Okay, let me first say when I heard Firefight was gone for Halo 4, I was a little sad. I found that part of Reach enjoyable when I either didn’t have friends on to game with, or when I just wanted a little fun playing without having to try hard against real life people.

So when I first heard about Spartan Ops, I was a little skeptical, however interested.

Let me say this, the skepticism is GONE!

I freakin’ LOVE Spartan Ops!!!

I played yesterday with one of my gaming group buds. At first we chose the normal setting. Gawd, that was TOO easy for us. So we went for Legendary. That was still pretty easy even though there were only two of us.

In a way Spartan Ops IS Firefight. However it’s a mission based firefight. Gone are the repetitive waves. Gone are knowing where each enemy is going to spawn from.

Now we have a great story driven firefight-esque gametype that fuels your Multiplayer Spartan’s career. I’ve only payed the first three chapters for the first week and can say with full confidence that Spartan Ops is the shiznit!

Folks, you have GOT TO PLAY IT! Please do so that you can help contribute and keep this wonderful game mode around for longer than the initial 10 weeks. Take a little time away from War Games and play Spartan Ops. Even if you play it by yourself (which I did), it’s quite fun. In fact, I played the first mission with the determination that I wouldn’t die. Guess what? I didn’t! Granted this was on Normal, but still, when you see what you have to go up against… As ONE spartan, well it’s not all THAT easy.

Each mission starts out with a short clip and a breakdown of the mission at start. You hear from Sarah Palmer via another Spartan who is in charge of your mission. After performing the various, yes VARIOUS parts of the mission, you are then directed to the LZ or extraction point. In the first mission, you are tasked with taking down several bouys, then move on to killing Covies, then more Covies, this time with several vehicles, including Ghosts and Wraiths, then finally you need to take a hill that is well defended by a Phantom, many troops, and a pair of Hunters. Firefight? Nope. A WHOLE LOT BETTER!

To the crew at 343 who are responsible for creating Spartan Ops I say a hearty THANK YOU!. Consider me your most ardent supporter!

-Sal