrown together pretty hastily. If someone with almost no map editing experience (me) can put together a sloppy yet functional map in 30 minutes, imagine what the more experienced members of the Halo community will be able to put together with the new Forge tools. These tools in conjunction with the massive Forgeworld area are sure to result in some popular creations.

Oh yeah, and this dude is just hanging out in Rock Monster. If you go in his mouth, you die. That's all he's there for.