Arbor Pointe
Created By Zombievillan

Recommended Players: 4-10
Recommended Gametypes: Team Slayer, Team Objective

It's no surprise that we are featuring yet another map by Forge Hub's favorite son. With a seven star Architect and now a Halo: Reach Artisan under his belt, Zombievillan has quite the list of accomplishments which, of course, means he has quite the list of excellent maps. However, we aren't here to talk about Zombie's other maps. No, we're here today to talk about one map in particular; Arbor Pointe.

You may have heard whispers about a past, never-realized Forge Hub 2v2 tournament from Halo 3. Remember Skylimit? Well Arbor Pointe was also the fruits of a hidden labor. Although Halo 3's rendition of Arbor Pointe never saw the light of day it certainly wasn't a waste. With a completed design in hand, Zombie sought to have Arbor Point reach its full glory and that's exactly what he's done here in Halo Reach.

What I personally appreciate most about Zombievillan's map is his way with pieces. It is almost as if Zombie is not limited by forge blocks, but rather that his maps are moulded from a singular mass of clay. I cannot count the times I've traversed a Zombievillan map for hours, played numerous games and given countless sentiments of feedback only to stop and say one day "hey, what's this piece-oh it's not one piece; it's seven". With the now bland textures of Halo: Reach's forge tool it is quite important to keep your map feeling fresh if you want it to stand out from the pile. Not only does Zombie do an astonishing job of using pieces that I had personally written off as "junk" he has this uncanny ability to visualize shapes that most forger's couldn't dream up. Most of us have become so accustomed to rotational snap and square pieces that we've forgotten how we learned to forge or what "interlocking" actually entails. What's a 17 sided figure called? I bet most would have no idea, as the closest thing to it likely comes from the "Buildings" category.

If Zombie's maps were all about how he's used the pieces though, he'd likely be an aesthetic forger and we certainly wouldn't be featuring this as a Competitive map. Once you've gotten over your amazement at Zombie's mastery of forge, you will realize you're playing on a pretty slick map. Arbor Pointe has been upscaled for Reach, as the map was previously a 2v2. However, the size adjustment was just the right amount; an issue many forgers have when transferring between games. Arbor Pointe plays pretty tight, but certainly in a positive way. When you spawn on Arbor Point, you are never too far from the actions or too far to help out a teammate. Gameplay flows exceptionally well around the back end and middle of the map with multiple routes to use to your advantage and several places a player can set up if that's their style. It wouldn't be a Zombievillan map if it wasn't keeping things fresh though. On the opposite side of the map lies two caged hallways leading to a central hanging platform. Believe me: if you want to contest Rockets you best have sprint or a damn good DMR.

So it is today that I congratulate Zombievillan on yet another accomplishment in his forge career; both in his map and his new rank. If you happen to be hosting a TGIF in the new future I would definitely recommend throwing a few Zombievillan maps into the rotation to spice things up. Congratulations Zombie, welcome back to the realm of the bolded. Oh by the way, it's a heptadecagon.

Download Arbor Pointe

You can view the original map thread by the author here.

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