Halo: Spartan Strike

i like

A Thrilling and Accessible Shooter Experience

In the summer of 2013, Microsoft released a twin-stick shooter set in the Halo universe called Spartan Assault. Two years later, this same gameplay formula returned in Halo: Spartan Strike, available on Steam. It’s clear that this title is an unpretentious spin-off designed to deliver a fun, short experience. It caters to both long-time Halo fans—offering a slice of its lore—and those seeking a light yet engaging action game.

The fight against the Covenant

As mentioned, Halo: Spartan Strike follows the classic twin-stick shooter model, where the shooting direction is independent of movement. The camera, as usual, is set in a top-down perspective, providing a clear view of the environment at all times. For Mouse/Keyboard players, a controller is the most ideal control method (I used an Xbox One controller, though any controller with dual analog sticks will work fine). While it's possible to play with a keyboard and mouse, doing so becomes more challenging during the more intense moments.

The structure of Spartan Strike mirrors that of Spartan Assault, featuring short missions that last around ten minutes each. These are grouped into five episodes, each with six stages. Before each mission, a briefing introduces the primary and secondary objectives, as well as allowing players to set up their equipment. The basic equipment is provided at no extra cost, but by spending in-game currency, players can swap out primary and secondary weapons, upgrade armor abilities, or purchase bonuses to make their time on the battlefield easier.

Customizing the combat experience

At its core, Halo: Spartan Strike is a straightforward twin-stick shooter that's easy to complete without much hassle. However, the experience can be customized to suit individual preferences thanks to the "skulls" system—modifiers that impose challenges but increase the rewards at the end of a mission. Each stage also has specific secondary objectives ("kill X enemies with weapon Y", etc.), which completionists will find important. Additionally, there are weekly objectives updated by the development team. Unfortunately, there’s no way to track progress during the missions themselves, meaning players must write down their objectives beforehand to keep track—unless they have an impeccable memory, in which case, they’re lucky.

The game’s maps are relatively small, offering little room for exploration. The levels are essentially a series of narrow paths where players engage in intense combat against waves of enemies. However, variety is added by allowing players to pick up weapons dropped by the Covenant, which can be swapped instantly. Occasionally, players are given the opportunity to pilot the iconic vehicles from the main series, or even commandeer enemy turrets to use their firepower against the opposition.

A solo mission

It’s unfortunate that Halo: Spartan Strike does not feature any multiplayer modes, as the gameplay structure would be well-suited for cooperative play. Thankfully, Halo: Spartan Strike is a cross-buy title across Microsoft operating systems, provided the purchase is made directly through the Microsoft Store. For Steam users, there is also a mini-bundle available, which includes the previous game, Spartan Assault.

I...don't really like this game, but I also don't really dislike this game either. It's kind of just...mid? there are a lot of cool ideas and interactions that I like a lot. the visuals are cool. and weapons are very fun to use and some interesting vehicle ideas, and explanations of how they work lore wise (which I respect a lot.)

that being said the level design is very subpar in my opinion. like there are far too many "Survive the wave" levels, and overall the levels feel so boring especially the last levels. it goes on. for. far. too. long. if the enemy interact was a bit more "dynamic" I feel like you could've gotten away with it. very similar to how "Enter The Gungeon" handles it's enemies (this is a bit unfair of a comparison since they are very different styles. just both happen to be top down. so what I really mean to say is look at it's core essence rather than turn the game into a rouge-like). though that's kind of difficult to do within how halo lore works, and I don't fully know how they'd pull that off. regardless there needed to be more in-depth interaction with the enemies in my opinion to make it work or at least something to make the game feel more interesting.

Story was nothing special as well. I won't go into details for people who wish to actually play it themselves but personally I don't like it, and likely won't remember it.

Overall I never felt like game was working toward something, even when I was in a new locations I'd be doing the same thing the entire time in the game. which makes me not really want to recommend this game, but it's....not so horrible I would say never play it. it's just unrefined, great ideas not enough polish and innovation. only get it if you are a fan of halo and just want more halo.

I was not expecting to enjoy these top-down shooter Halo games as much as i do but they really are fun and satisfying! would honestly recommend these games!!

