Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault
Developer(s)	343 Industries Vanguard Games
Publisher	Microsoft Studios
US date released	July 18, 2013 (Windows 8) December 23, 2013 (Xbox One) January 31, 2014 (Xbox 360) April 4, 2014 (Windows Vista, 7) April 16, 2015 (iOS)
Genre	Top-down shooter
Game modes	Campaign Co-op
ESRB rating	Teen
Platform(s)	Windows Vista, 7, 8, Windows Phone 8, Xbox One, Xbox 360, iOS
Composer(s)	Tom Salta
Media	Digital download
Website	Halo Waypoint - Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo like you have never played before.

— Tagline

Halo: Spartan Assault is a top-down shooter game developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games. The game takes place between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4 near the end of the Human-Covenant war and details some of the first missions of the SPARTAN-IV Program through the eyes of Sarah Palmer and Edward Davis.

Halo: Spartan Assault was released for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 for $6.99 on July 18, 2013. The price dropped to $4.99 on April 10, 2014. On April 17, 2014, Halo: Spartan Assault became available for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 with a single purchase.

Halo: Spartan Assault was released on the Xbox One on December 23, 2013, and for the Xbox 360 on January 31, 2014 for $14.99. These prices dropped to $9.99 on March 25, 2014. Players who purchased and logged into the Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 versions of the game on or before December 15, 2013 are able to purchase the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of the game for the discounted price of $4.99.

Halo: Spartan Assault was released for Windows Vista and Windows 7 via Steam for $4.99 on April 4, 2014.

Plot

Main article: Battle of Draetheus V

In 2554, a Covenant Remnant fleet, comprised of four CAS-class assault carriers and five CCS-class battlecruisers, jumps into the Draetheus system and attacks X50, Draetheus V's moon. Merg Vol, the Sangheili leading the attack, finds and reactivates a monolith deep within X50's arctic circle, revealing the moon to be a Forerunner planet constructor. The moon begins to deconstruct Draetheus V. Although Davis manages to shut down the device, the damage caused to Draetheus V is severe and the planet is evacuated.

Palmer commandeers a Phantom from Parg Vol's camp and travels to the moon to eliminate Merg Vol. After killing Merg Vol, Palmer is assigned to find the source of a signal being broadcast from inside the moon. She discovers that the signal was Davis' last words relayed by a Forerunner construct and she retrieves Davis' body.

Characters

UNSC Sarah Palmer Edward Davis Roland (Cutscenes only)

Covenant Merg Vol Parg Vol (Mentioned only)

Gameplay

Halo: Spartan Assault is a top-down shooter. It supports three different control schemes: touchscreen "twin-stick" controls, mouse and keyboard, and an Xbox controller (Xbox 360 wired controller in the Windows versions).

There are 30 missions which typically take 2 to 5 minutes to complete. Before starting a mission, players can purchase new options for their loadout using XP earned from completing missions or real money via microtransactions. These options only last for the duration of that mission. During a mission, players can pick up weapons and grenades, enter vehicles, and use armor abilities.

After a mission, players are scored depending on their kills, medals earned, and time spent. Each mission has a different score requirement to earn a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Star for that mission. Players earn XP depending on what Star they earned. The XP earned can be multiplied by activating skulls prior to starting the mission. Players can earn a rating higher than Gold if they complete a mission with the Thunderstorm and Black Eye skulls on and meet the score requirements for Gold.

Integration with Halo 4

Certain Halo 4 achievements give the player a free use of different loadout options. Additionally, players who complete certain requirements in Halo: Spartan Assault and then unlock the Flying Colors archive in Halo Waypoint's Classified section will unlock the following in Halo 4:

• 50,000 XP
• Flying Colors emblem
• DMR Striped (STP) skin (Halo 4 Bullseye Pack required)
• Air Assault Vision (VISN) skin (Bullseye Pack required)
• C.I.O. Rush RUSH skin (Bullseye Pack required)
• Determined stance (Bullseye Pack required)

Combatants

UNSC Human UNSC Marine Corps Orbital Drop Shock Trooper SPARTAN-IVs Forerunner Automated Defense Systems Focus Turrets Flood (Simulation Only) Flood Forms Infection Forms Combat Forms

Covenant Unggoy Unggoy Minor Suicide Unggoy Unggoy Ultra Kig-Yar Kig-Yar Minor Yanme'e Yanme'e Minor Sangheili Sangheili Minor Sangheili Major Stealth Sangheili Sangheili Zealot Jiralhanae Jump Pack Jiralhanae Jiralhanae Chieftain Lekgolo (Mentioned only) Mgalekgolo (Mentioned only)

