Halo: Spartan Strike

Author: Efrain Silva

Plot

Get ready for the show of a lifetime, Halo lovers -- whether it be your first time going through the cut scenes and action sequences in this game, learning every juicy bit of detail about the story along the way, or your millionth, you will love what this game has to offer. But of course, I can not speak for others but only myself -- I know I did. And with that being said, let me indulge you just a bit on what actually goes down in the game...plot wise, anyways.

First of all, you’ll find that 2552, this time around, is the year when it all goes down. Think about a familiar game? Does one come to mind? If you guessed Halo 2, then you are correct --- this game’s timeline is very closely connected with that of Halo 2’s.

The story focuses in on the UNSC’s ongoing fight against the Covenant, going back to the Conduit you may be familiar with, and other people and places as well. It jumps around a bit, even going to the year 2557, at one point. You will love where it all takes you…..

Gameplay

The gameplay was not to be missed here, and I say that for a lot of games, but I still mean what I say. The gameplay style and controls, first off, are still very similar to what we all got to try in Halo : Spartan Assault. The Windows mobile version of this new succeeding game, however, have been refined and ‘touched up’ just a bit further, and we can not complain about that. I must say, it’s a very nice little upgrade.

And to further add, microtransactions have been taken out of this new game. I did not complain about that either --- I mean, every now and again, I could live with something being a little different, here and there. It’s not the end of the world, nor should it be. And also, I remember being able to earn currency in the game and use it to buy all load - out options, which was nice.

Maneuvering was as easy as before. I felt the level of ‘addicting gameplay’ in it to be taken up a notch further. This game did well on that end, too.

Weapons

Let me give you the full listing on the weapons here…..

UNSC Weapons

Original Covenant - Jul's Covenant Weapons

Promethean Weapons

Me personally, I really liked seeing the Type - 52 Special Applications Rifle in action in this game. Some also call it the Focus Rifle, in case you’ve heard it called that way. Anyways, it’s actually a weapon the Covenant uses and is known as a Directed Energy type of gun. Later on, it gets replaced by the Beam Rifle. There’s always been an ‘element of suspense’ to this weapon that has drawn me in --- I’m afraid every time others try and use it on my character...I run for the hills!

Levels

There are 5 special operations you must endure in this campaign. And in each of these 5 operations, there are 6 missions contained. It seems like a short game, with that being said, but I still found that I got my full value for my money --- I played many long, good hours and had tons of fun, which is what really matters. I noticed the detail in everything, as well, especially after playing through the game again for my third and fourth times, respectively. You notice so much when you become a ‘repeat player’ ; call me a geek, I don’t care...to me, it was well worth it.

These are the names of the five operations I’m talking about :

Uniqueness

All in all, like any Halo game, this one stands out for being a game of its own. It’s new, fresh, and full of fun. The Halo game team has done it again, giving us what we love.

You want to know what really makes this game stand out as a Halo game? Well, where do we even begin to tell you? I guess one fact of so many is that it’s the very first Halo game to hit the iOS app store market. Yes, the very first!

Thank God for that : Now, we finally have Halo on the iPhone! Happy day. But there’s more…..

In addition, this game has a unique original pushback date from when it was actually supposed to come out (on December 12th of 2014), but that’s not a bad thing, just means its developer had more time to work on it. Delays can be good. The delay on this one was quite interesting, at that.

But anyways, another crucial factor that sets this Halo title apart from the rest in the pack would be the incorporation of its new locations. One of these is New Phoenix. Guess where it’s at? In Arizona. (In a different timeline, though, of course...)

If you want to see it all in motion, try out this Halo game. See what you think. Why not, friend? There’s much to explore.