Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Assault is an isometric shooter video game developed by Vanguard Games in collaboration with 343 Industries; it is the eighth game in the Halo series. Spartan Assault is designed for Microsoft Windows 8 (with support for both PC and tablets), as well as Windows Phone 8. Set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4, the game features 25 missions that tell the story of the SPARTAN-IV Program's earliest operations. The game went by the codename "Bootcamp" prior to its official announcement. It was released on July 18, 2013.

Plot summary
Set sometime between March 2553 and July 2557, Halo: Spartan Assault explores the SPARTAN-IVs' first Spartan Ops during the Battle of Draetheus V. This battle is part of the second war between the UNSC and the remnants of the Covenant, which is still being waged during the events of Halo 4. The story unfolds through a historical computer simulation which the SPARTAN-IVs use for combat analysis and training, much like Halo 4 ' s War Games mode; this framing structure likely explains some of the game's arcade-like elements, such as weapons' ability to fire continuously.

The campaign has two protagonists, Commander Sarah Palmer and Spartan Edward Davis, whose first meeting will be depicted in the Halo: Initiation limited comic series. Rather than the in-engine cutscenes used in most Halo games, Spartan Assault instead makes use of motion comic-style animations between missions, much like the terminals in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4.

Campaign
The campaign is divided into six chapters called "Operations", with five missions each.

Control input
As a "twin-stick" top-down shooter title, Halo: Spartan Assault is developed primarily for touchscreen platforms. The default controls for the game use some of the common control mechanics of touchscreen games: the movement control is located on the left screen whereas the aiming and firing control is located on the right. Halo ' s staple abilities, (such as grenade with a single button and using vehicles seamlessly), are readily accessible to the player and are placed next to the aiming and firing controls for ease of use.

On Windows 8 PCs and tablets, the game can also be played with a mouse and keyboard. Keyboard controls use a standard shooter format: the "WASD" key group controls movement and the mouse is for aiming and firing. An update will be applied to the game in August 29th, which would enable the use of an Xbox 360 controller.

Player loadout
Players are able to customize their Spartan character's primary and secondary weapon loadout, armor ability, and booster (akin to Halo 4 's a tactical packages and support upgrades) at the start of each mission.

UNSC

 * Private Aaron Landvik
 * Lieutenant Abbi Strand
 * Sergeant Albert Sessa
 * Private Alexandra Tran
 * Private Amber Penzak
 * Captain Brad Falkenrath
 * Lieutenant Benjamin Wallace
 * Lieutenant Caitlin De Sauveterre
 * Lieutenant Chandana Pasternack
 * Private Charlie Sultan
 * Private Christopher Olsen
 * Private Craig Prinz
 * Private Dave Moriarty
 * Edward Davis
 * Private Edward Levesque
 * Lieutenant Elizabeth Kwan
 * Private Gerry Payne
 * Private Guy Amjad
 * Private Harold Amundsen
 * Lieutenant Henry Darzi
 * Private Jamie O'Neal
 * Private John Rosenfeld
 * Private Kelly Tremblay
 * Sergeant Lindsay Asturias
 * Sergeant Mary Russo
 * Private Matt Salamanca
 * Private Molly Markozi
 * Private Nick Rhee
 * Lieutenant Patton Liao
 * Private Paul Voclain
 * Private Peter Zhou
 * Private Roger Alfarsi
 * Roland
 * Private Samantha Hass
 * Commander Sarah Palmer
 * Lieutenant Sasha Wu
 * Lieutenant Scott Pham
 * Lieutenant Stefan Morris
 * Lieutenant Tara Nguyen
 * Sergeant Tom Winter
 * Private Victor Quintana

