Officially released in January with a price of 800 Microsoft Xbox points the map pack is now free downloadable content for the Xbox console. The main reason for this rather surprising move is that a new map pack, dubbed the Legendary Map Pack, will make its way to the Xbox 360 on April 15. The price will remain the same at 800 Xbox points, which is about 10 euro or about 14 dollars.

The 3 maps featured in the Heroic Map pack are really interesting additions to the Halo 3 multiplayer experience. The first and coolest is Standoff, which features two big bases in an open filed environment. It's fairly symmetrical and as such is perfect for team matches and big skirmishes. There are a lot of vehicles that can be used and a telescope as a backdrop really raises the "cool" factor.

The other two maps are indoor affairs. Rat's Nest lets you move around in giant corridors using vehicles, which is fairly new to the Halo 3 universe, while the last map, Foundry, is totally Forge editable and let's players move things around to create the experience that best suits them.

The coming Legendary map pack will also feature 3 maps, of which two have been revealed by Bungie. Ghost Town sets the backdrop as a ruined 24 century water purification plant somewhere in Africa and is really an infantry map with lots of small spaces perfect for ambushes and some underground corridors making surprise attacks a key tactic. Avalanche is a more outdoor map, based on the Sidewinder map for the first Halo game. The guys at Bungie describe it as perfect for Capture the Flag games.

While we count down the days till the release of the Legendary Map Pack it's a really good idea to add up some content and re-playability to Halo 3 by getting the now free Heroic map pack.