Last month, Microsoft announced that Halo: Spartan Strike, a top-down, twin-stick shooter, would be arriving in December for Window devices and PC platforms.
Upon hearing that the game would be acting as a spiritual successor for 2013’s Halo: Spartan Assault, developed once again by 343 Industries and Vanguard Entertainment, I was immediately compelled to sit down with Halo: Spartan Assault a second time after having originally played it over my holiday break during its initial release month. After sinking just two hours into the main campaign and completing the entirety of the Co-Op Mode in one sitting with a friend over Xbox Live, I was reminded exactly why I had given up on this game a year before.
Above all, it’s important to note the game’s premise. Set in between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4, Halo: Spartan Assault follows the role of Spartan-IV’s onboard the UNSC Infinity as they relive past battles of Spartans Palmer and Davis as the duo fend off against a rogue group of Covenant forces on the planet Draetheus V. These battles are relived through a virtual simulation where players assume the role of Spartan Palmer and Davis across thirty campaign missions.
Though the premise of the game sounds intriguing, the thirty missions offered here are nothing special. In fact, they’re actually quite dry. With each mission lasting anywhere from three to five minutes, the entire game can be completed in about four hours even when tackling the objectives at a relatively slow pace. The game mixes up mission types in an attempt to alter the gameplay. Some missions will require you to escort UNSC troops to a particular rendezvous point, while other missions will have you destroying enemy encampments, ambushing their convoys, and eliminating all Covenant forces before UNSC scientists can tinker with the planet’s Forerunner architecture. As imagined, there’s quite the overlap in objectives throughout the thirty missions in the game. This adds to the nuances of the main missions being such a chore to complete.
On the narrative side, there’s not much going on to keep even the most dedicated of Halo fans invested in Spartan Palmer’s adventures on Draetheus V. Instead, it feels as though the campaign missions are loosely tied together and act solely as a distraction from larger titles begging for your attention to be played.
Adding to this, Halo: Spartan Assault acts as a massive chore for the most driven gaming completionists out there. On the surface, the game’s Assault Ops and Gold Stars act as great incentives in replaying certain missions several times and in different ways in order to complete the tasks pinned to each of the thirty campaign mission. The only problem here is that some of the Assault Ops require players to perform the most trivial of tasks, such as killing an obscene amount of Covenant Elites or scoring a ridiculous amount of kills with the Scorpion tank.
When such tasks translate to replaying a single mission more than fifteen times, the desire to keep such a completionist mindset in check becomes a struggle. That’s not to say such replays are useless and will always play out the same. Upon successfully completing a mission, players will be rewarded with generous amounts of XP depending on their play style. Did you complete the mission under a specific time? Here’s a few hundred XP. How any medals did you obtain? Score enough multi-kills and sprees and you’ll be rewarded with even more XP! Accumulated XP is then used to purchase one new power weapon and armor ability before starting a mission, thus ensuring some extra muscle when powering through the harder missions of the campaign.
In terms of gameplay, Halo: Spartan Assault is great. While the missions are indeed repetitive, the controls are quite responsive when shooting, throwing grenades, or through basic movement. This helps create a smooth shoot ’em up experience. There’s also a Co-Op Mode worth mentioning. Though with only five missions to boot, there’s not much in terms of cooperative action that will leave fans satisfied. What’s interesting in the co-op, though, is the return of the Flood. Their presence offers a great opportunity in teaming up with a friend or stranger over Xbox Live and powering through the five missions in an attempt to stop hordes of parasitic aliens. While the first two missions will prove to be quite enjoyable, you’ll soon find that much like the campaign, the remaining missions are entirely repetitive and there isn’t much of an incentive to play each mission more than once or twice.
Don’t allow the disappointing story elements and repetitive gameplay to completely turn you off. Halo: Spartan Assault is an enjoyable title on Xbox One; though for how much enjoyment one can pull from the game is entirely up to your preference in genre and gameplay mechanics.
As one of the most dedicated fans of the Halo Universe, one of the most disappointing facets I found with this title is the lack of a compelling narrative. Whether that’s due to the notion that gameplay in a shoot ’em up is more important than narrative, it still does an injustice to such a story-driven series. Admittedly, the controls are near flawless and the audio and art design are very reminiscent of past Halo titles. The lack of diversity in campaign missions, however, and an absence of immersion outweigh these smaller facets greatly.
Despite ill-feelings towards Halo: Spartan Assault, I find myself willing to give 343 Industries and Vanguard Entertainment another chance when Halo: Spartan Strike arrives next month. This is all in hopes that along with a smooth, functioning game. Here’s to hoping that the narrative can hold my interest for more than ten or fifteen lousy and repetitive missions.