6.5/10 only cool because its halo.

it was good

Pretty fun ngl

This improves on the original in all perceivable ways. The original was clearly designed as a manipulative mobile game, but this is a legit twin stick shooter with well designed missions that are fair and rely on skill as opposed to grinding for good boosts. The music and graphics are solid, and the story, while inconsequential, is also serviceable and not distracting. I will say, I think this should have released on console (it still hasn't), and on the flipside, Assault's console exclusive co-op missions should have been ported to PC (because they are actually very fun). In that vein, I also wish Strike had co-op, because it could hypothetically be a fun experience.

fun meets cheap game

Doesn't launch anymore.

nice

Really fun. This game paired with Spartan Assault make a great duo. Its simple, fun, and yet challenging at the same time.

This game is a very big step up compared to its predecessor. It has more objectives, more interactions, more guns (like the Battlerifle and the grenade launcher), more detailed textures and backrounds, improved controles for UNSC vechiacls Vehicle <--- Highlight that, more vechials as a whole (warthog is a good example), more grenades, no microtransactions (for every platform), more enemies (Prometheans), bigger maps and better story, more armour abilities, pickups and grenades.

+No bugs
+improves on everything
-no multiplayer (this does not really count since it didnt get mulitplayer on any platform this time around)

Halo: Spartan Strike and Spartan Assault on sale is an absolute steal!

Both Halo's are addictive shooters that retain enough of the look and elements of the Halo universe. The varied miniature missions fit the top-down play style perfectly.

These worked great on my steam deck, nice and easy to pick up and play instantly. I recommend if you want some nostalgic Halo :D

This game does away with all the fun and charm of the first one for boring, hand holding combat and missions that either have no chill or last 20 seconds. There is no enjoyment here. All it boils down too is waiting for waves and waves only to die instantly to an enemy off screen you couldn't even see.
Never mind that the objectives take much longer this time and there are no checkpoints. This wasn't an issue really in the other game due to everything being short and sweet. But here? I don't want to wait 2 min only to die to random last second bomb from off screen and start objective 1-7 ALL OVER AGAIN just because I died at the end of objective 6. Boring, bland, RNG based BS.

Would find this on coolmathgames.com

Very Wort Wort Wort.

A much better experience than Spartan Assault. The controls are better, more weapons, more enemies and no multipliers. The only thing is this game is much easier and much more casual , as it should have been the case with Spartan Assault. Spartan Ops are easier even though grindy, the story is nothing to write home about but still interesting with a lot more going on in the background of the missions. The turrets dont overheat anymore and vehicles are more durable. Also the soundtrack is great. The UI is the only thing that stayed the same.
Absolutely worth it.

It isnt a very good game

No idea why other reviews are saying this is better than Spartan Assault, that's the better twin shooter in regards to level design, story, campaign and originality.

This game just makes you run backwards and forwards on the same levels til you jump to other worlds, so you see the same assets over again.

The story is spread across Halo 2 and 4, which is too confusing and boring with the time jump. I much prefer Assaults campaign which was a recollection of 2 Spartans trying to save a world and it's moon, which actually added to Halo lore, this is just a rehash of ODST but the drop team don't exist, it's just a sim of if a Spartan had been there, boring retcon.

The fact that I can't unlock E campaign without getting all gold on the previous levels is an absolute joke. For one, it'd have been nice they said this from the very beginning so atleast I can retry levels straight after playing campaign if I'd failed getting gold so the level was still fresh in mind rather than having to revisit levels, but it just makes the game more boring having to replay levels. Worst, there's one level I'm actually struggling to earn the points on, even with a points boost modifier on and completing the level, so at that point I deleted the game. No idea and don't care what happens in E, I just know to some degree I've lost out on some value for money not being able to access content, without now spending hours of my life trying to unlock it, (which technically time is money, so more money lost, or atleast there's just better games to play in that time.)

One to avoid, no addition to Halo lore, lack of voice acting, boring gameplay and as mentioned, no originality considering Spartan Assault did this first and got it right first time.

Great way to make it!!
I love the Halo Franchise games and they never make a mistake on making their games either up until the point where they add to much to it instead. I love how they created this where it is in a overhead view of the game and still fighting the covenant, and the flood. I have only played a little bit of this game but it is still good in my opinion. I highly recommend making sure that you grab this when it is on sale ONLY.

This is also a fun time. I think Assault had much better presentation, but Strike also was a fun experience. Both of these games are fun little spinoffs that no one really talks about. Which is a drag, because here's two really neat Halo games in a different genre that reminds me of contra, dead ops arcade or another fun xbox game called Aqua. Halo Spartan Strike is a fun game that makes 343 Reclaimer Era Halo fun and interesting with Prometheans that act like fun enemies with distinct ranks, and they had the brutes in the covenant. Now if someone can make this into a Halo 4 mod or something, I think we'd be set. If not, then whatever. I still got this game that did right, and another too.