Covenant

 * Merg Vol
 * Parg Vol

Equipment and technology

 * Hard light
 * Light bridge
 * Z-90 Photonic Coalescence Emitter/Aegis
 * Jiralhanae power armor
 * Chieftain variant
 * Jumper variant
 * Jump pack
 * Kig-Yar combat harness
 * Minor variant
 * Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet
 * M2705 Regenerative Kinetic Dispersal Field
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * MJOLNIR [GEN2]
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Recruit
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/S variant
 * Overshield
 * Sangheili combat harness
 * Field Master variant
 * Major variant
 * Minor variant
 * Stealth variant
 * Zealot variant
 * Seeker Drone
 * Stun Blast
 * Type-27 Responsive Holographic Form Emulator
 * Unggoy combat harness
 * Minor variant
 * UNSC Marine Corps Battle Dress Uniform
 * Z-2500 Automated Protection Drone

Locations

 * Draetheus system
 * Draetheus V
 * Epsilon Expanse
 * Faraday Base
 * Red Slate Plateau
 * X50
 * Arid Sea
 * Basalt Maze
 * Glacial Perch
 * Mirror Flats
 * Research Facility Alpha

Organizations

 * Covenant remnant
 * United Earth Government
 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Defense Force
 * Spartan
 * SPARTAN-IV Program
 * UNSC Army
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * UNSC Navy

Vehicles

 * UNSC
 * AV-14 Hornet
 * D77H-TCI Pelican
 * M313 Heavy Recovery Vehicle
 * M808 Main Battle Tank
 * M850 Main Battle Tank
 * M9 Main Anti-Aircraft Tank
 * Covenant
 * Orbital insertion pod
 * Type-25 Troop Carrier
 * Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
 * Type-29 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun
 * Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform
 * Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery
 * Type-52 Troop Carrier
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
 * Type-29 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun
 * Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform
 * Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery
 * Type-52 Troop Carrier

Weapons

 * UNSC
 * MA37 Individual Combat Weapon System
 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * BR85 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle
 * M395 Designated Marksman Rifle
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * M45D Tactical Shotgun
 * M7/Caseless Submachine Gun
 * M247 General Purpose Machine Gun
 * M247T Medium Machine Gun
 * M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon
 * M363 Remote Projectile Detonator
 * M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle
 * M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade
 * Sniper Rifle System 99-Series 5 Anti-Matériel
 * Covenant
 * Automated Plasma Turret
 * Mega Turret
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel grenade
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
 * Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer
 * Type-3 Antipersonnel/Antimatériel Incendiary grenade
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
 * Type-25 Grenade Launcher
 * Type-29 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun
 * Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
 * Type-38 Anti-Aircraft Cannon
 * Type-51 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved
 * Type-52 Special Applications Rifle
 * Forerunner
 * Beam turret

Gameplay and design
Vanguard Games began development of Halo: Spartan Assault around April 2012 for the Windows 8 platform, before the announcement of Windows Surface. During initial development, Vanguard experimented with several prototypes by bringing the traditional Halo first-person shooter experience to the mobile platform and found out the gameplay is wholly unsuitable for the platform. The game's AI system is managed by Havok AI, the same AI system management technology used in Halo 4.

Integration features with Halo 4
The game is closely integrated with the player's experience in Halo 4 where players can unlock experience points, new achievements, and an emblem for their Halo 4 account. After purchasing the Champions Bundle Pack or the Bullseye Map Pack, the game will unlock:


 * The Striped (STP) skin for the DMR.
 * The Vision (VISN) skin for the Air Assault armor.
 * The Rush (RUSH) skin for the CIO armor.
 * A new stance called Determined.

DLC
On August 29, 2013, Operation F: Hydra will be released as DLC. It includes five new missions as well as five new achievements, worth a total of 50 gamerpoints.

Trivia

 * Despite being on the cover of the game, no Hunters make an appearance.
 * When shot the Drones make the same noises Engineers made in previous Halo games.
 * This marks the first Halo game in which Jackals use and drop plasma grenades.
 * The game can run at 60 frames-per-second when played on Microsoft's Surface Pro while the rest runs at 30 frames-per-second.