Halo: Spartan Strike

Halo: Spartan Strike is an upcoming isometric shooter video game and the spiritual successor to Halo: Spartan Assault, developed by 343 Industries. The game is set for release on December 12, 2014 on Windows devices and Steam for $5.99 (US).

Synopsis
As with Spartan Assault, Spartan Strike ' s campaign employs the UNSC Tactical Simulator as a fictional framing device. The story is set in two primary points in the Halo universe timeline, beginning during the events of Halo 2 in New Mombasa in the year 2552. The narrative centers around a Forerunner artifact known as the Conduit and the struggle between the UNSC and the Covenant for control of the relic. The player controls a Spartan under the command of Lieutenant Kwon. After the section set in New Mombasa, the narrative jumps five years forward to the year 2557, with missions in New Phoenix and on Gamma Halo, both of which were previously featured in the Halo 4 story. Covenant forces open a slipspace portal to New Phoenix, unleashing a Promethean invasion on the city. The player must deliver the Conduit to an ONI facility in New Phoenix in hopes of using the artifact to close the portal and deter the attack.

Features
Halo: Spartan Strike includes a number of refinements to the gameplay of Spartan Assault, including improved controls and having the player's "virtual thumbsticks" as visible circles on the screen. Grenade throwing has been made more precise and new armor abilities will be included. The game sandbox has also been expanded with the inclusion of the Promethean enemy units and weapons, as well as new vehicles including the Warthog (which was unusable in Spartan Assault) and the Kestrel, inspired by a vehicle cut during the development of Halo 2.

The missions and the campaign overall will be longer, the latter totaling at four to five hours whereas Spartan Assault ' s campaign was estimated to be three to four hours in comparison. The difficulty will increase progressively throughout the campaign more prominently than in Spartan Assault. Like the original version of its predecessor, Spartan Strike will feature no multiplayer mode.

The game will feature in-game credits which can be used to purchase weapons and equipment, although the microtransactions featured in Spartan Assault have been omitted; credits will be earned only through gameplay, although three Achievements in Halo: The Master Chief Collection will award the player a number of extra credits. Playing Spartan Strike will also unlock exclusive multiplayer content for The Master Chief Collection, including an in-game nameplate, emblem and avatar.

The Windows version of Spartan Strike will support cross-platform integration; a copy of the game will be playable on all Windows 8.1 devices irrespective of the platform the game was purchased on along with shared stats. As with Spartan Assault, the Steam version will be excluded from this integration as the Steam platform does not share the Xbox Live gaming profile.

Appearances
{{Featurelist|secondcolumn=title-5
 * title-1=Characters|
 * Kwon {{1st}}
 * title-2=Species and entities|
 * Human
 * Kig-Yar
 * Sangheili
 * Unggoy
 * Forerunner
 * Promethean
 * Promethean Knight
 * Promethean Crawler
 * Promethean Watcher
 * title-3=Organizations|
 * UNSC
 * UNSC Navy
 * Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Covenant
 * Covenant remnants
 * Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction
 * Ecumene
 * Warrior-Servant
 * Promethean
 * title-4=Locations|
 * Earth
 * Kenya
 * Mombasa
 * New Mombasa
 * United Republic of North America
 * New Phoenix
 * Installation 03
 * Altar {{1st}}
 * title-5=Events|
 * Human-Covenant War
 * Battle of Earth
 * Battle of Mombasa
 * Post-Covenant War conflicts
 * title-6=Weapons|

UNSC

 * Usable
 * M41 Vulcan
 * M6H magnum
 * M7 SMG
 * M9 fragmentation grenade
 * MA5D assault rifle
 * Napalm grenade

Covenant

 * Usable
 * Type-1 plasma grenade
 * Type-25 plasma pistol
 * Type-33 Needler
 * Type-51 plasma repeater
 * Type-52 focus rifle

Forerunner

 * Usable
 * Z-040 pulse grenade
 * Z-130 Suppressor
 * Z-390 incineration cannon
 * Z-750 binary rifle


 * title-7=Vehicles|
 * Genet
 * Kestrel
 * M12 Warthog LRV
 * Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle
 * Type-25 Spirit
 * Type-32 Ghost
 * Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Wraith

}}
 * title-8=Technology and equipment|
 * Conduit
 * Hard light
 * MJOLNIR [GEN2]
 * War Master