Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack Release Date Announced

Halo 4 will be getting its first map pack on on Dec. 10, Microsoft and 343 Industries announced Thursday.

The Crimson Map Pack is the first of the three Halo 4 War Games Map Packs and adds three new battlefields and a new game type to the hit title. New environments include Wreckage, Harvest and Shatter.

Wreckage is a medium-sized, asymmetrical map great for objective-based multiplayer matches such as King of the Hill and Capture the Flag. It is a devastated landscape made up of crashed debris that creates paths perfect for throwing off opponents and testing the limits of the Warthog. The new map supports up to 16 players in Infinity Slayer and up to 12 players in other modes, including Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and Oddball.

Harvest takes place on the planet where humans first made contact with the Covenant. The smaller map is ideal for Capture the Flag. Gamers will have fun squeezing light vehicles into limited spaces and tight pathways until they are forced to carry the opponent’s flag into their base. Long sightlines broken up by hidden cover spots make the map perfect for snipers. Harvest can hold matches for up to 12 players in Capture the Flag, Infinity Slayer, King of the Hill, SWAT and Slayer Pro.

Shatter is a large map great for vehicles like the Warthog and Mantis. A mining facility providing protection from the open serves as a home for close-range firefights. Shatter is truly an environment all types of players will enjoy. The map supports up to 16 players in Infinity Slayer and up to 12 players in modes like Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Dominion and Extraction.

The Crimson Map Pack will cost 800 Microsoft Points and will introduce eight new achievements worth a total of 250 Gamerscore. Anyone who purchased the Halo 4 War Games Map Pass or Halo 4 Limited Edition will receive all three map packs as they become available in December, February and April. The DLC pass gives players a 15 percent discount if all map packs were purchased.

In addition, 343 Industries also unveiled a new game type for Halo 4 online multiplayer entitled Extraction. Extraction is a five-on-five objective-based game where opposing Spartan teams must extract assets from sites throughout the map. Once a team has found a site, they must plant their beacon and protect it from the opposing team. If the defending team remains in control of the beacon, they receive one point. The opposing team can gain a point by overtaking the site before extraction is complete. A new site becomes available once a site has been extracted. The first team to score five points wins the match.

Halo 4 players who purchase the Crimson Map Pack will get exclusive access to a premium playlist featuring the new maps and will be the only place players can experience six-on-six battles, the new Extraction game type, and a wide range of voting combinations for different maps and modes.