Video Game Vintage Title: Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault is a top-down third-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Entertainment. Part of the Halo media franchise, it was first released on July 18, 2013 for Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms. An Xbox One version of the game released on December 24, 2013, followed by an Xbox 360 version on January 31, 2014.

Halo: Spartan Assault is set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4. Players control the human soldiers Edward Davis and Sarah Palmer as they fight the alien Covenant. The game launched with 25 single-player missions, with more content released later. In addition, the game is Xbox Live enabled and includes Achievements.

Spartan Assault received mixed reviews on Windows-enabled devices. Critics praised its graphics, Halo look-and-feel, and ease of play. The game's controls for touch screen and micro-transaction systems received less positive reviews.

Halo: Spartan Assault Plot

Halo: Spartan Assault takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting between the events of Halo 3 in 2553 and the events of Halo 4 in 2557. Following the events of Halo 3, the UNSC and Covenant signed a ceasefire. It follows the early Spartan Ops' missions against the Covenant alien species and gives more background to the human-Covenant conflict. Stationed on the UNSC Infinity, gameplay is through the perspective of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis.

Spartans Palmer and Davis are stationed on the planet Draetheus V when it comes under attack from a rogue group of Covenant who have ignored the ceasefire.

The Covenant leadership discover that Draetheus' moon is actually a Forerunner weapon. As the Covenant begin to activate it, the planet starts tearing apart and the UNSC have no choice but to evacuate on vacant Covenant ships. Spartan Davis ultimately gives his life to allow the remaining UNSC enough time to evacuate. Spartan Palmer tracks down the Covenant cult leader Merg Vol, kills him, sabotages the Forerunner weapon and escapes the planet.

In the Operation Hydra update, Spartan Palmer returns to X50 in search of a mysterious signal. She discovers after countless battling that the signal is actually a distress signal from Spartan Davis, before he died. Palmer reached the core of X50 but Davis died and the moon used his remains to create an unnamed device which Palmer extracts.

Halo: Spartan Assault Gameplay

Halo: Spartan Assault is a shooter game where players view gameplay from an overhead top-down perspective. Players control their character through virtual joysticks�with the left stick controlling movement and the right stick controlling the direction of the character's fire�or through a keyboard and mouse. Xbox 360 gamepad support was later added.

Gameplay of Halo: Spartan Assault will earn the player experience points (XP), Achievements, and emblems for a Halo 4 Spartan career. Additional integration features will be released after launch.

Reception
Spartan Assault received mixed reviews upon release; the game has a weighted aggregate rating of 71/100 on Metacritic, based on sixteen reviews. Critics including Harry Slater of Pocket Gamer and Chris Carter of Destructoid wrote that while Spartan Assault was not going to be a Windows 8 killer app, it was a worthwhile purchase for gamers on the Windows 8 platform.

Multiple reviewers praised the game for its authentic Halo look and feel. Game Informer's Kyle Hillard called Spartan Assault "a true Halo game, even if the series� signature scope and size are scaled down", with the game featuring familiar Halo moments, enemies, and sounds.

The microtransaction features of Spartan Assault were generally negatively received. While reviewers such as Destructoid's Carter felt that the microtransactions could be ignored and did not impact enjoyment of the game, Hillard wrote that "it�s hard not to feel as though an important part of the game is being withheld after buying into the agreed-upon price of admission."

GameZone's Jake Valentine gave the Xbox One version a 5/10, stating " Halo: Spartan Assault is a soulless, boring, chore of a game. The small glimpses of fun arcade like gameplay are drowned away by frustration and money grabbing."