So this is Christmas and what have you learned? Well if you’re a gamer, you’ve probably learned that so many titles came out in the last month or two that you really cant decide which title you want to devote your time too. Currently the big game online is Call of Duty: Black Ops, but not so long ago it if your memory hasn’t been wiped by continuous air strikes, attack dogs,  and remote controlled explosives, it was Halo Reach.

The folks over at Bungie definitely haven’t forgotten this; they’ve made a damn good game and they want to make sure that people keep playing it and getting the most value out of its online offerings. With this in mind, on the 30^th of November Bungie released the first new map pack for Halo Reach.

The map pack entitled the “Noble Map pack” costs 800 Microsoft Points (roughly €9.30) and if you’re a fan of the series, and can’t get enough of your Halo, is well worth the bang for your buck. The pack itself is comprised of three separate maps, two large scale maps for 8-16 players and one smaller scale map for 2-8 players (for when you just cant find enough people to play with or your connection speed doesn’t deal so well with large battles).

The smaller scale map is called “Anchor 9” and is set within a low orbit-dry dock it is made up of narrow hallways with a central open hangar bay (perfect for good old fashioned close combat).

The two larger maps are called “Tempest” and “Breakpoint”. Tempest is set on a snowy mountain tops with a number of crevices and bridges surrounding the peak and contains a number of tunnels and lab buildings for shelter; it’s perfect for those big team battles.“Breakpoint” is set on a rocky piece of terrain bordered by the sea. If you’re a fan of the Halo series, think of it as Halo 3’s classic Valhalla map with a scenic ocean view. This map has all you need for a big team assault.

So there you have it, three maps for 800 Microsoft Points, if you’ve bought these kind of packs before it’s a pretty standard offering, however to sweeten the deal Bungie have thrown in a couple of little extras. Firstly, you can take these maps into Forge and edit them to create your own versions and game modes which you can then share with the Halo Reach Community. Secondly, for all you point obsessed perfectionists Bungie has included an additional bunch of achievements worth 250 gamerscore points for you to unlock.

I’ve been playing reach for quite some time and was finding the included existing maps to get worn, if you enjoy reach and are looking to add some freshness back into the online game play then I’d highly recommend investing in this add-on.