Favela Run
By REMkings

"What do people do when the place gets flooded? They run to the roof."

Prologue
Finally. It's there. This map has been in the works for almost a year, originally starting as a co-forge between Beybok (Minion) and me, but due to circumstances (such as timezone differences) eventually turning out as a map that was forged solely by me and is now ready to be released. We have already made plans for an actual co-forge in Halo 4 though, when hopefully we will be working on a sequel of this map. But let's take a closer look at a map that proved to be a true pain in the ass to forge.

As the name implies, "Favela Run" takes place in a typical Brazilian favela, one of the many slums situated in the bigger towns of Brazil. They are known to be inhabited by the very poor, and accommodate lots of criminal organisations. However, in this favela things get even worse. Some rare and hazardous infection has taken the residents, and the few survivors left now have to make their way to the top of the favela in order to survive. For once, they are lucky to find so many weapons laying around in their already unsafe quarter.

Favela Run is a Linear Progression Infection map, which means the humans have to cover a specific route in order to reach the end of the map and - hopefully - survival.
Because of the fact that this map in general and the different holdout areas are really small sized and humans will already die after one hit of a zombie, the gameplay is really intense and hectic, especially when you already lose a couple of humans in one of the first areas of the map. The easy-to-go approaches for the zombies make for some speedy gameplay, and things tend to get crazier and crazier as you progress through the map. This doesn't mean you can't make it to the end, though. You'll find that team coordination will be key in order to survive: you can't watch all zombies on your own. Taking all the weapons for yourself is thus useless: you will survive as a team, or die a lone wolf.

Keythings
What distinguishes this map from other, similar Infection maps?
First of all, the fact that this map was built on Ridgeline. As some of you may know, Ridgeline is a very difficult map to forge on. Not only do you get half the budget of Forgeworld, you also have a limited supply of objects, there are many pre-forged trees in the way and there's a freaking annoying kill barrier above the map which will take you out again and again while you're trying to get that one block right. However, I believe that I managed to make a neat map, and therefore the satisfaction of finishing this map was even greater to me.
Secondly, this map has a great amount of weapons and tactics to offer. First of all, you'll find these grey boxes all around the map: (see picture)

These boxes will contain shotgun ammunition. Every time you see one of those boxes and you have the chance, definitely try and grab one of those neat shotties! You'll see that they are very helpful in killing off the undead.
Other than that, there are a lot of other weapons on the map, both obvious and (semi-)hidden, and both risky or tricky to get or right under your feet. There are magnums, snipers, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, turrets and a DMR. Besides many different weapons, there are also different tactics to utilize in each holdout area. Are you going to mass together as a pack, or split up and put a few humans on tactical positions on the side? Both strategies can work out and help each one of you to survive if you do it right. The fact that there are so many tactics and weapons to be used, guarantees a fun game everytime you play this map. I've tested it about 50 times (not even kidding) and I still enjoyed it when I was about to finally finish testing this map.
Thirdly, this map offers a theme you haven't seen before! It's a map that takes place in a favela, you don't see that very often. I've tried my best to make you feel like you're actually in a favela, but at the same time I kept gameplay in mind. Because of that, the map is fluent and easy to navigate, but still gives you a stacked, urban feeling as you climb higher and higher to the top.
Finally, this map actually works great with both huge and - and that's what's cool about it - small amounts of players. I found that the perfect amount of players lies around 9 to 13 players, but it will also support lobbies from 7 to 16 players. Make sure to put the initial zombie count to 1 though when playing with less than 9 players (8 players or less). Luckily you don't have to wait for hours until you've found enough players who have the Anniversary maps as well. :P

The phases
First phase - The roof terrace
You start off in a street on the ground level. On your left, behind the gate you can see the zombies running towards you from the wilderness. There's no time to lose, you have to make your way into the house at the end of the street. Don't forget to pick up a shotgun or two while running up the stairs, and settling yourselves on the roof terrace. Unfortunately there's no time to enjoy the sight right now.

Tactics?

In the picture below you can see an overview of the holdout area of phase 1. (Excuse me for my horrible Photoshopping skills, I'm still a rookie.) As you can see, zombies generally have two ways to approach you. This means that you have to guard both entrances in order to successfully keep off the horde. The green little box right next to the door can/should be pushed through the door in the hallway. That way, you'll block the road for the zombies and force them to jump over, requiring time. That time can be used to take them out. It is true that the zombies can also use the box as a cover to protect themselves, but usually they won't be able to get behind it unharmed, making it useless for them to do so.
Never get too close to the door. Eventually one of the zombies will be able to seize you and infect you as well, and you'll regret the fact that you took so much risk to get an extra kill now and then. Stay in the back and don't block the turret guy's sight.

While going up to the roof terrace, you'll be able to find a lot of shotguns on your way there. Don't forget to bring one with you! Shotguns are crucial to survive on this map, and even though you don't really need them yet in this phase, you will need them later on. By jumping up right after you entered the house, you can get yourself one that other players usually overlook. (see picture)

And now the most important tip of all concerning this phase: Push. Back. The. Crate.
This could be essential for the survival of all of you! By knocking back the crate with an energy sword like the guy in the picture below is doing, you'll restrict the zombies to one approach and give the human behind the turret the time to focus on them. For once, it turned out to be actually useful to me that humans can pick up the swords from fallen zombies, because you can get the job done a lot faster with a sword than with your bare hands.

