Isolation

Outdoors

Each bunker has a Mongoose waiting outside. You’ll obviously use these to reach key weapons swiftly once a round starts, but don’t be too quick to casually abandon them. The Mongooses on Isolation have a longer respawn time than on other maps, so it’s better to take them back to your base area, or have someone ready to collect one for another purpose.

Don’t miss the two Brute Shots positioned to the left and right of the Ghost spawn point – tucked away in corners, it’s easy to pass them by.

Gaining ownership of the Ghost is a massive benefit in team-based games. Though it is vulnerable to the Brute Shot and Rocket Launcher, it’s a powerful fast-response vehicle (try outrunning a Ghost while carrying a flag back to your base, or fending one off with a Sniper Rifle), and makes the process of defending your bunker much, much easier.

The Sniper Rifle is positioned at the south end of the map, just beside a Needler. The north end of the map is the best sniping spot – not only does it offer an excellent view of the garden area, you can also escape down the hole leading to the lower level. (In CTF or Assault games, some may prefer to take the Sniper Rifle back to their team’s bunker to make pot-shots through the windows, which is something you should always be prepared for.)

The Shotgun can be found resting against the structure to the north of the map, and is an excellent tool for base defense in CTF and Assault matches.

Much like those on High Ground, you can climb the trees in the upper garden area (Fig. 1). The cover they offer depends on your position (the ends of the branches are best) and armor color (bad luck if you’re on the Red Team). If you practice offline, trying each tree out in turn, you may find some handy camping spots that offer a good view of some key positions.

If you’re feeling ambitious at the start of a round, you can try for the “double” – grab the Sniper Rifle, then drop through the hole and pick up the Rocket Launcher. Odds are that you’ll encounter the business end of a Ghost straight away, though…

Underground

The layout of both bases is identical. They each have four entrances: two at the side, one behind (which leads to the upper garden area) and an opening in the ceiling that enables friend or foe alike to drop down from above. In objective-based games, it’s common sense to position someone to guard this weak spot.

A Rocket Launcher sits between both bases, and is obviously a very powerful weapon in the enclosed spaces of the underground level. In objective-based games, however, picking it up is easier said than done – not only do you need to worry about potential rivals getting there first, you also have to contend with enemies firing from their bunker. Your team can potentially help you by throwing a Regenerator through the window, though this takes careful coordination. Additionally, there’s also the not insignificant matter of a Ghost that spawns just along the corridor…

Fig. 2

Both base areas contain (and are surrounded by) a variety of weapons, but the key assets on this map – the Ghost, Sniper Rifle, Needler, Shotgun and Rocket Launcher – are all scattered around the map. The start of every team-based round usually features a ferocious scramble to secure the best of these. It’s important to find a balance if you have a flag or bomb arming site to defend, though. For example, if too many soldiers go out to secure weaponry and vehicles, your team can fall afoul of a quick and dirty attack designed to overwhelm the handful of defenders left behind to guard the base. Equally, an overly-cautious strategy can leave you in the undesirable situation where your opponents gain control of the best weapons.

The hole next to the Sniper Rifle/Needler spawn point drops you almost directly on top of the Rocket Launcher spawn point. You can surprise people in the bunker areas (or anyone attempting to take possession of the Rocket Launcher) by dropping down with a Needler (Fig. 2).

You will find two Spike Grenades above the south hole. You can throw them down at passing enemies, especially if the Rocket Launcher is still there.

There is a Flare not far away from the hole at the north of the map. If you’ve been conducting a reign of terror with a Sniper Rifle from this position, and the locals are accumulating with the Halo 3 equivalent of pitchforks, torches and murderous intent, you can activate it to assist a hasty retreat through the hole leading to the lower level. This trick can also work well in Oddball and VIP matches.

Though suitable for a variety of Game Types, Isolation is frequently the stage for CTF and Assault matches. In these, the two bunker rooms play host to flags and bombs, but also plenty of sniping through the facing windows.

More so than on any other map, the Brute Shot is a key weapon on Isolation. There are four on the default map, all within easy sprinting distance of both bases (the positional symmetry means that two are effectively allocated per team). Furthermore, all Brute Shots have a fast respawn time, so expect to encounter them (or, more specifically, the grenades they fire) on a regular basis.

Quick Facts