Features

Weapons

UNSC MA37 Individual Combat Weapon System (Mentioned only) MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System M6H Personal Defense Weapon System M7/Caseless Submachine Gun M6 Machine Pistol BR85 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle M45D Tactical Shotgun M319 Individual Grenade Launcher Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920 (Mentioned only) M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon Sniper Rifle System 99-Series 5 Anti-Matériel M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade Napalm Grenade

Covenant Standard Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle (Mentioned only) Type-51 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved Type-52 Special Applications Rifle Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword Type-1 Antipersonnel grenade Jiralhanae Type-25 Grenade Launcher Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer

Armor Abilities and Equipment

UNSC Sprint Regeneration Field Overshield (First appearance) Hologram Stun Blast (First appearance) Seeker Drone (First appearance)

Covenant Active Camouflage Forerunner Autosentry Hardlight Shield Repel (First appearance) Teleport (First appearance)

Vehicles

UNSC Usable M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun M850 Main Battle Tank M808B Main Battle Tank Non-Usable M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle M12R Light Anti-Aircraft Vehicle M9 Main Anti-Aircraft Tank M312 Heavy Recovery Vehicle AV-14 Attack VTOL D77H-TCI Pelican Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle Strident-class heavy frigate

Covenant Usable Type-29 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery Non-Usable Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft Type-25 Troop Carrier Type-52 Troop Carrier Orbital Insertion Pod CCS-class battlecruiser CAS-class assault carrier

Locations

Draetheus V Faraday Base Epsilon Expanse Red Slate plateau X40 (Simulation only) The Fort Conduction Refinement facility

X50 Research Facility Alpha Mirror Flats Glacial Perch Basalt Maze Arid Sea The Cistern

Achievements

Main article: List of Achievements for Halo: Spartan Assault

The Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions offer 25 achievements worth a total of 250 Gamerpoints. The Xbox 360 version offers 28 achievements for 400 Gamerpoints and the Xbox One version offers 30 achievements for 1000 Gamerpoints. Each achievement can be earned once per platform.

Halo: Spartan Assault OST

Main article: Halo: Spartan Assault Original Soundtrack

The Halo: Spartan Assault Original Soundtrack was composed by Tom Salta, and consists of 27 tracks.

Updates

Halo: Spartan Assault has had many updates which fixed small bugs, however the following updates are ones that have added free content.

Operation F: Hydra

Main article: Operation F: Hydra

On August 29, 2013, a free update called Operation F: Hydra was released. The update added five new missions, five new achievements, Xbox 360 controller support, and the ability to purchase all loadout options with XP. Upon launch of the update, a cloud save issue prevented Windows 8 players from accessing their save files. This issue was resolved with an update on August 31, 2013.

Co-op Missions

Main article: Co-op Missions

The Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions include five new cooperative missions and new achievements. 343 Industries has not announced any plans to bring this content to the Windows or Steam versions of the game.

Community Meld

On April 15, 2014, the Xbox One version of the game was updated to support Community Meld, a feature that allows quick access to the store and Halo news by pressing the Y button in the main menu.

Reception

Metacritic gave it 70 (PC) and 51 (Xbox), while GameRankings gave it an even less generous 68.79% for the PC version and 55.39% for the Xbox version. The game was given 6.7/10 by IGN and 7 by Destructoid. GameInformer gave it an 8.25.

Trivia

• The cinematics resemble the art and style of the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Terminals and the Halo 4 Terminals.
• Prior to its announcement, Halo: Spartan Assault was code named Halo: Bootcamp.
• Halo: Spartan Assault is the second Halo title to earn an ESRB rating of "Teen" rather than "Mature." The first was Halo Wars.
• Halo: Spartan Assault is the second Halo title to not be a first-person shooter. The first was 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 were ports of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
• Halo: Spartan Assault is the first Halo title to not be initially released on a Xbox console.
• Halo: Spartan Assault is the last Halo game to be released on the Xbox 360.
• Halo: Spartan Assault is the first game in which the player cannot change the difficulty in the Campaign without the use of skulls.
• Although very unusual in other media, in Halo: Spartan Assault it is common to fight against Jiralhanae and Sangheili on the same battlefield.
• Though they are seen on the cover, Halo: Spartan Assault is the first Halo game in which the player does not fight Hunters.
• Halo: Spartan Assault is the first Halo game ever to be released on Steam.

Gallery

Game cover

Game logo

Screenshot from in-game.

Covenant fleet emerging from slipspace.

Screenshot of the M850 Main Battle Tank.

Screenshot from in-game.

Mission Accomplished screen.

Control scheme for combat on Windows 8.

HUD and control scheme for touchscreen Windows 8 devices.

Palmer watches as incoming Covenant ships move inbound through the clouds.

Palmer watches.

Draetheus V and its moon X50.

Edward Davis and a Forerunner World Builder.

The Flood return.

Video

Halo Spartan Assault Trailer

Announcement Trailer

Halo Spartan Assault - Release Date Trailer

Release Date Trailer