Halo 3 Heroic maps are now free

By Robert Purchese Published 25 March, 2008

Bungie making way for Legendary Pack.

The Heroic Map Pack for Halo 3 is now available to download for free.

The Heroic bundle originally cost nearly seven pounds when it was released back in January, but was worth every penny. Despite containing just three maps, each offered a startling amount of diversity and quality. I stole that last bit from our review of the Heroic contents. I also stole the opinion that Standoff was our favourite map of the three.

Bungie promised it will waive the fee for the Heroic bundle to make way for its Legendary Map Pack. This will be released on 15th April and cost 800 Points (GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60).

The Legendary Map Pack will offer three fresh scenarios to kill each other on, Ghost Town, Avalanche, and an unannounced level.

Pop over to the Bungie website for mouse-over comparisons of Avalanche against its inspiration Sidewinder, an original Halo 1 map.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • syphaa #1 4 years ago

    Sweet!
    Will pop in my DL queue later.

  • dsmx #2 4 years ago

    Should of been free from the beginning.

  • Lutz #3 4 years ago

    Sidewinder....

    /homer drool

  • peterfll #4 4 years ago

    Will I actually come better than last or second to last in matches though?

    Perhaps I'm just a bit shit but everyone seems to be so much better than me :-(

  • MBar #5 4 years ago

    Yippy skippy. Was going to start playing a bit of Halo 3 again, so no better time I guess.

  • Ceatlan #6 4 years ago

    dsmx : Why should anything that takes time, effort and money to make in the first place, ever be free ?
    Edited by Ceatlan at 25/03/08 @ 16:53

  • gingerlink #7 4 years ago

    @Ceatlan
    Agreed

    This may mean seeing some more people on grifball too now :D

  • themorganator #8 4 years ago

    I still think they were to expensive for three maps.

  • MBar #9 4 years ago

    dsmx : Why should anything that takes time, effort and money to make in the first place, ever be free ?

    The instant comeback will be: They said one or more of them would have been in the release version of the game if they'd had time, so why are we now paying for them?

    I, on the other hand, don't give a monkey's. Although, nearly seven quid for three maps is slightly harsh ...

  • dsmx #10 4 years ago

    Well lets see mods take time, effort and in some cases money and are released for free and contain far more content. Epic release maps for free, hell even EA released a free map for bf2.

    edited to make it more readable.
    Edited by dsmx at 25/03/08 @ 17:13

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #11 4 years ago

    But they are free - they're free now. So they make money of the hardcore Halo fans before giving it everyone else for nowt. That was made clear at the beginning. Don't know why people are complaining...

  • Lebowski #12 4 years ago

    I could've designed and forged that warehouse map in my lunch hour. two and a bit map rip-off IMHO, so won't be stung by the next batch that probably won't-be-in-matchmaking-until-it's-free again.

  • rhinoxious #13 4 years ago

    "I still think they were to expensive for three maps."

    Well that all depends on how much you play Halo I guess, but given they are free now, what's there to complain about?

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #14 4 years ago

    @dsmx

    "Should have been free from the beginning."

    6/10 - See me!

    If you haven't guessed, it happens to be one of my biggest pet pieves =o)

  • Lebowski #15 4 years ago

    And 'blackout' is 'lockout' - hahahahahaha.

    Money for old (bungie) rope.

  • Stu #16 4 years ago

    Excellent news.

  • DonnieDarko333 #17 4 years ago

    Oh good! I'll download em now! I just didn't think 800 points for 3 maps were worth it, in my opinion!

  • Dizzy #18 4 years ago

    Are you they kind of people who order tap water when taking a girl out for dinner?

  • dsmx #19 4 years ago

    No were the kind of people who think that extra content should be free like it always used to be until microsoft decided that you should pay for absolutely everything.

  • crazyhorse174 #20 4 years ago

    No were the kind of people who think that extra content should be free like it always used to be until microsoft decided that you should pay for absolutely everything.

    What have Microsoft got to do with this? It's the games publishers who ask for the extra money for their content?

  • Yossarian #21 4 years ago

    Yes, and Microsoft publish Halo.

  • Dizzy #22 4 years ago

    "No were the kind of people who think that extra content should be free like it always used to be until microsoft decided that you should pay for absolutely everything. "

    Haaa.... the imaginary "good old" days. When game designers apparently had to work for free and everything on TEH internet was free. Such bliss.

