Halo: Spartan Assault
Halo: Spartan Assault is the two-stick shooter you didn’t know existed
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Get ready for duty, Spartan
The next chapter in the Halo saga doesn’t star Master Chief, isn’t a first-person shooter, and isn’t coming to consoles. 343 Industries’ Halo: Spartan Assault is a top-down, two-stick shooter coming to Windows Phones and Windows 8, and it puts Spartan Sarah Palmer in the starring role.
343 didn’t just settle for dropping a Spartan into an arcade shooter--it is attempting to merge the franchise with the genre to create something unique. As such, it has the typical sandbox feel of a Halo game, with massive, beautiful environments filled with enemies to kill, items to pick up, and secrets to explore. If you see a vehicle, you can jump in and drive around; if you find a group of allies, they’ll fight alongside you. Though it controls like a two-stick shooter (fairly well on a touch-screen device), Spartan Assault looks and feels more like a real-time strategy game where you’re only playing as one character--sort of like League of Legends, except, you know, you’re shooting aliens.
It’ll tie in with the Halo fiction, as well. Spartan Assault is framed as a training tool, with Spartan prospects aboard the Infinity using it to get a glimpse into important battles in order to gain the knowledge they need to wear the armor. The story-driven campaign will pull players through 25 missions, expanding on the story between Halo 3 and 4 and fleshing out the Halo universe. Playing will also unlock exclusive Halo 4 content, giving Halo fans a reason to fire up their Windows 8-powered PC or device. You know, if they have them.
Check out the following slides for additional images and more information.
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Environments are varied and alien.
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Vehicles play a major role in Spartan Assault.
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You're not the only one on the battlefield, other AI roam the arenas.
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Cinematics are well-animated.
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...and there are a lot of them.
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Turrets, shields... everything you love about Halo's world is here.
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You can still get kill medals, like a "Killtastrophe!"
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Expect to see guns you know, and some you don't.
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You'll explore Forerunner environments throughout the game.
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Mission scores give you plenty of reasons to keep playing.
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Killing frenzy! Riding in the big vehicles is really cool.
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Vehicle battles epitomize the "sandbox" style of gameplay.
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Hornets are also going to show up during some missions.
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The visual style looks very similar to classic Halo games.
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Smoke trails and explosions make the world feel alive.
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The production value is off the charts, especially when compared to other top-down shooters.
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Look at that rocket. Just look at it.
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So many wraiths, so many things to blow up.
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Swedish_Chef - June 5, 2013 12:18 a.m.
I'm with the people saying to release this on PC/XBLA. However for XBLA they'd probably launch it for Xbox One since it runs on windows 8 software while the 360 doesn't and thus would be harder to make the game compatible for, personally I'm actually okay with this since right now Xbox One really needs some titles you can't get on other consoles. If they do launch it on Xbox One though chances are they won't make it on PC's as well so that it's exclusivity gives more incentive for consumers to buy an Xbox One or table rather than just get it for their PC, which does kinda suck since a PC Version would be awesome but that's business for you. -
Bloodstorm - June 5, 2013 5:27 a.m.
Well, it most likely runs using C# or C++. Doesn't really matter what OS it is exclusive too. Remarkable easy to port it over. Don't let them make you think otherwise. The real thing here, and which I agree with you, is that they most likely are saving it to release on XBLA for the Xbox One, which is just pure marketing (though it maybe doesn't make that much sense, since it gains you Halo 4 awards and Halo 4 will not be compatible with Xbox One). -
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Bloodstorm - June 5, 2013 5:23 a.m.
Heck yeah. I've been saying this for a long time (and 343 can't mess it up nearly as bad as 4). I personally loved Halo Wars, and want to see another one, with the scale of RTS games like Supreme Commander. Also, I wan't levels with ship-to-ship combat, because that is a staple of Halo fiction that has gone so largely ignored in Halo games. -
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ObliqueZombie - June 4, 2013 10:54 a.m.
Actually looks good--literally! Too bad I'll never be able to play it. Windows 8, really? -
Chaoscoolperson - June 4, 2013 8:29 a.m.
Well I hope this is good enough to be ported. As I said yesterday in the pvz2 article, I have an iPhone. This is one of the few times that will ever be a problem. However my sister does have a windows 8 computer. I may have to let her play my minecraft in exchange for letting me play this. -
BladedFalcon - June 4, 2013 8:01 a.m.
ZOMG MICROSOFT'S KILLER APP!!! To be fair, it looks pretty nice, so hopefully it will turn out to be good ^^ -
Bloodstorm - June 4, 2013 6:21 a.m.
I'd give this a shot, but I don't have a windows phone or the ungodly Windows 8 (because I like to actually play games). This would seem like a perfect XBLA game (and probably would play well on any PC really). -
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