YMMV / Halo: Spartan Assault

• Goddamn Bats: The Jackals, as always, especially in large numbers when their Needler fire is harder to dodge. And unlike their FPS counterparts, there's no tiny hand to shoot to get them to lower their shield, so they can take a while to bring down.
  • Every Flood form can fall into this.
• Memetic Loser: The Machine Pistol earned a bit of a memetic reputation among Halo fans for existing only in Spartan Assault, exclusively within a single mode at that, and for having virtually no lore elaboration, making it by far the most obscure weapon in Halo history. After a joke campaign by fans demanding that the Machine Pistols be acknowledged by 343, they got their wish in an issue of Canon Fodder where it was properly canonised as the M6/Z Magnum.
• Play the Game, Skip the Story: While there is an attempt to explain what's going on, the story itself is generally unremarkable (not helped by the fact that it's only a re-telling of events through a simulation). You'd be forgiven for forgetting what it's about.
• Polished Port: While the game was fairly fun upon its original launch, the touchscreen controls were hard to use (though mouse and keyboard was an option on desktops and laptops). Later updates and ports added the ability to use a controller.
  • The Xbox One and 360 ports added a series of 2-player Co-op missions featuring the flood. 343 has said they have no plans to add these to any other version of the game, to the dismay of many PC players.
• So Okay, It's Average: General consensus is that the game is a solid twin-stick that uses the Halo license well, but very little about it in exceptional.
• That One Achievement: While getting gold medals on every level sounds difficult (until you realize how useful the score booster is), the real nasty ones are "Pension Plan" (which requires you to earn a total of 25,000 XP) and "Extra Credit" (which requires you to complete three challenges for each of the 30 levels, many of which require multiple playthroughs to complete). Expect to play certain levels over and over again to get these.
• That One Boss: Merg Vol, the boss of E-5, can be this during his second phase where he will run after you with two energy swords that can nearly one-shot you, can easily outpace you if you're not using your speed armor ability, and can turn invisible. To top it off, you have to dodge a LOT of Jackal Needler fire. His first and third phases are more forgiving.
• That One Level: Many levels can become this when trying to go for a gold medal, especially in the second half of the game. Same for the Flood levels.