Halo 4: Spartan Ops Finally Fulfills its Potential

At nearly every turn, Spartan Ops let IGN editors down for failing to live up to Halo standard -- and that finally changes on Monday, January 21. Episode Six of Halo 4's downloadable weekly cooperative campaign kicks off the second half of Season One, and it goes to great lengths to make up for past mistakes.

During the mid-season break, 343 Industries worked to strengthen the second half of Spartan Ops season one by addressing fan feedback and important criticisms head-on. First and foremost, the gameplay and story intertwine in more meaningful ways, with first-person cutscenes, mid-mission radio chatter, and character motivations meant to connect you to more than just combat. Objectives throughout Episode Six tie closer to events going on elsewhere -- in the first chapter, Crimson had been captured by the same Covenant group that captured Spartan Thorne during the mid-season finale. Their escape involved Ghosts, optional Banshees, ground-based combat, a lot of Jackals and suicidal Grunts, sneaking through groups of sleeping Covenant, and a brutal airstrike.

Sounds a little Master Chief-esque, no?

Spartan Ops' second half mixes up the locations as well, with 343 promising plenty of new and unexpected areas to lay waste to Covenant and Promethean forces. The way these environments unfold in Episode Six feels much more akin to an actual Halo campaign -- open-ended environments with more of that sandbox freedom -- than the recycled, mostly enclosed wave-based arenas from Episodes 1-5.

This is because 343 is taking advantage of its own resources -- with campaign designers and animators no longer working on the core Master Chief portion of Halo 4, they're more readily available to help create better, more interesting add-on missions for Spartan Ops. The studio's using more of its talent to make Spartan Ops better -- and it is absolutely working.

Get caught up on Spartan Ops before its return on Monday by watching the recap at the top of this story, and look for weekly commentaries on each new episode from IGN's Xbox team every Tuesday.

Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor at IGN. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.