Race

The icon

Race is a free-for-all and team multiplayer gametype in Halo: Combat Evolved. The player's objective is to be the first person or team to reach all checkpoints marked on the map. Checkpoints are demarcated by an arrow or, if a player is directly facing one, a flag icon. The maximum number of checkpoints is fifteen.

When a player has completed a lap, information is displayed at the top left corner of the screen, showing the lap number completed and time taken in seconds.

Race is ideally played on the large, flat map Blood Gulch. Playing on the only other vehicle-enabled map in Halo: Combat Evolved, Sidewinder, makes the game more difficult, as some of the checkpoints spawn on ledges which are high and near impossible to reach while driving a Warthog.

Gametype History

Race was removed from the list of playable gametypes in Halo 2, likely due to unpopularity, replaced with the new gametype, Territories. Race did not return in Halo 3, although features of the new gametype VIP can be edited to recreate a similar experience. Bungie has created a gametype that is somewhat like Race called Rocket Race, found in the Team Doubles playlist of Halo 3. It is a variant of VIP in which everybody is invincible (except for assasinations) and carries a rocket launcher. The player that is not the VIP is supposed to drive the VIP in a Mongoose to a territory.

Trivia

• A Bungie weekly update mentioned a gametype with emphasis on vehicles, possibly hinting at the return of this gametype in Halo 3. However, Race did not return in Halo 3.
• Territories looks like the gametype to replace Race.
• Some players create racetrack maps in Halo 3 by Forging map variants with only one Territory. When the map is played in Territories with permanent capture turned on, the player who reaches the end first ends up capturing the only Territory on the map, winning and ending the game.