What's New: Punitive parts of the environment that kill players aren't new to Halo's multiplayer (lifts have squashed players in multiplayer in the past, and Terminal from Halo 2's Multiplayer Map Pack had a train that would send players to respawn as well), but there will be auto-firing gun turrets on this map when it's finished. These guns, when we finally see them online next year (pun unintended), will be an extension of the environment-that-kills mechanic; maybe there will be a way to get them to target you and then use their fire against other players?

The Shield Doors are hands-down the best truly "new" multiplayer aspect found in Snowbound. These relatively transparent doors don't open or close, but they serve as barriers between Snowbound's underground tunnels. You can see through them, but explosions and gunfire don't pass through the doors. When the now-famous beeping of "no shields" tick comes up in multiplayer, those near a tunnel taking gunfire may have a chance to duck through the Shield Door and get just enough of a reprieve for their shield to recharge.

The weapon sets have seen some new additions in addition to the resurrection, retooling and repurposing of one of Halo: Combat Evolved's most memorable weapons: the Assault Rifle. In the Halo 3 announcement teaser, Master Chief is very clearly carrying a weapon that looks very similar to the Assault Rifle in Halo. It is similar aesthetically, but that's about it.

The MA5B Assault Rifle in Halo: Combat Evolved had a 60-round clip, was fully automatic and ineffective at long-range shots (it could be, because the M6D Pistol was so great overpowered at that range). Only one of those three characteristics of the MA5B remain: it's still fully automatic.

With the MA5C Assault Rifle, the clip-size has been drastically reduced from 60 to 32, and as a trade-off, the weapon's accuracy at long-range has been increased. Why the revisions to the Assault Rifle? Well, the starting weapon in Halo 2 -- the SMG -- didn't exactly work out how Bungie wanted it to. Jamie Griesemer, lead designer on Halo 3 (you know, that "30-seconds of fun" guy), points to the two previous starting weapons and their problems. "It shouldn't do headshots... and it shouldn't be dual wieldable," according to Griesemer. The new MA5C Assault Rifle allows neither.

Instead, in the MA5C, Bungie believes it's found the third side of the multiplayer "Golden Tripod" (seriously... Bungie's words, not ours) -- Melee attacks and Grenades need to supplement a versatile, functional (but not too functional) starting weapon.

Ideal # of Players: 4-10. A five-on-five game pushes Snowbound to its claustrophobic limits (not in terms of performance, just in terms of fun). The tunnels beneath the bases get crowded with people (and corpses) pretty quickly.

Best Gametypes: Slayer, Team Slayer, Tank Flag, Ninjaball, Oddball, and King of the Hill. It's an excellent Slayer map because of its size, and we also played a bunch of "ball" games on Snowbound. The underground tunnels make a ball carrier navigating between bases and finding ways to protect him- or herself perfect for Snowbound.

How Bungie Played It: Bungie might or might not have told us that the fuel canisters guarding the Sniper Rifle and Shotgun were explosive, and since the canisters were retouched visually from the Halo 2 versions, we might not have noticed that they functioned the same -- until one of us strolled in to pick up the Sniper Rifle or a Shotgun, that is. Boom!

Additionally, guys like multiplayer designer Lars Bakken turned the Shield Doors into cat and mouse fiascos, popping their heads in and out tempting us to chase after them into, well, traps. In Ninjaball -- a mode where the ball carrier runs and jumps 150% faster and higher than the other players, we saw Bungie guys (who were at this time intermixed with us to show us the ropes) use the elaborate tunnel system to prolong the ball carrier's life and, well, set more traps