Time sure does fly when you are playing and making games! Back in April, I wrote out a preview of Halo: Spartan Assault. Summer is here and so is the Steam sale allowing me to finally get my hands on 343 Studios twin stick shooter. Does it live up to the it’s first person predecessors or is it a pocket sized version of the Halo series?
Halo: Spartan Assault feels like a pocket sized version of the Halo series. This is not always a bad thing though because the levels have a clear focus and doesn’t waste your time. The campaign is pretty long and has a great amount of re-playability to get the highest points. You can also add skulls to your campaign making it even more challenging and will give you more experience points to use better weapons.
The games story is perfect for fans of the lore but as someone who hasn’t followed it since 3, it really didn’t mean much to me at all. You essentially go through the missions of Spartan Palmer that involve killing X number of this and defend this for X amount of time. The level structure isn’t all that inspired and the level designs aren’t all that interesting. The graphics, however, are fantastic and a lot of polish went behind the particles and textures. The music is also well orchestrated but most of the time I ignored it because they never really fit with what was happening in game. Unlike the other games (that I’ve played) the music was punchy during combat and really fit the mood while in Spartan Assault, the slower music would be taking place during fire fights which just felt bizarre.
The gameplay itself is really solid and works well with the feeling of the FPS Halo’s, but top-down. As I said in my preview, it would be nice to jump around in order to dodge enemy attacks are traverse the areas that seem to be able to be traversed. The game limits itself to one plane which focuses gameplay nicely but flying enemies and certain points of elevation make it difficult to not want to jump around. Spartan Assault is also a much more slower twin stick game in pace which makes the game feel longer and less chaotic than it is. There will be points where you are being shot at all angles but the game doesn’t feel like you are in any danger because the enemies are slow and low in numbers. Certain levels, like the vehicle levels and defending levels, are very fun but their are some exceptions. One level in particular was designed so poorly that I didn’t have to move away from my turret throughout the entire level. A rare occurrence but in game with a great amount of polish makes this very noticeable.
Halo: Spartan Assault is a good game but could have been so much more. It is disappointing to see 343 Studios make a game that has a great amount of production value in cutscenes but little in-game. I’m hoping to see more game studios take this route with their IP’s though.
7.5/10
Twin Stick Diaries 