You better put on your Ed Hardy sweatshirts, because Halo Infinite is taking us back to 2004 to celebrate Halo 2’s birthday. The free-to-play FPS just added recreations of several recognizable Halo 2 maps in the Delta Arena playlist, a group effort to be as nostalgic as possible.
The maps that appear in the playlist were created with community experts in Forge, the multiplayer map editor first introduced in Halo 3. In an Xbox blog, Halo Infinite designer Evan Colson explains that the process of refining the Delta Arena playlist “began by looking at what had been recreated by the community and seeing what could work in tandem with the modes we were developing internally.”
“We ultimately strived to find fan-favorites that were faithful to their original designs and that could play well within the Infinite environment,” he continues.
The final array of maps includes the foreboding, gray Ascension, an upgraded version of Beaver Creek called Beaver Canyon, and a placid edition of Sanctuary called Serenity.
“Beaver Canyon feels exactly how you remember it,” says producer Nick Treitman.
To make it actually play that way, developer 343 Industries had to alter Halo Infinite’s gameplay to better reflect the movement in Halo 2. So sprint and clamber are disabled, while players can collide with friendly teammates and utilize a 120% jump height.
“Considering all the subtle differences between Halo Infinite and Halo 2, a 1:1 recreation was never quite in the cards,” Colson says, “but what we did come to was that of an amalgamation between the two, with settings that move like legacy Halo, but play with elements of the modern sandbox.” The best of both worlds, a great birthday present.
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