Shack editors Chris Remo and Chris Faylor hopped on to Xbox Live tonight to try out the new Halo 3 maps from Bungie's Heroic Map Pack a few hours before they went live for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). These are their stories.

Foundry

Bungie has finally addressed one of the core limitations of Forge: its customization options, while a godsend for gametype development, are pretty bare-bones when it comes to meaningfully altering a level's geometry.

Foundry is basically a large indoor area filled with crates, walls, stairways, and suspended platforms (it may remind you of every other FPS ever made), which can be completely removed and replaced--and used in the other two new maps. I toyed around with it, and the potential for platformer-esque levels and maze-like constructions is clear.

Even in stock form, the cluttered layout, full of cover and hiding places, should work very well for Slayer and Team slayer games. -C.R.

Standoff

Standoff is bound to become a favorite for team objective games. An intricate system of tunnels promises lots of close encounters, a nice juxtaposition to the sprawling exterior.

That should be good times, especially with Oddball or Capture the Flag. I can see skull carriers ducking in and out of tunnels, narrowly evading drunken packs of frat boys in their daddies' Mongooses (Mongeese?).

Standoff should work well for Rocket Race, the holiest of all multiplayer modes. Though not nearly as large as Rocket Race standby Sandtrap, Standoff's tighter layout and precarious cliffs seem ideal for smaller games, perhaps of two or three teams. -C.F.

Keep reading for Rat's Race impressions.

Rat's Race

Rat's Nest is unusual in that it's entirely comprised of tunnels and corridors--and starts with Warthogs, Ghosts, and Mongooses.

It is reminiscent of the human base in the early Halo 3 campaign, but more vehicular. Because no one area is particularly large, it feels like a small map, but it is deceptively expansive, and is a blast to navigate with the small included vehicles.

It seems well-suited to objective games like Capture the Flag, Territories, and VIP, where teams must coordinate to keep tabs on their opponents in the circuitous roads.

Rat's Race might also support fast and furious two-team games of Rocket Race, with each Master Chief living the round one quarter mile at a time. -C.R.