The game itself has just come out. Here’s a chance to show your support by getting the Halo: Spartan Assault Tablet Prop.
While perusing the marketplace on the net, I found the listing. See it here!
As you can see it costs 240MSP. Once activated a small Elite pops out of nowhere and lands on the tablet. Your avatar pokes at it for a minute while checking out the tablet. The back of the tablet is the logo as shown above.
-Sal
Available worldwide on July 18 for all Windows 8 PCs and Tablets. Available worldwide on July 18 for compatible Windows Phone 8 devices, except in the U.S. where the Windows Phone 8 version is available only on Verizon Wireless until August 16. On Windows Phone 8, 1GB RAM currently required. Version supporting 512MB RAM Windows Phone 8 coming August 2013. Performance on 512MB phones may vary.
While perusing the interwebs this morning I found these links to Spartan Assault gameplay. ENJOY!
Win8 phone
Win8 Tablet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP1yZ1LQRjE
Okay, WHY isn’t this coming to XBOX Live Arcade? (Oh yeah, MS wants to sell Win8 devices and upgrade. Sigh) I gotta say, if I had a reason to own the tablet, I’d want to get Halo: Spartan Assault for it. If only the tablet was so costly…
-Sal
Halo: Spartan Assault is a new top-down action shooter coming to Windows 8 PCs and tablets and Windows Phone 8 devices. Currently scheduled for release in July 2013, this touch-based Halo game takes place between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4 and offers 19 new achievements worth a total of 190 points. If you’d like the lowdown on the relevant unlockables that will soon be added to your Gamerscore, take a look at the specifics below!
Overrun – Complete Operation A – 10 Points
Switched On – Complete Operation B – 10 Points
Switched Off – Complete Operation C – 10 Points
Evacuated – Complete Operation D – 10 Points
Terminated – Complete Operation E – 10 Points
Escort Service – Keep all Wolverines intact in Operation A, Mission 3 – 5 Points
Nowhere to Hide – Prevent all Jackals from regenerating their shield in Operation B, Mission 3 – 10 Points
Never Knew What Hit Them – Kill a convoy target with every stationary gun in Operation C, Mission 3 – 10 Points
Brute Force – Finish the objectives using only the Brute Shot, melee and grenades in Operation D, Mission 1 – 10 Points
Foot Soldier – Finish the objective without using any vehicles/turrets in Operation E, Mission 4 – 10 Points
Recruit – Earn a star of any type in an operation mission – 5 Points
Prodigy – Earn your first Gold star in an operation mission – 5 Points
117 – Earn all Gold stars in all operation missions – 20 Points
Distinguished Service – Earn all medals in the game at least once – 15 Points
Weapon of Choice – Score a kill with every handheld weapon (excluding Rocket Launcher and Spartan Laser) – 5 Points
Powered by MJOLNIR – Use every ability at least once (excluding Overshield and Seeker Drone) – 10 Points
Skull Combo – Complete any mission with the maximum number of Skulls active – 10 Points
Vidmaster Challenge – Complete Operation 5, Mission 1 with the Hollow and Black Eye Skulls active – 15 Points
Extra Credit – Complete 75 challenges – 10 Points
Text from Halowaypoint.com
Despite my being upset at it’s only being available for Win8 devices, the game itself looks like a lot of fun. The graphics look sweet! Color is fantastic. Sounds of weapons are on par with what we have already. The story line is plausible. The price is great.
Really, my only complaint is it’s not being available for XBOX 360 (Arcade).
Being a fan of over 10 years, running a blog completed dedicated to the Halo franchise, but not being employed for the last 26 months, well…this is going to suck and I’m going to miss out on this. I’d love to be able to play the game, report on it through my blog and have yet another Halo experience.
I can see Microsoft’s reasoning for doing this. My fear is that it will backfire. Using MS’s premier ‘AAA’ title to persuade developers to make games for the Win8 as well as consumers to by Win8 devices is risky at best. If Spartan Assault doesn’t do well in sales, there will be several factors involved, some likely to be overlooked by investors/stockholders, etc.
Win8 devices such as the Phone and Tablet hold a very narrow market share. Not all of those consumers will buy Spartan Assault. With this in mind, I hope MS has a target amount of sales in mind for Spartan Assault. I’m very curious what they will consider a success for this app. I don’t think they believe it will bring in a throng of people to buy a Win8 device. Rather if they can gather whatever their “magic” number of sales is, they can use that as a selling point to developers that MS/Win8 can compete in the Smart phone/App world.
But again, if they don’t hit those numbers, it’s going to hurt not just Win8, but the Halo franchise as well. If “Halo” can’t convince consumers and developers alike to buy into Win8, then really nothing can. In doing so, Halo will look like a flop, further dissuading former fans of the franchise from coming back and keeping new potential consumers from buying Halo at all, be it Spartan Assault, Halo 4, 5, or 6.
I’m hoping for the best here, but I can also look through the fog and see what is likely to happen.
One possible outcome is that Spartan Assault will come out on the XB1 since that too will be Win8 enabled. However, this still doesn’t solve the dilemma of 360 users. Many of us won’t jump on board early. Not just due to the normal early adopter/bug issues, but due in large part to what MS has already announced about the gaming aspect of the XB1. Once again, I have to hope that E3 will shed new light on this and help to allay some fears of we gamers. Given the reports coming from a multitude of websites though, it may already be too late for the XB1. (In which case, I hope that it’s reconsidered to give us Spartan Assault to buy from the Arcade on the 360.
The following is from Halo Waypoint’s interview with Halo: Initiation writer Brian Reed regarding the origin and rise of Sarah Palmer from being an ODST to Spartan to the UNSC Infinity’s Spartan Commander:
HW: How is Palmer’s role different in Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Initiation?
