An Overview of Each of Halo 2's Multiplayer Maps

Lockout

Lockout can be a bit confusing for new players, but is widely considered to be one of the best maps. Lockout consists of two towers, a central courtyard, and lots of outlying rooms and walkways. Short range weapons rule the roost at Lockout. The first team to secure both the sword and the shotgun will usually win, although some clever use of the battle rifle and sniper rifle can also yield a victory. I suggest Slayer, Team Slayer, Capture the Flag, and King of The Hill for this map.

Ascension

The one and only strategy for this map is sniping. Nothing else has ever yielded a victory for me. Failure to obtain a sniper rifle will result in repeated embarassing spawn deaths....not a fun time. A few weak backup plans are: Get the rocket, then get inside the banshee; get the shotgun and crouchwalk behind a sniper; bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. Slayer and Team Slayer work well here, even if the only objective for each team is to obtain the enemy's sniper rifle.

Midship

Midship is the smallest map in the game. Midship consists of a central room surrounded by ramps and overhangs. Needless to say, walking out into the main room is suicide. Being a Covenant based map the starting weapons are a tad different. Players spawn with a plasma rifle instead of the standard SMG and plasma grenades instead of the usual frags. Again, short range combat is one's best bet here. The shotgun lies in the center of the main room, and the sword spawns about 30 feet directly above it on a floating platform. Slayer and King of The Hill are great here.

Ivory Tower

Ivory Tower is an ingeniously built map. Long range, short range, and medium range combat are all acceptable here, although a mixture of all three will serve you best. In team games people often try to hold the platform where the sniper rifle spawns. This can prove costly as there are 3 entrances to this room, one of which leads from the overshield spawn, one from the sword spawn, and the other from the shotgun spawn, leaving would be raiders very well armed and protected. The rocket launcher becomes a deciding factor here quite often, to such a point even that many people make an agreement not to use it for the sake of fun. All gametypes except CTF work well here.

Burial Mounds

This map can be frustrating for non-snipers. A large, fairly open map, Burial Mounds is a sniper's paradise. Burial Mounds is a ruined wasteland filled with debris. The snipeyness is offset by the two vehicles on the map. The warthog and ghost are each found on this map, as are two turrets, each found inside the same building. The best strategy for this map is to grab a sniper rifle and hide in a dark corner. CTF and Team Slayer work well here.

Colossus

There is one word and one word only to describe Colossus: Big. This map is so big that Major League Gaming rules indicate that starting weapons should be sniper rifles to make up for the insane openness of this indoor map. A few things to remember on this map: Snipers will be noticed, so you should move your sniping position after every few kills. Shotguns are plentiful in this map, so if someone is closing on you, you might wanna back up. The exploding barrels on this map do damage similar to that of rockets, do not underestimate them. Most importantly, remember that the jump pad can be heard from across the entire map, if you're trying to be stealthy, don't use it.

Zanzibar

One must be a diverse player to succeed at Zanzibar. Snipers can reign supreme. Rocketeers can have fun ruining the drivers' time. Vehicles spawn at both ends of the map. There are indoors to hide from snipers and bring shotguns to bear. This is one of the most inventive maps I've ever played and it only has one truely cheap tactic, which can backfire if an assaulter knows what he's doing. I recommend every gametype except 2 flag Capture the Flag.

Coagulation

Coagulation is a sniper's paradise. Filled with cheap spots to camp, and only two sniper rifles, it reminds me vaguely of Ascension in the fact that the team with the rifles will dominate. The one redeeming factor of this map is the massive amount of vehicles that can be operated. At max there can be 8 going at once. A novelty gametype I recommend is all swords, all warthogs. It becomes quite easy to obliterate an entire warthog crew with a sword after a few tries. Standard gametypes I recommend are Capture the Flag and Team Slayer.

Headlong

Headlong is another very diverse map. One can choose to stay indoors and take enemies close range, one can grab one of the two sniper rifles and pick people off from a distance, or one can grab a vehicle and mow people down. This map has one very major drawback. There is an easily accessible ledge on top of one of the buildings that renders a sniper nearly invincible if he can manage to get both rifles up there with him. I recommend turning off Banshees to avoid this problem. Every gametype works well here.

Waterworks

Campy snipey goodness here. Never ever run across an open field after about 30 seconds into a game unless you have a complete deathwish. Four sniper rifles spawn here, two of which are on the main ledge used for sniping. For the uneducated this means that any sniper who chooses to camp the center platform is rewarded with an infinite supply of respawning ammo. Luckily there are 8 vehicles here, including tanks, which can be used to avoid sniper fire. All gametypes work well here.

Foundation

This is a secret map which must be unlocked. It consists of one open room surrounded by a catwalk. Connecting to the catwalk are 4 outlying rooms. All rockets work well here, but I also recommend all versions of slayer and team slayer.

Sources
http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/945/Halo-2-Multiplayer-Map-Overview/p3/
http://halo.bungie.org
Halo 2