The same goes for armour abilities. Additionally, purchased credits or earned XP can be spent to upgrade these items for more powerful ones, such as the spartan laser or the rocket launcher, and "boosters" can also be bought which boost shield, score, or damage. This is where the microtransactions come into play, but honestly, upgrading to any of this stuff is not necessary to enjoy the game to it's fullest, and can be bought with XP anyway, albeit a significant chunk.
Skulls can also be selected on this screen, from a choice of six, which combine to increase the XP you'll receive from completing the mission. Once ready to begin, the mission loads impressively quickly; it's just a couple of seconds in fact, before you're thrown straight into the action.
So here's where the rubber meets the road. How does it look, and how does it play? Firstly, the graphics are stunning. On my Lumia at least, with its x amoled display, I am greeted by the vibrant, richly colourful environment of a rocky exoplanet, packed with detail and immaculately textured, with deep black shadows and beautifully colourful blue, green and purple lighting emanating from every flare, bioluminescent plant and plasma explosion.
And even in the heat of battle, the perfectly smooth frame rate never drops. The maps range greatly in size, but all seem well designed and laid out. The sound is also worthy of a mention here, featuring the kind of sci-fi plainsong that Halo fans have come to love, along with authentic weapon sounds, those familiar covenant cries and spartan battle chatter.
With my Lumia linked to my awesome new bluetooth speaker, it is clear that the sound is as high quality as the graphics. The controls have come under some fire for being fiddly or confusing, especially when driving vehicles.
But actually I found them easy to get to grips with after only a short adjustment period. Adapted from a twin-stick shooter, it forgoes virtual sticks in favour of using the entire screen.
With both thumbs on the screen, the left controls movement while the right controls direction of fire. While it avoids the usual problem of slipping off of a virtual stick that you cannot feel, it can on occasion introduce a new problem; that of your thumbs straying too far into the screen and obscuring your view of the action. With practice I'm sure this can be avoided. A well thought out set of gestures control all other functions. A button on the bottom right of the hud controls all actions, whether picking up dropped weapons, entering vehicles or turrets, or setting charges.
Tapping on the character activates the armour ability, while double-tapping anywhere on screen throws a grenade or fires the main gun on a scorpion or wraith in the direction your character faces.
And that's about it. An excellent tutorial mission walks you through all of this, but actually it's pretty intuitive. But there are more layers to this game that elevate it above and beyond what I expected. It features weekly challenges for example, just like Halo 4, which help you to gain XP quickly. What's more, your Halo 4 career and your Spartan Assault career are automatically linked, and mutually beneficial. Earning certain achievements in Spartan Assault can unlock goodies in Halo 4, and vice-versa.
As far as achievements go, we have a good mix of difficulty here, like any Halo game. But it also considerably lowers the stakes. Halo: Reach at first glance appeared to employ a similar structure, but there, even though the outcome was known, you at least controlled Noble Team directly.
The animated cutscenes are gorgeous and impressive, and the voice acting is likewise high quality. This head-turning presentation and attention to detail extends to the in-game maps as well, and sound design is absolutely great. Playing Spartan Assault with a good pair of headphones was my first true realization of just how important sound is to the Halo experience. The warbly hum of a Ghost, the guttural orders barked by Elites, iconic weapon sounds like the Needler or sniper rifle You can melee, lob grenades, pilot vehicles, and even activate armor abilities.
But in practice, attempting anything more than basic moving and shooting on a touch screen results in frustration and disappointment far too often. The real offender is the variety of abilities mapped to virtual buttons around the edge of your screen.
Spartan Assault is a vastly superior experience when played with a mouse and keyboard. With a keyboard you can target with pinpoint accuracy, without the inevitable tragic consequences of the game taking its best guess at where you want to throw that grenade. Frustratingly imprecise and tiny virtual buttons are replaced with keyboard hotkeys.
Bottom line? If at all possible, experience Spartan Assault with a mouse and keyboard. Official Xbox controller support remains bewilderingly absent. Mixed or average reviews - based on Ratings. See all 17 Critic Reviews. Halo: Spartan Assault PC. User Score. Your Score. Rate this:. Log in to finish rating Halo: Spartan Assault.
Halo: Spartan Assault. Share this? Summary: Available only for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, "Halo: Spartan Assault" is a new top-down action shooter that brings a "Halo" video game to touch-based devices for the first time in franchise history.
Developed by Industries in conjunction with Vanguard Games, Available only for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, "Halo: Spartan Assault" is a new top-down action shooter that brings a "Halo" video game to touch-based devices for the first time in franchise history. Developed by Industries in conjunction with Vanguard Games, "Halo: Spartan Assault" provides an accessible, pick-up-and-play experience for fans and newcomers alike.
Set between the events of "Halo 3" and "Halo 4," "Halo: Spartan Assault" is a new chapter of the award-winning "Halo" universe that explores the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and dives deeper into the backstory of Human-Covenant wars.
With rich storytelling, intuitive controls, and best-in-class action, audio and graphics, "Halo: Spartan Assault" brings the epic scale and action of the "Halo" universe to mobile devices through unrivaled action and intensity. Play Sound. Please enter your birth date to watch this video:. January February March April May June July August September October November December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Enter. Halo: Spartan Assault - Announcement Trailer.
Critic Reviews. Score distribution:. Positive: 6 out of Mixed: 10 out of Negative: 1 out of Game Informer. The emotions Halo inspires, like panic from hearing your shield beep as enemies overcome you or the explosive joy you feel from throwing a well-placed grenade, are all on display here.
All this publication's reviews Read full review. Although smaller aspects such as in-app rip or missing multiplayer mode nerves, Spartan Assault is a worthy Halo offshoot that brings the big name no shame.
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