The best multiplayer map in Halo was ‘Hang ‘em High’.  It was a cavernous dull gray rectangle of a room seemingly designed around the rocket launcher.  The wide open space gave rocket kills new thrill: there was nothing like launching a rocket from one end of the map to the other and fragging some poor idiot who forgot to look over his shoulder.  The map also gave life to the potent sniper rifle and bouncing frag grenades off the harsh geometric walls became something of an art form.

The map also did a good job of leveling the playing field between skilled and average players.  The combination of default weapons, wide open spaces, visibility, and ample opportunity for splash damage gave so-so players an opportunity to almost compete with players of much greater skill.

When Halo 2 came out Hang ‘em High was left on the cutting room floor.  Bungie said it just didn’t translate well to Halo 2.  Well, on April 17 we get to find out for ourselves.  A tweaked version of Hang ‘em High will be sold on Xbox Live under the name ‘Tombstone’.