Also available on Xbox One and Windows If you read my reviews of Halo 4 and Halo 5, you'll recall that one of my biggest complaints with the games was the storytelling and the fact that there are a plethora of details that were seemingly skipped and never explained from one game to the other. Spartan Ops was a series of ten five-mission episodes that follows the Spartan-IVs aboard the UNSC Infinity as they investigate the Forerunner planet of Requiem. It takes place after the events of Halo 4, so it does serve to fill a little of the time between Halo 4 and Halo 5. That said, don't expect this to pull the curtain back fully on the events before Halo 5. You play as Spartans with Fireteam Crimson, one of the Spartan teams providing security and helping to investigate Requiem and fighting Covenant remnants and Promethean defenses. As I said, there are ten episodes each consisting of five levels. Each episode has a cutscene to introduce the episode. These cutscenes are probably the most interesting aspect of Spartan Ops in my opinion; they're very well done regarding narrative, and the levels themselves, by and large, tend to feel pretty generic. Kill Wave 1 of enemies, press Button 1, kill Waves 2 and 3 of enemies, press Button 2, kill Waves 4 and 5 of enemies, press Button 3, kill Wave 6 of enemies, reach designated position, mission over. That's how most of them seem to play out. To be sure, some are more varied and interesting than that, but that's the typical Spartan Ops mission. If you're into achievement hunting, there's some reason to play here; you get an achievement for completion each of the ten episodes as well as one for completing all of them. Not only that, but if you're playing on the Master Chief Collection, these missions help wrap up some of the Promethean kill achievements. These missions are meant to be played co-op, so they're probably more fun that way than solo as I played them, but they're pretty average. They do get pretty challenging, though; there was one mission that spawned a dozen and a half Hunters for me to kill by myself (thank goodness it lets you respawn). As is the case with Halo 4 and Halo 5 in general, Spartan Ops is definitely worth playing if you're a big fan of Halo. If you're not especially interested in the greater world, lore, and events immediately after Halo 4, then you can skip this without worry. In a lot of ways, it feels like a super low budget sequel to Halo 4. That said, I love what they tried to do here; it's just a shame that's the concept so outstripped the execution. It's not nearly as offensive as Halo 5, but it's a pretty take-it-or-leave-it affair overall. My Rating - B |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
May 2024
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