So immediately, it's another simulation, with a pretty copy pasted set up, but you do get to revisit some old Halo 2 and a few new Halo 4 locations that we didn't get to see during the main games, and see what else was going on during the Bungie games. I'm glad to be back in New Mombasa, and the maps in it were pretty fun. I also got to go to a Halo ring which is nice, and kick some of the ghost bionicles into pieces, although the requirement to gold star everything to get the ending was pretty dumb. Assault didn't lock anything behind stars, so Strike doing that was just a major turn off.

Since this was a mobile game, some of the crappy parts seemed to seep in more than Assault. I hate when mobile games pull a cheap shot difficulty spike like that, so doing that here was also annoying. They made some improvements to the core game while locking the 6th chapter off, which really didn't have much for the work it took. If I wanted a congrats, it'd be better coming from cortana, or if they were going to pull a last minute plot twist and the UNSC simulations erased and censored a guy who heroically sacrificed himself to make Palmer look better like the last game, that'd make more sense, but that wow moment never happened. Super lame. It's basically just a generic congrats of: "oh the good guys won and everyone lived happily ever after" and you get kicked back to the main menu. Super low energy.

So unlike Assault, I didn't enjoy it as much because of the ending BS spike, but they improved the game in a few areas by fixing a lot of the input lag and weird delays, added some new guns and more of the aliens from the other games, and made more levels on different planets, so I can recommend, but I gave up and didn't bother gold starring this game. It's basically the same as Assault in terms of a sequel but with new levels and toys to play with, so by all means, fun times for cheap.

Honestly, it's a solid top-down shooter. Controls feel good, gameplay is fun, and it's a great Steam Deck game and runs great on it. Only downside is the fact that the game's final chapter requires you to get a gold star on all prior levels, so if you want to finish the game you'll have to put a bit of effort in.

a very generic boring game.

Overall better than Spartan Assault and actually plays as a game with substantive narrative progression in contrast to the monotonous and repetitive arcade prior.

On the other hand, it’s also far easier than its predecessor: there are no time bonuses, vehicles are vastly overpowered and trivially resupplied, turrets have no cooldown, the ‘Assault Ops’ are simpler – and the UI reveals a hasty PC transfer.

Even better than the Spartan Assault!

Much better than its predecessor. The controls are more fluids and the aiming bar is well received. The maps are better constructed and feels like a true Halo title, instead of an arena based tablet shlop. Now the story is a bit more mechanical and souless in the beginning (it's a mcguffin thing), but at least it doesn't feel artificial and it does pick up the pace later.
Feels like a missed opportunity that we don't have missions from the covenant standpoint though. They get to have all the fun with the lore, at least in the begining.

In any case, in true halo fashion, the real story is the playtyhrough itself more than the cutscenes and texts anyways. Got that Spartan Ops feel all over... but in top down.
I'm actually enjoying myself instead of raging against the controller this time. Good sequel. I didn't expected it to be this nice after the fiasco of most of the first one.

However, paying under 2$ for both games on sale... I can say this one is worth at least that alone. Even more, I think it's starting to cover for the pain of going through the first one, and this only after 4 hours.

stressful

Utter trash. Boring, repetitive, uninteresting and just a waste of your money.

You'd have more fun playing Halo 5 - it's THAT bad.

This ain't it, Chief :(

Halo: Spartan Strike is a fast-paced and enjoyable top-down shooter that integrates smoothly into the Halo universe, set during the events of Halo 2. The gameplay is fun and offers a solid Halo experience in a condensed format, making it easy to pick up and play.

While the game is relatively short, taking around 6 hours to complete, there is a significant design flaw that hampers the overall experience. In order to unlock the final 6 missions of the 30 available, players are forced to achieve a high score (gold star) on all 24 previous missions. This requirement feels unnecessarily punitive, forcing players to replay missions multiple times in order to progress.

Forcing players to grind in a game like this is, frankly, bad design. Not everyone wants to "sweat" through repeated attempts just to enjoy the full campaign. Some players, especially those looking for a more casual experience, simply want to finish the game without having to meet strict performance criteria.

While the core gameplay is fine, this frustrating design choice severely detracts from the experience. Unfortunately, because of this, I can’t recommend Halo: Spartan Strike, even though it otherwise has potential.

cool

Game's alright. Gets a bit boring after the first 1000 hours.