    I think you *really* order tap water mate.
    Edited by Dizzy at 25/03/08 @ 20:35

  • Xerx3s #23 4 years ago

    No were the kind of people who think that extra content should be free like it always used to be until microsoft decided that you should pay for absolutely everything.

    Ah, so I imagined buying all those expansion packs in the ninties then. Obviously it's all MS's fault. They are evil you see. You shouldn't buy their products. They are EVIL! Buy sony instead.

  • bioreit #24 4 years ago

    @dsmx

    "No were the kind of people who think that extra content should be free like it always used to be until microsoft decided that you should pay for absolutely everything."

    /thumps side of head

    Dang! I must be getting false memories from all the shareware games of the mid-90s - Duke Nukem (not 3D), Commander Keen, Wolfenstein, Rise of the Triad, et al obviously never required extra payment for all the extra episodes. I mean, they obviously came with each and every level intact and complete after the initial payment was made.

    And if they didn't do so, clearly the evil Microsoft Go Back In Time and Ruin Games For Everyone Team™ performed their function and forced them to charge more money. At gun point.

  • dk_rare #25 4 years ago

    As if paying MOAR than full price for Halo 3 wasn't bad enough as it is, they now want us to pay for maps :( PC gamers must be rolling in their graves at the thought of paying for updates, assuming that PC gaming is dead and buried that is.

  • CreepinJesus #26 4 years ago

    Yes, we all know that 800pts for 3 pretty crap maps is extortionate. And things did used to be free.

    Think of Ghost Recon: Island Thunder. That game was brilliant, it was half-price (RRP £20), and not one of the downloadable maps (of which there were 13!) cost anything at all. Not a penny.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #27 4 years ago

    Why does every thread about the cost of content have to descend to this?

    At the end of the day, if consumers thought the price was too high then they wouldn't buy the content, thereby forcing the publishers to use lower costs. Evidently, there's enough of us out there who don't think that the price is too high, and whether you like it or not the price at which consumers will buy content is entirely subjective.

    Unforunately, we live in a world where the cost of something isn't defined by how much it costs to make + a little profit to keep the company afloat. We live in a capitalist world where, bizzarely, businesses want to make as much profit as possible (and I'm bloody sure their shareholders want to see that too). Ergo, businesses will charge whatever the consumer deems acceptable. Just look at the record industry and how much profit they get on each CD produced.

    What I'm trying to get at is that just because YOU don't think it's acceptable, don't lambast people who DO think it's acceptable. There's obviously enough of us =o)

    I would add, however, that as a games programmer myself I probably do have somewhat of a swayed opinion on this matter. Nevertheless, before I worked in the industry I still forked out for content, and back then I was a poor student!

  • Lebowski #28 4 years ago

    What creepinjesus said about Island Thunder is totally correct. And it was better, more original quality than the reheated 'maps' we're getting now.

  • zuljin #29 4 years ago

    @dsmx
    Theres no such thing as free downloadable content from a developer. When so called "free map packs" are released, the cost of them is taken out of the cost of the original game. Do you think designers and artists will just work a few extra weeks for free?

    Paying for content is a better method for a lot of developers, because it means they're taking less of a risk making content when a game could possible flop (although admittently that was pretty unlikely when it comes to Halo).

  • subtlesnake #30 4 years ago

    "The instant comeback will be: They said one or more of them would have been in the release version of the game if they'd had time, so why are we now paying for them?"

    Because Bungie have to stop development at some point? If Bungie had spent 10 years on Halo 3 I'm sure we'd have 100 maps. Bastards.

  • Widge #31 4 years ago

    Now I liked this about Bungie, they did the same with the Halo 2 maps. I was quite happy to sit about and wait for them to become free. My Live subscription was only use for Halo 2 so it already felt like I was giving them £x a month anyway!

    I think all devs should have expiry dates on their content, and to be fair, download content now is going to be a way of life for games in the future. Be happy that someone is giving you something for nothing.

  • Les #32 4 years ago

    "Theres no such thing as free downloadable content from a developer. When so called "free map packs" are released, the cost of them is taken out of the cost of the original game. Do you think designers and artists will just work a few extra weeks for free?"

    True. Though the you might argue that, given equal value for money in the initial package, the game that subsequently provides the DLC for free (so included in the price of admission) is offering better value for money.

    I've not yet made up my mind how I feel about schemes like this. On the one hand the sceptic in me says it's a cynic way of earning some extra cash through exploiting the people with poor self control (which basically amounts in exploiting your biggest fans). On the other hand, those people knew what they're getting into.
    Edited by Les at 27/03/08 @ 20:25