14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced Halo: Spartan Strike, the follow-up title to last year's twin-stick shooter Halo: Spartan Assault.
The game, just like its predecessor, will be an action-packed twin-stick shooter. The events of the title are set during the era of Halo 2, and developer Vanguard Games is working closely with 343 Industries in order to make sure that the lore aspects line up.
In all honesty, Halo's backstory is pretty convoluted, so fighting Prometheans during the events of Halo 2 might seem out of place, but not a jarring faux-pas.
The game will ship with improved controls, new abilities, new enemies and new vehicles, with a total of around 30 missions for players to tackle.
Halo: Spartan Strike is scheduled to come out on December 12 in Europe and December 14 in North America, headed to PC and Windows 8 tablets and smartphones, cross-buy compatible, at just $6 / €5. The Steam-compatible version will be a separate buy, but will include Steam achievements.
For the time being, there is no word on whether Halo: Spartan Strike is coming to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, but considering that Spartan Assault eventually made its way to the two home consoles, Spartan Strike is also likely to make the transition in the future.
In any case, this is certainly good news for Halo fans, as they will be able to enjoy some nice content on their mobile devices and take a break from Plants vs. Zombies or whatever else they might be doing when they can't play Halo.
A lot of Halo-related action
It looks like the holiday season is getting increasingly packed with Halo-related items, what with the massive Halo: The Master Chief Collection launching for the Xbox One computer entertainment system next month.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a compilation of the remastered first four entries in the popular science fiction first-person shooter series, enabling gamers to relive some of their favorite gaming moments in full HD resolution, with updated visuals, and a few neat surprises.
The Halo: Nightfall live-action mini-series will also kick off then, showing us the backstory of Agent Locke, a pivotal character from Halo 5: Guardians. Speaking of which, purchases of Halo: The Master Chief Collection will earn buyers a spot in the upcoming multiplayer beta test for Halo 5, scheduled to drop at the end of December.
Furthermore, Microsoft is also working on a proper Halo TV series for next year, supervised by none other than world-renowned science fiction film director Steven Spielberg.