As Halo players already know, Halo: Reach is one of the most complete first-person shooters ever created and includes an amazing singleplayer campaign and a multiplayer experience crammed to the gills (the gills!) with features that make other offerings from similar games seem shallow in comparison. Not to mention it’s great fun!

With the release of the second multiplayer map pack for Halo: Reach, Defiant, Microsoft has extended the range of online playgrounds available to multiplayer gamers with three new arenas – two for competitive play and one for the round-based, enemy-wave-destroying Firefight mode.

Not only is the Defiant map pack important for Halo fans in order to freshen up gameplay a bit and provide new levels to sink their teeth into, but it’s also a significant piece of content because it is, in effect, a ‘passing of the torch’ from previous franchise stewards Bungie to the new Halo custodians, 343 Industries, as well as that company’s development partner, Certain Affinity.

While Certain Affinity has played in this sandbox before with the creation of sets of Halo remake maps for Halo 2 (and the fact that the team comprises former members of Bungie), this is the first time (to my knowledge) that an original piece of playable Halo content has been created by anyone other than Bungie.

Continue reading El33tonline’s review of the Halo: Reach Defiant Map Pack.