Red Faction Guerrilla got it’s second DLC pack today.  This Multiplayer Map Pack comes with 8 maps and 2 new game modes for $7. I spent a few hours playing the new game modes and the new Big Boomers playlist this afternoon.  So far it seems like $7 is a great price for everything included.

The new Big Boomers playlist does not require the new maps to be played.  It features High handicapping to help keep things close and competitive in 3 vs 3 matches. The matches all feature pretty dramatic options turned on like 120% movement speed with Rhino packs.  Or, Damage Control with only Singularities and Hammers for the weapons.  I played this playlsit for a while and had a lot of fun with the matches. My only real complaint is that the Big Boomers playlist does not allow playing with a party.  If it did I think it would be even more fun going in there with a couple friends. The playlist was created to make things balanced for people playing alone, and it does that really well.  All of the matches I played were pretty close and a lot of fun.

With the Multiplayer Map Pack DLC there are two new game modes: Bagman and Team Bagman.  They play similarly to Oddball in Halo 3 where the person or team holding the bag gain points over time.  First one to hit the score limit wins.  To keep things interesting the bag cam be passed to a teammate in Team Bagman just by looking at them and pressing Y. That can help keep it in your team’s hands even if you are about to die. The person holding the bad glows green and really stands out.  However, using the Stealth pack while holding the bag does still turn you invisible. So, if you have a good team covering you while you cloak you can hide out unseen until the pack’s energy is drained.  After a few hours of playing Team Bagman I’m really enjoying it.  I’m not sure if that is because it is new and different, but I think it will be one of my favorite modes even after Double XP Weekend ends.

The eight new maps included in the pack have a pretty wide variety of sizes and layouts.  In most cases the bag starts off in the middle of the map with both teams on opposite ends racing to get to it first.  Because of this Health packs are getting a lot more use than they do in most of the other playlists. A could team members with healing can keep the whole team alive long enough to grab the bag and get back to cover. I’ve played each map at least a couple times now and here are some initial impressions of each.

Puncture, as you can see from the above picture, is a circular map with a large hole right in the center.  The bag starts near the hole and both team start up on the outer edges of the map. If you can get the bag and get back to the edges there is a decent amount of cover available from both the rocks and walls.  The hole that dominates the center of the map is to large to safely cross strait across the middle, but you can save time getting around the map by cutting down around the edge of the whole.  I really like Puncture so far, but one thing that I’m still not use too is that there is no level ground.  You fight around the outsides of the giant crater so the ground it always sloping which is a very odd sensation.  At first I thought it was just me but as I played it a few more times I heard a lot of other people making similar comments about it.

Broadside seems like a pretty balanced map.  It has a fairly wide open middle section with structures around the edges of the map.  There are some bridges across the middle if you’ve got the guts to cross them. Personally, I used them a few times to get to the bag carrier quickly and no one noticed. I think most people just expect everyone to go around the outside because it is safer.

Compound has one very large four story building in the middle with a couple smaller walls and structures around the outside areas of the map. The bag starts in the first floor of the main building and a lot of teams try to then take it to the top of the building to defend it.  However, the actual base is not very long so the attacking team can quickly level it. Instead, it is better to either head to one of the outlying walls and hide behind it while your team defends, or grab a jetpack/thrust pack and go up one of the taller rock towers. They are only accessible with a pack and can easily be defended with an arc welder or shotgun. The map is relatively small but with the tall walls there are a lot of good areas to defend.

Division is anther small map.  It has one large hill in the middle with a large pipe on it that provides a lot of cover.  On either side of that is a lower area with a building.  When I played no one seemed to use the buildings much but instead tried to hold the upper, center of the map since it has a lot of cover and provides a good angle for attacking incoming enemies.  However, smart enemies will come from across the top using this same pipeline as cover to get close.

Equilibrium is one of the larger maps.  It has a lot of tall buildings that can be used as cover to defend your teams bag carrier. However, for attacking teams it is not as hard as on some other maps because you can always just level the building being used as cover if you need to. I like this map overall because it can be played to the strengths of either an aggressive or defensive team.

Gradient is a Marauder themed map with a lot wreckage and a building on the lower porting of the map and then a cliff that has a couple ways up on one ends.  The large amount of stuff on the lower part of the map makes it a good area to run around with the bag as you initial get your bearing. If your team can go to the far end of the upper cliff it can be defended pretty well with the enforcer and proximity mines that spawn near there. However, enemies can use a jetpack to flank around the side of this area so you have to really watch all sides.  This is one of my favorite close quarters maps from the DLC because there is really no good place for teams to camp making it require a lot of teamwork to win.

Haven is made up of a lot of islands connected by bridges.  It is quickly become a defending teams paradise because they can grab the bag knock out a few bridges to isolate themselves.  There are rockets on the highest part of the map that is on the opposite side from the bag spawn that help stop campers but really a good team can easily camp on one of the outer islands.

Remnant is a fairly large map with a lot of broken down 2 story buildings.  It is the one map that is taking me the longest to get a handle on because it is hard to tell what starts of damaged and what people have knocked down. There is some high ground around the edges of the map but I did not see a lot of teams using it.  I mostly found people using the building as cover and trying to back into a corner with their team covering them.  However, a few demo charges easily can open a hole in that cover.

Overall I’m really happy with the Red Faction Guerrilla Multiplayer Pack.  The maps are pretty much all fun to play and seem well designed and balanced.  The new game modes are a nice change of pace and make a great addition to the existing game types. For anyone still on the fence keep in mind all this weekend there is double experience points for all of the new game mode playlists so you can get your 100,000 EXP achievement quicker.