Brian Reed: This is the story of how Palmer became a Spartan. Its early days in the Spartan IV program in this story and they’re looking for the first recruits into the program. But to get recruited into the program, you’ve got to have done something pretty spectacular. This is the story of what Palmer did, what happens on her first mission as a Spartan, and how the events of that mission set in motion her eventual placement as Infinity Spartan Commander.
HW: What are some of your favorite things about writing for this character?
Brian Reed: Palmer’s a lot of fun to write because she’s half-way to a force of nature. She has a lot of “shoot first, ask questions later” in her bones, and so far in her life that has proven to be the best operating procedure. Of course the day will come that her style backfires and she realizes she needs to learn about something the rest of us call “subtlety.” Luckily for us, she’s got a Brute to fight in this comic, so that day’s not here yet.
HW: Can you talk about some of the story connections to Halo 4 fans can expect in Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Initiation?
Brian Reed: Palmer’s in both stories, as is Spartan Davis, another of the recruits we meet in INITIATION. Over the course of the comic we see their first meeting, and their partnership develop. Since the two of them are what stands between UNSC forces and certain doom in Spartan Assault, it’s interesting to see how they got to know one another.
HW: What kind of questions will Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Initiation answer about Palmer?
Brian Reed: The two big questions we aimed to answer were “How did Palmer become a Spartan?” and “What did she do that was so impressive the Spartans made her their Commander?” The answer to both of these questions involves a lot of heavy weapons fire, explosions, humor, and adventure across a dangerous and exciting galaxy. You know… Halo stuff.
HFFL: Whoo, this sounds exciting! I’ll get the comic book for sure. Still going to be SERIOUSLY disappointed about not being able to play Spartan Assault though. So now begs the questions, what happened to Spartan Davis, Palmer’s “partner.” I’m going to make a guess that he dies. From the comments in the interview above, I gleaned this guess from the part that says “…her style backfires and she realizes she needs to learn about something the rest of us call “subtlety.”
-Sal
Want to see some actual gameplay up close and personal from Spartan Assault? Look no further!
DEFEND THE WOLVERINES
UNSC technicians had built numerous magnetic reactor stations across Draetheus-V. The western reactor field was one of the largest of these stations and was of great interest to the Covenant.
Spartan Palmer moved in to provide support in the western reactor field. Palmer’s prime objectives were to protect several squads of Wolverines and halt the Banshees providing air support to the Covenant infantry.
CLEAR A LANDING ZONE FOR SECOND WAVE OF MARINES.
As Spartan Palmer led the charge on Draetheus-V, Spartan Davis continued to face considerable enemy threat on the moon. On a stroke of luck, the UNSC Eminent Domain was able outmaneuver Covenant forces in orbit over the moon and offer some support by deploying marines to the southern Mirror Flats.
The 3rd Helljumper Platoon was the first to land on Draetheus-V’s moon. Spartan Davis, having held out against a constant stream of Unggoy and Sangheli for a full day, quickly set out to clear the landing zone for the next wave of drop pods.
DESTROY THE ANTI-AIR WRAITHS
Although the UNSC forces successfully slowed the Covenant, enemy numbers were too great to halt their advance indefinitely. A continuous stream of Covenant infantry, Wraiths, and air support were moving towards Research Facility Alpha.
Spartan Palmer must destroy the anti-air Wraiths and give the UNSC Hornets a chance to land near the outposts.
Damn, now I REALLY REALLY REALLY want this to come to XBOX LIVE Arcade!
-Sal
I got these 15 screenshots from XBOX showing in-game missions but without the User Interface in the way (well, except for the pause button at the bottom.
Pretty cool. I’d LOVE to play this game (if it were available on XBOX 360 Arcade…)
Click to make bigger.
The colors look VERY rich in tone.
-Sal
Here are 5 screenshots of the users Interface (UI) from Spartan Assault:
Touch Input:
As you can see the UI is actually pretty simple for touch based devices. The twin-Stick method looks like it will work well with this, though I’m a little concerned with not being able to see enemies under your thumbs as you play. The rest of the UI is very clean and unobtrusive.
Keyboard and Mouse:
Here we see the very simplistic control set for using a keyboard and mouse.
Mission Select:
In this graphic we see what looks like 5 levels within a mission. Note the Bronze, Silver and Gold stars at the bottom left of the pic denoting what score is needed to get that corresponding star.
Mission Score:
Lots to talk about from the pic above. First to the left are you mission scores and bonuses. Garnering kills of course will net you a score. Medal scores presumably are more than just killing. There are medals for multi-kills for example. Also, you get a bonus for the time in which you complete the mission. Quicker time, higher bonus, higher level star.
In the middle we see High score and Final score. I’d say it’s safe to assume that the high score denotes you best score (obviously) and that in this instance, whoever played the mission, just scored better, so the 80K score will become the new high score.
To the right we see what looks to be either an achievement or medal. I’m going with achievement here. Swiss Army sounds like a good name for an achievement.
Armory:
And finally, here is the armory UI. Here you can upgrade your loadout by Primary and Secondary weapons, your ability and a booster. Note at bottom right you can buy credits. Dan Ayoub, Executive Director at 343 stated that you can earn credits by playing the game as well as purchase them with real money to get better loadouts faster.
To the right…Skulls are back! We can easily see that there are six skulls for this game. Presumably you can turn those on and off as you choose for a higher/lower bonus.
All in all, a good UI. Simple, easy to understand and while in-game not in your way of playing.
Great job to Vanguard the developers of this game, as well as any input from 343. (Now if this were available for XBOX360 as well so I could actually play the game…sigh.)
-Sal