The press release stated that Bungie has never designed a map like this, but that is quite an understatement, in that no one has ever designed anything like this at all — Bungie or not. The primary area of play is a flat patch of Forerunner stone at the center of a dune-swallowed series of citadel towers which line an outer wall. In many ways, this area is visually familiar to Sandtrap, save for its dark atmosphere and brilliant dawn/dusk skybox. But these few elements are where the Sandtrap connections abruptly end.

Although it has give little notice in the weight of Sandbox’s other attributes, it should first be said that the default layout for the map is incredibly fun. Simple and open, yet laden with infantry cover and explored by Warthogs and Choppers — the default variant has a certain lean balance which is both fun and frenetic. And much like the theme of the other maps in this pack, Sandbox’s layout is very distinct and different from what we would expect in most Halo 3 maps. But this isn’t the only version of Sandbox players will be able to feast on when the map is launched, which cuts to the heart of the its full potential: Forge.

The default variant of Sandbox is easily one of the better midsize maps in Halo 3, and that doesn’t even come close to tapping into the full potential of the map’s design.

When in Forge mode, players can make their way to multiple tiers found within Sandbox. A teleporter carries them to the peak of the map, floating in the sky high above the ground floor is a locale called the sky bubble. With the removal of a stone at the center of the ground level, players are allowed to drop into a hidden crypt. These three planes are separate during normal gameplay, but can be linked via teleporters, turning the map’s entire design on its head.

For the uninitiated, Forge is Halo 3’s object editor, a system which allows players to customize any maps’ weapons, vehicles, equipment, spawns and, of course, any of its physical geometry which is not an embedded part of its architecture. With Sandbox’s massive budget and substantial palette of functional level geometry, players will be able to design any number of environments on any of the three planes; or all of them if they so choose.

What does this mean for the players? Though the non-Forger might believe he is unaffected by such a feature set, he is not. Bungie has already generated a number of interesting variants using the sky bubble, the ground floor and crypt which will be available when the maps hit matchmaking in a matter of days — but the real treasures will be from the fans and those groups who specialize in Forge execution.

Really though, you might ask, what kind of potential can this map possibly hold?

In a word: Unlimited.

That’s the exact number of possibilities Sandbox represents.

Many Halo fans will forsake family, friends and even food to perform ex nihil forgeries hundreds of feet above the ground. In Sandbox, the sky isn’t even the limit.

Players will now be to control their destiny. They can build a race track along the dust-strewn slabs of a Forerunner crypt or fashion a castle in the sky complete with Banshees. With Sandbox, the whole of multiplayer has been delivered to its fans and although Forge’s limitations are still place, Bungie’s done just about everything they can to liberate players — instead of simply editing a level, you can now build one from scratch.

Want to remake Sanctuary, Prisoner or Warlock? Go ahead. Want to build an aerial dog-fight map or and Indiana Jones-styled objective-based crypt variant complete with kill balls of death? They’re all yours. Need a set for a new piece of machinima your community is creating? Make it so! Want to construct an elaborate capture the flag variant which spans the sky, the ground and the basement?

Forge your heart out. What was once a nifty way to customize existing maps has become an impressive tool for building them from the ground up (or from the sky down, as the case may be).

In Sandbox, keeping the default objects is crucial in maintaining the map’s total object count. If you’re building something big in the sky bubble, you may want to download this variant which allows players to have all default objects at their disposal on the top of the map.

As we take a look at the Mythic Map Pack collectively, we see that this isn’t only a success in downloadable content, but an achievement for Halo 3’s multiplayer sustainability. Assembly returns players to the symmetrical arenas of yesteryear and improves on them impressively, Orbital breaks the mold with its complex corridors and proclivity to choke point showdowns and Sandbox defies all conventions by giving fans the ability to build their own Halo multiplayer experience as they see fit.

We can’t say for sure what Citadel, Heretic and Longshore hold for Halo 3 multiplayer later this fall, but with the inclusion of Sandbox’s potential, the Mythic Six could rightly be called the Mythic Many. Not only are we confident that these maps will take us firmly through the summer to the completion of Halo 3’s multiplayer content in the fall, but with their untapped potential now made openly clear, this is easily the single best map pack which has been offered for both Halo 2 and Halo 3.

The most interesting factor to the above statement isn’t just that the three maps we have are incredibly fun to play on, but that we haven’t even seen all of the maps available in the Mythic Map Pack because…

…you haven’t Forged them yet.

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