Finally, don't stay behind when it's time to move on. After a while another zombie teleporter will open up, which will enable zombies to easily slay any camping players. (see picture)

Second phase - The dump site
After surviving the madness of the roof terrace, you can now proceed along the road to your next stop: the dump site. Climb the trash and settle down, the zombies can come from everywhere. Don't forget to keep an eye on the overgrowth on your left: it's a great way for them to sneak up on you.

Tactics?

First of all, when the timer for the first phase has run out and you are able to move on using the grav lifts, don't forget to bring yourself another extra weapon on your way to the next phase. Both grav lifts can lead you to extra weapons. When using the grav lift in the back, you should definitely consider either checking out the inside of the little building (1st picture) or jumping on top of it (2nd pic).

http://imageshack.us/a/img402/3898/favelarun6.jpg

Then, once you reached the second holdout location, you can quickly get up to the turret by sprinting up against the leaning pallet (don't just walk, you have to sprint) and constantly pressing the jump button while doing so. (see picture below) That way, you'll get on the platform earlier than the other humans so you use the turret to back them up and kill the zombies chasing them.
Once you're up there, you can also chose to get yourself an extra magnum (or tell somebody else about its location). It's hidden on the rocky cavity on the other side of the stile, facing the turret platform. Just look for something white and you'll probably find it. You can just grab it if you keep sprinting through the air while jumping towards it.

Here's an overview of the second hold out area, again with all possible zombie approaches. (see picture below) In the beginning the zombies will be coming at you from where you first came from, and as long as you don't let them get to the pallet you shouldn't have a hard time surviving. After a while, teleporters will open up inside of the huge warehouse on your left, first the one on the floor level and later on also the one in the ceiling. It is important that you don't give the zombies the opportunity to sneak up on you from the left using the overgrowth, because then you'll automatically be focussing all your attention on the shrubs which will allow other zombies to run at you through the middle. Therefore, you need to have a strategy! You can either put one or two humans on the left guarding the overgrowth and have the rest take care of the middle, or you can all focus on the middle and simply make sure no zombies can get to the overgrowth. The choice is up to you.

Third phase - The alley
Now that you overcame the stink of the dump, you can fight the zombies through a more cramped way. But appearances are deceptive: if you don't put one of your guys in the little entry on the left (on the picture), the zombies will have a great way to flank and overwhelm you.

Tactics?

Zombies can appear from behind the huge rock formation in the picture above, so it's important not to hang around on top of the edge for too long, or you will get infected with ease.

Here you can see an overview of the third holdout area. (see picture)
This holdout area might look very easy, because the alley is very cramped and you seem to be able to just mow down the zombies, one by one. However, it's not that easy at all. As you can see, zombies actually have two routes to take in order to get to the end of the alley. The first one is the main one, which is guarded by the turret and consists of very open sightlines. However, the second one behind the pallet door is much more discrete and far more dangerous if it remains unprotected.

You would do very wise putting a guy in this little hallway, like the players did in the picture below, to make sure the zombies can't sneak up on you that easy.

Final phase - The market place
In this final phase, things will really get in a clutter. Not before was it so difficult to focus on all the possible zombie approaches without forgetting one. There a plenty of things that will make it a bit easier for you though. First of all, there's a cookable shotgun waiting for you on the picknick table. Getting there isn't without danger as the zombies can approach directly in front of you. After grabbing it, don't hesitate and get back to your original location. Secondly, there are also a DMR as well as a rocket launcher hidden on balconies. For these weapons goes the same: look behind you as you grasp them, and make sure your buddies got your back.

Tactics?
As I already mentioned above, this phase is by far the most difficult one. There are several reasons why.
1. there are not many humans left, whereas there are probably a whole lot of zombies, 2. there are now many places where the zombies can come from (see the picture below), 3. you're located inside of a little room, which causes a lack of sightlines and requires great teamwork

I'll give you a few tactics on how to survive nevertheless.

First of all, it would be very wise to gather as many weapons as you can before settling down in the room. Did you bring any turrets to the third phase? Don't forget to take them with you! Did you already break off the turret from the third phase itself? If not, do it now! Apart from the weapons you can bring from previous phases, you should also try to get new weapons that will be at your disposal in this phase. After going up the stairs, take a look at your left to find another one of those sweet grey shotgun boxes. You can immediately throw the box itself down the stairs to slow down any zombies that will be trying to run up from there, thus killing two birds with one stone.

There are a few weapons in the room itself, but most weapons will be risky to get to. This doesn't mean you should forget about them, though. Like I said, the more weapons the better. For example, there's a shotgun waiting for you on the picknick table. It's not so hard to see, but going over means that you'll get extremely close to one of the zombie teleporters directly in front of you. Besides, you also have to go back after you took it, which means you'll need someone to watch your back if you don't want a zombie to assassinate you in an unalert moment.

And here are three more pictures of (semi)-hidden weapons on the map that you can try to obtain. Because the pictures speak for themselves, I won't comment on the weapons any further.

Secondly, it will increase your chances of surviving this last phase as well a lot if you divide the tasks. Put one guy (preferably someone with a lot of shotgun ammo left) at the stairs, to kill all the zombies that try to get up. Don't forget to push the box down to make it easier to do so. Have someone else watch the little opening on the left, next to the barricade. (See picture below, on the right) Some zombies manage to get in using various ways. You are going to want to kill those zombies before they get in. Stay focussed though, or this might happen to you. (second picture)

Good luck surviving in this hot tempered map, and here are some more pictures for your pleasure!

Moar moar moar

- Special thanks to -

nick11962

for helping me making this map completely unbreakable

And all the others that helped me testing this map