Blackout

Blackout is a multiplayer map featured in Halo 3 and is a remake of the classic Halo 2 map, Lockout. It is featured as one of the three maps in the Legendary Map Pack that became available on April 15th, 2008.

Rather than a Forerunner facility, like its predecessor, this map takes place in the Arctic on Weather Station Z/41. The layout is almost identical to that of Lockout, but features more grenades and now includes equipment. Most of the jumps, even the crazy ones from Halo 2, are still there. However a number of things have been modified or removed such as one area which was altered to make it more difficult to lock down that part of the map.

Blackout's code name was Moonlight Sonata during its development due to the level's dark nighttime sky, and as an allusion to one of Beethoven's works. It replaces Purple Reign in the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack. Purple Reign will be included in a later map pack. Rather than the blue gravity lift that was featured in Lockout, Blackout has a red air shaft, which appears to fit the atmosphere better.

Bungie almost didn't make the map, because they already had Guardian the spiritual successor to Lockout, but with a remake still in considerable demand by fans, they decided to remake it completely.

Geometry and Forge
In the most recent ViDoc, multiple forge items from Blackout were revealed. They include and detail stair cases, man-cannons, standard doorways, portals, and blocking doorways, shield doors, and newly edited shipping crates which stay once they are placed. Another new object is the FX filter. Using these will change the tint, contrast, brightness, and overall color of the map, and it is recommended to experiment. You may combine them, to make cool effects. A full tour of this map can be viewed here. The barracks on Blackout contain a basket ball hoop, and the Battle Rifle tower is now featured with windows compared to being fully opened. The cartography and common anatomy of the level resembles Lockout in almost every way, shape, or form with little differences.

Overview
This map is almost identical to Lockout, in the respect that the level itself is almost the same, not so much the setting. The map is set on Weather station Z/41, in the Arctic. The map is built around a helicopter pad, branching off of this pad in all four directions are buildings, each building has an upper and lower level, and two of them have an even higher floor. These two towers have been dubbed the "Sniper Tower" and the "BR Tower" (BR being the Battle Rifle ). This was made since that is what spawns atop each of them, the Sniper Tower (where Sniper Rifle spawns) is the smaller of the two, and the BR Tower is the larger. The other two buildings consist of a walled room that leads to the BR Tower, and a tall building that has an "Air Lift" in it. The Air Lift building has an exit at the Helipad and the lower level, to go up the building you ride an Air Lift, named because of the fan that propels air, and you, upwards.

Trivia

 * The lights in the sky are the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights).
 * This is the only multiplayer map in Halo 3 so far situated on an Earth locale that is not in Africa.
 * Bungie claims that the model for Blackout was rebuilt because the original model of Lockout was too messy and chaotic to work with.
 * The only weapon spawn point differences from Blackout and Lockout is that the spawn points where the Needlers used to be in Lockout have been replaced by Brute Spikers in Blackout.
 * Blackout has more Plasma Grenade spawns than Fragmentation Grenade spawns. It is the only Close-quarters map in Halo 3 for which this is the case.
 * There is a basketball hoop (Shown on a Bungie Weekly Update) located in the Barracks building in the right corner.
 * The map is slightly larger than Lockout in some aspects and areas, the Battle Rifle tower is actually larger, the Barracks are smaller, and the Platform next to the Sniper tower is larger.
 * Upon falling off the platform, a splash can be seen after your character lands in the water. On other occasions, if your character lands in the water flat on his/her back or stomach he/she will land and slowly sink downward into the ocean.
 * Getting out of the map is easy, just float down under the platforms and you're there. However, you can't build anything down there because of something called "Map Radiation". If you stay out of the map too long, you will die and the game calls it falling to your death and things placed are automatically deleted.
 * Blackout is the "purest" remake to date, meaning out of all the maps remade for Halo 3 Blackout is the closest map that resembles the map its based off of.
 * Just like the original Lockout there is a Sniper Rifle in front of a Fusion Coil (In Lockout there were 3 Power Cores instead). In fact, if one would be on the BR tower facing opposite of the Sniper tower, and lobs a frag grenade correctly at the fusion coils, the Sniper Rifle will fly towards the Battle Rifle spawn where the player is standing. This is considered the classy way to aquire the Sniper Rifle.
 * The backdrop of this map was once being used as the Bungie.net website's background, but has now been changed.
 * In Lockout, near the Sniper Rifle lies 3 Power Cores (The Forerunner version of Fusion Coils), but in Blackout this there's only one Fusion Coil. The reason may be because in the original Lockout players on the other tower could use the explosives to easily kill a Sniper if one lurks at the position of the Sniper Rifle spawn point. The change decreases the explosive force impacted on players nearby, although, the Sniper Rifle can be blown around or even off the map if the Fusion Coils are set off.
 * The windows throughout the map are identical, including their reflection. The windows were originally made for the Barracks (opposite the lift). The reflection when you look in these windows is a blurry view of the lift area. If you look into the other windows (bottom of sniper tower are easiest to see), you will see the same image.
 * Blackout is a favored map for Team SWAT because of its mix of mid and short range combat.
 * The room right behind the sniper spawn cannot be entered. Even using glitches to get your way in will result in death by the guardians.
 * Interestingly this map has been a hotbed for the Ghosts of Halo, perhaps none-too-surprisingly, as the first Ghost of Halo was reported at Lockout, Blackout's predecessor.
 * Blackout is the only Halo 3 map along with Cold Storage that does not spawn a Brute Shot by default.
 * The angle of the platform seen in Blackout's backdrop, is wrong. If it were correct, the image should have shown the back of the lift building, instead, we see the back of the BR tower.
 * Bungie jokingly tasked the fans with coming up for a back story for Blackout and z/41.
 * When Bungie first released pictures of "Blackout", many people thought it was set on an Oil Rig. Interestingly enough, the description for the map says that it takes place on a drilling platform, and makes no mention of a Weather Station.
 * Exactly every 5 minutes, a red comet will soar over the sky for a split second.
 * There's a key element Blackout failed to give; In Lockout, there was minor Fog all over the map. Blackout, however, does not have a single chill of Foggy environment, which some players did not feel the "Lockout" feeling when playing on Halo 3's Blackout.

Strategies

 * As mentioned above you can shoot the Fusion Coils to launch the Sniper Rifle toward you.
 * You can camp in the center room (under the Helicopter pad), on the slanted walls, a Shotgun is recommended.
 * If you inch up on the wind tunnel, in the lift room at the top, you can fall down without being shot back up.
 * Blackout has, just as Lockout, many combinations of death defying jumps, learn the map, and use these to drop down behind your enemy or in your enemy's blind spot.
 * A great way to kill the opposing team is to control the air duct, Sniper tower, and helipad. Concentrate your fire when you see them.
 * When holding the helipad in Swat patrol the ramps. Many people go up the left one. You can get many kills and save your buddies if you can kill the enemy fast.

Forge

 * Using the doors you can block off whole rooms of the level, this small change alone can change the way the level plays, in respect to movements of the players, effectively changing the entire dynamic of the game.
 * If you pick up a turret while somebody's in it, then push them as far up as possible, you can send them past the barrier and they can float objects way above the level. But there's a death barrier if you go too high.
 * Through a glitch in Forge, you are able to spawn a teleporter inside of the smokestacks. Once inside, however, the player has very limited mobility, and if moved in a certain spot, will be killed by the Guardians or the death will count as a suicide.
 * In Monitor mode you can fly up onto the same building mentioned above (the building with the smokestacks).Once hovering above the backside of the building (the slanted side, facing the water), you will be killed by The Guardians momentarily.