On Avalanche in general:

I’ll talk about the biggest one first. And it’s HUGE. For the purposes of this, we’ll codename it Cottonball. I guess a game of Big Team Snipers would be possible, but anything else would be comical without vehicles. This is very much a large scale objective game map – designed first and foremost with CTF and Assault in mind. The map is almost, but not-quite-perfectly symmetrical. Some natural geology prevents each base from being a simple mirror image of the other. I say natural, but the map is set on a Halo, so, natural’s not exactly correct.

The map leads to the kind of long, drawn out megabattles that hearken back to the days of the original Halo and the crucial to and fro of an epic LAN party. Its inclusion of a surprising vehicle or two may make it even more interesting than it already sounds.

I’ve played this a lot (although less, by necessity than the other two) and I have found a couple of very compelling and addictive rhythms. The map is large enough so that even when a team makes off with your flag, there’s still a lot of ground you can use to catch up. The other is that each side has some wonderful shortcuts – natural and mechanical – that may not make great flag escape routes, but might let a mobile pursuer cut off escapees.

And I know I am in the minority on this – but I sometimes have trouble knowing precisely where I am headed on a more confusing map – I would call out Epitaph as an example -often I will burst through a door thinking I am headed to say, the Active Camo power up, only to find I am not where I thought I was. For some reason, massive and labyrinthine as it is, this new map never confuses me. I always know which way is up – and that fact has saved my bacon and our flag, several times. [Bungie - 01/18/2008]

On Avalanche in general:

“I am extremely excited about [Cottonball] based on the history of the series.” [Luke Timmins]
“It evokes memories.” [Luke Smith] [Bungie - 02/19/2008]

On Avalanche as a remake:

Avalanche (AKA Cotton Ball), the second map from next month’s Legendary Map pack… is a lovingly crafted reimagination of Halo: Combat Evolved classic Sidewinder. It wouldn’t be wholly accurate to call it a “remake,” but elements of Avalanche are certainly culled from Sidewinder – it has the same familiar U-shape, multiple ways from base-to-base, and a whole sandbox full o’ vehicles to play with. But there are many, many changes too. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

On Avalanche as a remake:

The basics are the same, but you’ll notice some new additions (man cannons), and some things missing (the interior tunnel between the bases). We also haven’t had any ladders in Halo multiplayer maps since Halo 1, so we had to re-design the interiors of the bases to accommodate that. There are a lot more quick ways to get around the level now, that’s probably the biggest change. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

On Avalanche as a remake:

Well the first thing that folks will notice is that the rear hallways that connected the bases have been removed. This was mainly due to the fact that people had a tendency to use them over taking vehicles. Being that sidewinder is all about the vehicles traversing this huge snowy plane, having folks mainly fight in a hallway just made the whole experience not as fun.

The other change that people will notice is that there is a new cavern area that connects the central section to the front of the map via mancannon. That route is very handy for when you’re getting pummeled from either entrance. It can be a fast way out of a hot zone. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

On Avalanche as a remake:

Q: Why can’t I throw the flag through the gates old school style now?

LB: Ahem. Well, that area doesn’t exist in the new version. We had it in there for a long time, but since that old flag trick didn’t work anymore that area became used less and less. Eventually that whole section of the level became completely unused, and not only that but a death trap for someone on foot. On top of that, we kept coming back to this idea that if someone was in there, by themselves, on foot… they weren’t taking part in what makes this level unique, all the vehicles. So, with much hand-wringing we axed that section. The map plays better for it too, because the action is so much more focused now. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

On the setting of Avalanche:

Avalanche is a large forerunner power station set on the front of a huge glacial shelf on an under construction Halo installation. The structure is pulling its power out of the densely compacted ice that constantly builds up behind the station before it falls into the ocean below. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

On the vehicles of Avalanche:

The map has a lot more vehicle action now. We’ve included flying vehicle and fast transport vehicles (Ghosts and Mongooses) to the roster. The equipment plays a major role in objective games. In fact, for CTF I would even say that equipment works better in Avalanche than any other MP map. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

On the vehicles of Avalanche:

…it’s just plain cool to have the Scorpion in the Sidewinder remake.

We then took the Scorpion addition one step further and decided to give the assaulting team all UNSC (human) vehicles and the defending team all Covenant vehicles. It ended up being very fun for asymmetric gametypes (one flag, one bomb, territories) and it’s something that I’ve wanted to see for a long time. Humans vs. the Covenant in a giant vehicle -blam!–o-rama. [Bungie - 03/20/2008]

Images released at Bungie.net: