Halo Reach gets Defiant

Halo: Reach is getting another influx of DLC in the form of a Defiant Map Pack this March. Retailing for 800MP and offering 250 Gamerscore, Defiant follows the Noble Map Pack in offering three new multiplayer maps for Bungie's last Halo title.

What's worth noting, however, is that all three maps have been created in partnership with Certain Affinity. The company, founded in 2006, is headed by ex-Bungie member of some ten years, Max Hoberman, who worked on both Halo 2 and Halo 3. Certain Affinity has also designed maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops.

You can see the maps in the teaser trailer below, but before that here's the official blurb on each of them:

Condemned

Condemned takes place aboard Orbital Station Gamma, a massive space station high in orbit above the planet Reach. Prior to the Covenant's overwhelming invasion, Orbital Station Gamma provided long range communications for UNSC fleets and a vital lifeline between Reach and Earth. During the Battle of Reach, the station suffered terrible punishment at the hands of the Covenant but a few fortified sections remain intact, fully pressurized, and ready for combat. Condemned supports 6 - 12 players in a variety of action-packed game types, including Team Slayer, Team Objective and Free for All.

Highlands

Highlands takes place on the top-secret Military Wilderness Training Preserve on Reach. The Preserve is a large, wooded area where Spartan super-soldiers trained long before the war with the Covenant began. During the Battle of Reach, the Preserve was the site of key battles between the alien invaders and a group of Spartans who used their familiarity with these UNSC training grounds to significant tactical advantage but not everyone who enters these woods makes it out alive. Highlands expands the fight with massive-scale engagements for 8 - 16 players in Big Team Battle, Team Slayer and Team Objective.

Unearthed

Unearthed takes the battle for Reach to a large Titanium mine and refinery located in the Viery civilian sector of the planet. This particular mine was built to take advantage of the exposed titanium inside a massive meteor crater. The titanium produced here is used in much of the UNSC hardware, from the chassis of the Warthog to the metres-thick armour plating of capital ships like the UNSC Pillar of Autumn.

While this facility was quickly abandoned when the Covenant arrived on Reach, it still has significant tactical (and economic) value and it won't be long before both humans and Covenant return to battle for control. Unearthed allows up to 4 players to launch a counterassault against the Covenant in Firefight and Firefight modes such as Generator Defense.