Halo: Spartan Strike, developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games, is now available for Windows 8, Windows Phones and iOS. If you’ll recall, this is the twin-stick, top-down successor to Halo: Spartan Assault that was subsequently delayed following issues with The Master Chief Collection.

Spartan Strike will take place during the events of New Mombasa in Halo 2. As a Spartan IV unit, you’ll be fighting alongside the UNSC to repel the Covenant and Prometheans. Costing $5.99, there aren’t any micro-transactions on this release so don’t worry. Windows 8 players will be able to earn an exclusive emblem, avatar and nameplay by topping the leaderboard and earning achievements. These can then be used in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Note that there’s also a Halo: Spartan bundle available for $9.99 which includes Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. It’s available for iPad, iPhone and Steam. Will you be picking up Spartan Strike at all? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

343 Industries has announced that its twin-sticks arcade shooter Halo: Spartan Strike has been delayed. This is due to the entire team being focussed on fixing issues that still remain with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The compilation has been suffering from matchmaking issues since launch and while it has been significantly patched, some problems still remain.

Posting on Halo Waypoint, the developer stated that “While we’re excited about this all-new Halo experience, our commitment to resolving the current matchmaking issues in Halo: The Master Chief Collection remains the top priority. As a result, we have decided to move the release of Halo: Spartan Strike to early 2015.”

Halo: Spartan Strike was supposed to be out on December 12th which would’ve been this Friday. Regardless, it’s good to see 343 Industries focussing on fixing the current experience for fans who paid their hard-earned money for The Master Chief Collection. What are your thoughts on the delay? Let us know in the comments.

Microsoft have announced that Halo Spartan Strike is inbound and set to release on Windows 8 devices and Steams digital games service. It’s a follow up title to the extremely ok-ish twin stick shooter, Halo Spartan Assault.

As you have probably come to expect, new items and weapons are being retroactively introduced to the game for the sake of gameplay, once again casting series canon aside in favour of the “we only thought of this recently and we think its cool” mindset. Oh and the Prometheans appear. Fairly sure we would have heard about them somewhere in Halo 3 had they shown up during Halo 2, so it’s gonna be interesting to see how they include this little bit of information.

Given that the game takes place during the events of Halo 2 and that it will only cost you in the region $5.99, I can’t really be to harsh on them for releasing this. But c’mon folks, we all know this isn’t the game we want.

Rejoice! A New Halo game has been announced!

… and then quiet down as you realize it’s not a new major Halo game (I mean, that was already announced last year as Halo 5 anyway, so why would they do that?), but rather, another in an endless line of spin offs. It’s called Halo: Spartan Strike, and it will be releasing on Windows devices (PCs, tablets, and phones running Windows 8 and its variants), as well as Steam, as announced by 343 in an exclusive interview with IGN.

It’ll be a top down twin stick shooter, in the vein of Halo: Spartan Assault that launched last year. It will, obviously, aim to improve on that game, and have a host of whole new features as well.

Some time ago, I would have cried foul at what I would have perceived as dilution of the Halo brand, but at this point in time, I recognize that Halo is almost literally Microsoft’s Mario, so you know what, fine. If you are interested in this game, it will launch on December 12. Stay tuned.