Its back! Your favorite Halo variant “Make My Day” … and this time its on Halo Reach!

The pistols and shotguns only variant first appeared in Halo 2, and was one of the most popular game variants played among our group of friends. Make My Day was the brain child of myself and Vilehook. To say this game variants was a ton of fun, would be the understatement of the Halo series. Simple in concept, it was one of the hardest game variants to master. Microsoft last year took Halo 2 off of Xbox live, and MMD was not available in Halo 3 or Halo ODST … With the release of Halo Reach, the final installment in the Halo series, Make My Day returns … Bigger, better, tougher and more explosive.

The first variants and map files for Make My Day are now up on my (RedRumSkippy) file share. You can access the files through the Halo Reach game or through your Xbox Live friends list. There are 2 Files you need to download for the game type. One is simply called “Make My Day”, and the second is called “Make My Day : Team” When setting up a custom game in the menu, you will pick one of these two files located under the Slayer gametype.

There is also a 3rd file. This one os called “MMD On Countdown”. This is the first map available for the Make My Day custom variant in Halo Reach. Please load this file in the map slot of the game setup screen.

The way the variants are now created is different in Halo Reach then it was in previous Halo games. You must load the game type, and then load the map for that game type. When working on it, I had to create two gametypes. One for the standard MMD game, and one for team play. I then had to create a map to go with the gametype. This is done because there are now separate options for the map, as well as the gametype. Once you have the two gametype files, you will not need to download them in the future, unless there is an update to those files. You will need to download future maps made for the MMD variant in order to play the game variant those maps. I will in the coming weeks be uploading different maps, both ones that came with Halo Reach and custom made forge maps for you to play MMD on.

Now, because Halo Reach is the swan song for the Halo series and Bungie, they have packed every option available into the custom game creation and the Forge map editor. What does this mean? As far as the maps go, more skill is needed for Make My Day in respect to the spawn layouts and random placement of game flow. As far as the gametypes, Halo Reach opens up a whole new world of options that will present new and interesting challenges to the Make My Day variant.

The old standards remain. There are no sensors or radar in MMD. The only weapons you have available to you are the magnum pistol, the shotgun and grenades. Here is the difference in the new version of MMD. Instead of starting with the battle riffle and having to switch to the magnum and pick up a shotgun, your Spartan is now equipped from the start of the game with a magnum as your primary weapon, and a shotgun as your secondary weapon. Each player is also given two grenades to start the game with. Each player is also given a choice of one of three loadouts to choose from. These are Sprint, Hologram and Active Camo. Each of these loadouts present the player with different abilities. Because MMD is a close combat skilled variant, the other loadouts were omitted to keep the game as such … fast, close quarters and lots of carnage.

Here is where the new MMD really gets interesting. The new gametye options in Halo Reach allow for more game adjustment then ever before. The following is for single MMD gametype only (team play differs). The only player with a waypoint indicator activated for them is the leader. This will make him easier for the other players on the map to find him. So there will be no rest for the leader. He will constantly have to be on his game to remain the leader. But wait, the leader is not without advantage. When a player is the leader in the game, his sensor will be turned on so he can see where others are located on the map. He is also immune to headshots and assassinations. Its good to be the leader!

Another interesting aspect of the new MMD variant is the scoring. You will still get the one point per kill, but point awards have been adjusted and increased for the following. Killing the leader, assassinating a player, beating down a player, or ending a killing spree will gets you 2 points. Friendly fire (in team games) is on. Waypoints of your teammates in MMD : Team play are also turned on so you can locate your teammates more easily. These additions allows for a more competitive game, better planning of strategy , and just as we all love it, a more skilled approach to the overall game itself.

I will be on throughout the weekend, and I hope to see some of you and try the new version of MMD. It is a first attempt, so more then likely, some adjustments will perhaps need to be made to the options within the game, but overall, I think it should play just as well, or better then previous versions of Make My Day … If you like the gametype variants as well as the maps, please go to bungie.net or within the Halo Reach game recommend these files to all your friends.

By all means, please do not hesitate to make suggestions on how to better the variant by dropping me a message or joining a game when you see me online.

Enjoy … Peace out!

EB

“I went outside once, the graphics are not that good”