Let's get ready for Halo 4. All selections were rmade mostly with high level play in mind. I judge on map design and how that map design relates to the game mechanics of whichever Halo game it came from; I do not take into consideration the mechanics on their own merit. PC maps and forged rmaps are not present.

#65: Blackout / Small / Halo 3 / Blackout was an insult to fans of the Halo series. It took one of the most appreciated Halo maps and divested it of everything that made it great. All of the random little fences on practically every edge of the map made it almost impossible to shoot anywhere other than three feet in front of you consistently. The worst remake of all-time, and the worst map in the Halo franchise.

#64: Foundry /Small* / Halo 3 / Foundry kick-started what I consider Bungie's lazy phase, where they put it on the community to create maps in their stead. The only problem is, the Halo community does not make great maps. Foundry was later made obsolete by the also trivial Sandbox. Let's not forget the color scheme was just ugly. The default permutation of this map was barely factored into the rating.

#63: Valhalla /Large / Halo 3 / Valhalla is, by far, the worst permutation of the "canyon series" of maps initiated by Blood Gulch. The mechanics of Halo 3 just did not favor this map. Even with a Battle Rifle start, Valhalla became almost entirely one-sided once either (competent) team attained control of the middle. The bullet spread made long range shooting with the Battle Rifle a futile effort, so there was little a disadvantaged team could do to even the odds.

#62: Boneyard /Large /Halo: Reach / Boneyard is a mess. It suffers from the same fate that many large maps are prone to: There are just way too many untrodden areas on the map. Halfway through Reach's life cycle, 343 even altered the spawn system of the map, ignoring the underutilized sections. It is obvious that this map was built with the Invasion gametype in mind. Due to a lack of versatility, though, that is the only gametype that works on this map; and even then, it's usually a miserable experience.

#61: Spire /Large / Halo: Reach / Spire suffers from a similar fate as Boneyard, but at least contains a cool concept and something unseen in other Halo maps. For that, it receives the tiniest of a placement bump. The concept I am referring to is the actual spire itself. It?s fun to ride up, but almost completely useless as a vantage point. Again, Spire is just a lazy, messy map with very little fun factor unless you really enjoy piloting the Hornet.

#60: Snowbound / Small / Halo 3 /By my low placements of Beta maps, you might be able to tell I didn't contain much prospect for Halo 3 when its release was approaching. Nonetheless, Snowbound favored incredibly frantic and feckless playstyles. Strategic thinking was neither required nor suggested, as most players simply hid inside the bases and underground with close- range weapons; opting to play games with bubble shields and shield doors. It also featured completely useless vehicle play and simply looked questionable.

#59: Chiron TL-34 / Small / Halo: CE / Anyone can figure out why this is so low. While some prefer the chaotic gameplay offered by Chiron, it just became too confusing for most players to even bother playing it more than just for comedic value. Also, at a high level, it became quite tiring with all the portal trapping. Lastly, it did not conduce team work at all, and favored individualist wandering. Good for novel value, bad for lasting appeal.

#58: Sandtrap/Large / Halo 3 / For the most part, Sandtrap is just too vast and too open for even 16-player games. The only time it holds any worth is when there are full-on team vehicular battles, and those never last long with so many ways provided to destroy vehicles. With the Elephant vehicle, Sandtrap added a new dimension to Halo multiplayer, but it was a failed experiment; causing games to become predictable and monotonous. Sandtrap earns points for giving us some wonderful community games such as Pirates vs. Sharks and the matchmaking staple Rocket Race.

#57: Boarding Action /Large / Halo: CE / One can only imagine that this map was consciously built to be "too big." Halo: Combat Evolved is a game that's best played with a smaller pool of players, this truth is only exaggerated by this behemoth of a map. Like Chiron, it has novel value, but won't be used to test anyone's mettle.

#56: Breakpoint /Large / Halo: Reach / Admittedly, I haven't played many games on Breakpoint, but it doesn't have much of anything memorable about it. The slope in the middle of the map adds an interesting element to the map, but it only serves as a minor distraction. For such a prominent point on a map, controlling it doesn't have much of an effect on the results of the game. One strength, however, is that nearly every portion of the map is utilized in some fashion.