Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault is a top-down shooter game for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 OS for personal computers developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games. The game takes place sometime between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4 and details the end of the Human-Covenant war and the beginning of the SPARTAN-IV Program. Commander Sarah Palmer from Halo 4 and Edward Davis are featured as playable characters.

Halo: Spartan Assault explores the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and dives deeper into the backstory of the Human-Covenant wars, through the eyes of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Edward Davis, stationed aboard the.

343 Industries has announced that Spartan Assault will be available on the Xbox One on December 23, 2013, and on the Xbox 360 in January 2014 for $14.99. Players who purchased and logged into the Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 versions of the game on or before December 15 will be able to purchase these versions for the discounted price of $4.99.

The cinematics resemble the art and style of the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Terminals and the Halo 4 Terminals.

Top Features

 * Original Halo gameplay. An action-packed, single-player campaign spanning 25 missions in battles never before experienced in the Halo Universe, all played from a top-down camera view.
 * New and immersive storyline. An original story set between the events of "Halo 3" and "Halo 4," experience a new war with the Covenant, the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and the rise of Commander Sarah Palmer, all with best-in-class graphics and audio.
 * Built for simplicity. A unique fusion of touch and console-like controls for easy pick-up-and-play gaming, with the added flexibility of keyboard and mouse controls on Windows 8 PCs and tablets.
 * Integration with "Halo 4." Earn experience points (XP), all-new Achievements, and unlock emblems for your "Halo 4" Spartan career, with additional integration features available after launch.
 * Nonstop competitive fun. Compete against friends in Leaderboards or hone your skills against an onslaught of Weekly Challenges while collecting more than 40 in-game Achievements and Medals.
 * In-app purchases. Grind to earn upgrades or speed up your training by purchasing credits for boosts, unique weapons or armor abilities.

The game was released on July 18, 2013 at 4pm PST, costing $6.99. The game features the Covenant and the return of familiar races—Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Yanme'e.

On August 29, 2013, a free Title Update was released including Operation Hydra, which added 5 new missions to the game, 5 new achievements, Xbox 360 controller support, and the ability to use XP to purchase certain loadout items which previously required a purchase of cR.

Upon launch of the update, a cloud save issue was encountered for the Windows 8 version of the game, which prevented players from accessing their save files. On August 31, 2013, an update was released which fixed this issue, allowing players to access Operation Hydra without having to replay the entirety of the campaign.

Achievements
At launch, Halo: Spartan Assault offered 20 new achievements worth a total of 200 Gamerpoints. Operation Hydra, included in the first Title Update, added 5 new achievements worth a total of 50 Gamerpoints.

The Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phone versions of the game have separate achievement lists, meaning each achievement can be earned once per platform.

Trivia

 * Prior to its announcement, Halo: Spartan Assault was code named Halo: Bootcamp.
 * There are a range of armor abilities, one of which is new to the Halo Universe: an EMP-blast which will stop all actions of land-based enemies. Airborne enemies such as Yanme'e and Jet Pack Jiralhanae remain unaffected.
 * Halo: Spartan Assault is the second Halo title to earn a "Teen" rating rather than the usual "Mature" rating from the ESRB, the first being Halo Wars.
 * Halo: Spartan Assault is the second Halo title to not be a first-person shooter, the first being Halo Wars.
 * Halo: Spartan Assault is the first Halo title to be made for mobile devices.
 * Halo: Spartan Assault is the first Halo title to be released on the Xbox One.
 * Halo: Spartan Assault is the third Halo title to appear on PC, the first two being ports of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
 * Halo: Spartan Assault is the last Halo game to be released on the Xbox 360.
 * Most of the sound effects, notably the weapons' sound effects, are taken from Halo 3 and Halo: Reach rather than Halo 4.
 * Although very unusual in other media, in Halo: Spartan Assault, it is common to fight against Jiralhanae and Sangheili on the same battlefield.
 * Though Hunters are seen on the game's cover, they do not appear in the actual game, making Spartan Assault the first Halo game where the player cannot fight them.