Skip to main content

Halo: Spartan Assault review

Halo: Spartan Assault
MSRP $6.99
“Vanguard Games gives Halo fans something to cheer about in 'Halo: Spartan Assault,' distilling the essence of the first-person series into fun top-down shooter play.”
Pros
  • Fan-friendly treatment of the Halo universe
  • Varied, bite-sized missions fit the top-down play perfectly
  • Visually rich environments pop with excessive Halo-ness
Cons
  • No gamepad support... yet
  • Dim-witted AI is easily "gamed"
  • Pointless microtransactions diminish what could have been a decent hook for long-term play

Halo: Spartan Assault is a twin-stick shooter without the twin sticks. This single absent feature is as baffling as it is unfortunate. We’re talking about a Microsoft-published Halo game, the first in the series to be delivered exclusively for Windows 8 platforms. It’s got Achievements, it’s got a story that explores previously unseen bits of lore, it’s got space marines in colorful body armor shooting hordes of alien zealots. You can play it on any Windows 8 device, including the most decked-out gaming PC, and yet there are only two control options: virtual touchscreen buttons or mouse/keyboard. Microsoft promises gamepad support eventually, but why exactly couldn’t this twin-stick shooter support even an Xbox 360 controller at launch?

It’s a question that will cross your eyes if you spend too much time thinking about. Best to just let it be and focus on the positive: Spartan Assault happens to be an entertaining little game. You could even say it’s the strongest Windows 8 exclusive to date, though it’s not like there’s a whole lot of competition up to this point.

Master Chief sits out this latest campaign against the Covenant, with a story set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4. Sort of. What’s actually going on is a series of battle simulations showcasing early engagements in the Spartan Ops program. You’re seeing what happened through the eyes of Commander Sarah Palmer and Spartan Davis, both stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity. The “set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4” portion of the story is little more than a narrative wrapper, not that anyone other than a hardened Halo fan will really care.

Halo-Spartan-Assault-wolverine-barrage
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Even if you’re not invested in the lore, this is unmistakably a Halo game. The top-down perspective may remind some of the series’ lone real-time strategy effort, Halo Wars, but the moment-to-moment action is much more direct. If you’ve ever played any twin-stick shooter then you know what to expect: one thumb controls your movement, the other controls the direction that you’re firing in. You’ve also got a few extra commands mixed in for melee, grenades, weapon/grenade-switching, armor abilities, and a more general “interact” command for swapping gear and using/commandeering vehicles and turrets. 

All of these tools are useful as you send your tiny avatar up against hordes of tiny Covenant forces. Spartan Assault‘s 25 missions, split evenly across five campaigns, are short, clearly designed with a mobile gamer in mind, but they’re never dull. You’ll participate in desperate defenses to stem the tide of enemy hordes while you wait for rescue transports to arrive. You’ll escort lumbering Wolverine anti-air armor to its destination while facing resistance from all sides. Even the standard “kill everything in sight” objectives mix things up, with tanks to drive, with turrets to operate, and with a variety of loadouts that change up in each new mission.

Despite the different style of gameplay, Spartan Assault feels like a Halo game. A strong Halo game, even. It isn’t perfect, but the birds-eye-view take on human-versus-Covenant engagements works more than it doesn’t, especially if you’re playing on a touchscreen. The virtual analog controls are as well-designed as such a thing can be; the “sticks” themselves work fine and the secondary control “buttons” are small enough that you’ll only occasionally chuck out a grenade by accident.

Halo-Spartan-Assault-wraith-assault
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The mouse/keyboard controls end up feeling inferior by comparison. Mouse aiming allows for more precision than you get with the touch controls, though a light auto-aim applied to the latter keeps things fun without ever making the game feel too easy. The WASD move commands are more problematic, especially once you hop into a tank. In the absence of gamepad support, touch turns out to be the best option for playing Halo: Spartan Assault. Perhaps for the first time in the recorded history of console-style mobile games.

There are a few shortcomings. The touch-exclusive auto-aim doesn’t break Spartan Assault‘s fun factor, but the dim-witted, easily “gamed” enemy AI does, at least a little bit. These Covenant are not nearly as bright as their console cousins, exhibiting only the most basic understanding of tactical planning. This is most obvious in missions that don’t involve defending some specific objective, and you encounter enemy forces that aren’t sharp enough to chase you when you slowly chip away at their numbers using hit-and-run strikes.

