The brilliant concept of Spartan Ops – weekly downloadable co-op missions that continue the story of Halo 4 following the events of the campaign – has sputtered at times. If you’ve had your doubts about Spartan Ops, Episode 7, which debuts next week, may just change your mind.
It starts with the impressive cinematic, which finally pushes the story of Dr. Catherine Halsey in an interesting direction. Mother of the Spartan program, Halsey shows herself to be both too devious to be trusted and too useful to be ignored. In a game franchise where good and bad is black and white, Halsey is the rare person in the gray. And this episode continues Spartan Ops’ efforts to better define one of the most important, but perhaps lesser understood, characters in the Halo universe.
Of course, you don’t have to even play Spartan Ops to watch this cinematic short. It’s available just by hopping into the Spartan Ops menu. But this is one episode you will want to play from start to finish. That’s because the Covenant and Prometheans have invaded Infinity. And the result is the most fun we’ve had with Spartan Ops to date.
Most of Episode 7 takes place on Infinity and while there are some larger, sandbox combat arenas, the best missions are set in tight quarters with more enemies than it seems reasonable for a few Spartans to handle.
Halo is always at its best when combat feels chaotic and the predictability of the AI breaks down because they’re just sort of everywhere. In these moments, it’s only great twitch shooting that can get you through the fight. There’s a great moment in one of the latter missions when you reach a small hallway and Covenant are rushing straight at you like the bulls of Pamplona. Of course, in Pamplona you don’t have a shotty and sticky ‘nades.
Episode 7 of Spartan Ops gets it right in terms of story, pacing, and mission structure. It also lays the groundwork for the end of Season 1 and finally shows that what happens in Spartan Ops will impact future Halo stories. You can watch a trailer for Episode 7 above, check out a gallery of images for the episode below, and play the new chapter for yourself on January 28.
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Studios • DEVELOPER: 343 Industries • MULTIPLAYER: Yes • RELEASES: January 28, 2013 • FOR FANS OF: Building to a finale, close-quarters shootouts, more Halo
