New...Old?...Well..."Redone" Halo 2 Maps Today

Written by Kevin Alexander

Tuesday, 17 April 2007 11:19

Woke up, and stayed in bed

Pushed my dog off my head

Found my way to my desk and booted up

And went on to read all the gaming news

Found my mouse and grabbed my gat

Read the RSS in seconds flat

Used the scroll wheel and made it smoke

Bungie spoke and i went into a dream

I read the news today oh boy

About the new Halo 2 maps being available

OK, OK...I'll stop. Don't know where that came from...

The 2 new Halo 2 maps are available today, Tombstone and Desolation which are remakes of Hang 'Em High and Derelict, respectively. The map pack will set you back a whopping $4 but considering how much time I spent playing slayer on Hang 'Em in Hal, this was a no-brainer. I took a stroll through Tombstone earlier today so hit the jump for my impressions of the redesign.

Let me preface this by saying that I consider Halo 1's Hang 'Em High to be the best mulitplayer map ever created for anything on this planet. I've played de_dust and a bunch of other ones, but nothing compares to how balanced Hang 'Em is. Before Halo 2 came out we knew there was going to be some redone Halo 1 maps included and my friends and I prayed that Hang 'Em was one of them. Naturally it wasn't and now that we sit mere months away from Halo 3 the remake is finally here. So how does it stack up to the original?

Overall, I'm extremely pleased. Now keep in mind that I only took a stroll around by myself without being in an actual match since it was early and no one was around for me to hook up with to play. At first it feels totally different but once you start roaming around it's like riding a bike, only this bike is prettier and more refined. There's no denying that Hang 'Em wasn't exactly a visual masterpiece but it was the structural design of the map that was brilliant. Tombstone has covered over the dull grays with a slick coat of brown and they've torn the roof off the sucka. The walls aren't just plain, straight, flat walls any more. They hold lights and other visual clean ups to the structure that doesn't affect the gameplay, but makes it a nicer place to play. There's a new entrance to the "shotgun hallway" and some of the catwalk has been broken up to make it so you have to jump instead of just straight run.

The weapons have been shuffled a bit, but the shotguns are still in the pits on each side of the map. The sword replaces the sniper rifle, which now sits on top of the newly added crane near the canal. Speaking of the canal the lip has been removed from the edges so you don't have to jump out of it anymore. As far as I could tell the camo is gone and now there are two shield boosts, one of which is where you remember it and the other has been hidden in a new pathway leading to the shotgun hallway. Most interestingly is where I stumbled upon the rocket launcher, which I'll grant you the pleasure of finding.

I hope to give this new version a combat ride tonight, but for now that's about the size of it. Got any impressions of the new maps? Head on over to our forums and let us know!