There’s also the dreaded and undeniably clunk implementation of microtransactions. Do we really need to have the option of spending real money on fake in-game credits just because it’s a mobile game? Loadouts are fixed for each mission in Spartan Assault, and while you’re free to pick up and use any weapons or armor abilities you find lying around, the only way to change what you take into a given mission is by spending earned XP or purchased credits on single-use items. The selection of loadout customization options is small – only three choices per category – and some can only be purchased using credits.

Halo-Spartan-Assault-focus-rifle-defense
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Thankfully you don’t ever need to spend real dollars on any of this junk, but microtransactions mess up a system that could have easily been leveraged to create added replay value. Putting aside the fact that certain loadout selections are cash-only options, you’re still left with tiny XP rewards in each mission that balance against the single-use nature of any loadout purchase to create an uneven economy. There’s not enough value to justify any loadout fiddling. Where there could have been in-game progression built around long-term hooks there is only a completely pointless emphasis on microtransactions.

Conclusion

It’s not exactly a stunning accomplishment at this point to earn the title of “best Windows 8 exclusive,” but Halo: Spartan Assault is certainly that. Any shortcomings in the play and design are far outweighed by the pure fun that you’ll have zipping around colorful alien worlds as you shoot up Covenant forces using the series’ familiar arsenal. Even the absent gamepad support is not as troubling as it first seems, especially if you’re willing to spend a little time adjusting to the solid touch-based inputs. The next triple-A Halo is more than a year away, but Spartan Assault brings the love to Halo fans that have been brave enough to leap into Microsoft’s Windows 8 future.

Highs

  • Fan-friendly treatment of the Halo universe
  • Varied, bite-sized missions fit the top-down play perfectly
  • Visually rich environments pop with excessive Halo-ness

Lows

  • Baffling absence of gamepad support at launch
  • Dim-witted AI is easily “gamed”
  • Pointless microtransactions diminish what could have been a decent hook for long-term play

 

(This review is based on a playthrough of Halo: Spartan Assault on a Windows 8 tablet, using a download code provided by the publisher.)

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
The best Halo Infinite Easter eggs
A master chief plushie.

For over a decade, the Halo games have had a great sense of humor despite the incredibly dark and serious tones of the games' actual plots. This series began in the age where secrets, cheats, and unlockables were the norm in most games, especially FPS titles. Since then, the series has become almost known as much for the funny dialogue, secret cutscenes and endings, and hidden skulls as it is for their tight shooting and arena-style multiplayer. After the first game became such a smash hit, the series would also start packing in plenty of Easter eggs and references for players to find, a tradition that 343 was not willing to let die for Halo Infinite.

Now set in an open world environment, Halo Infinite opened itself up for Easter egg hunters to go crazy scouring every corner of the map for Easter eggs. Since the game's launch, a ton of secrets, both big and small, have been uncovered in the depths of Zeta Halo. Some are just tiny little jokes or references, while others are fourth-wall-breaking and self-referential, but almost all of them are hidden so well it would be unreasonable for one person to find them all. If you're curious as to what the best Halo Infinite Easter eggs are you might have missed, here's a rundown of our favorites.

Read more
DXRacer Craft review: It ain’t pretty, but it sure is comfy
a shot of the DXRacer Craft Custom gaming chair

With DXRacer's new Craft line of "custom" gaming chairs, the first obstacle you'll have to overcome is sticker shock. It's got a high price tag, even in the shockingly expensive world of halfway decent office furniture. If you want your lumbar supported, and you do, you generally have to put some extra cash on the table.

DXRacer Craft Series User Guide

Read more
Halo Infinite’s next season will add two new maps
A spartan holds a ravager in Halo Infinite.

Nearly six months after it launched, Halo Infinite's second season is on the way. Officially arriving on May 3, Season 2 of the free-to-play Halo title will add a buffet of changes, all of which have been shared by developer 343 Industries in a large, dense post on Halo Waypoint.

The most immediate changes that players will notice though are likely the two additional maps coming to the game, along with some adjustments to weapon and melee damage that will shift Halo Infinite's meta.

Read more