Halo 4 Spartan Ops Season 1 on break until January

Season 1 of Spartan Ops, Halo 4's separate episodic adventure that follows the Majestic Squad aboard the UNSC Infinity, will be going on a mid-season break starting December 10, 2012. The additional mode has already delivered five weeks worth of free content to Halo 4 players.

With five weeks of content remaining, the second half of Spartan Ops Season 1 will continue "later in January." It will offer new episodes, chapters, locations, and maps. When it's all said and done, Season 1 will have provided players with a total of 50 free bonus missions totaling to about 12 hours of additional gameplay time.

In the meantime, players will have plenty of other fresh content to keep them busy. On December 10, 343 Industries will release the brand new Halo 4 multiplayer maps (Wreckage, Harvest, and Shatter) via the Crimson Map Pack. Seven days after that, on December 17, the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge officially begins giving players a chance to earn great prizes just by playing the game.

The Spartan Ops timeline will still be both accessible and playable during this hiatus, giving you plenty of time to catch up if you haven't experienced it yet. Additionally, 343 will also be featuring a Best of Spartan Ops compilation next week, made up of the following chapters:

• Core – Chapter 5 of Episode 1
• Hacksaw – Chapter 3 of Episode 2
• Shootout in Valhalla – Chapter 4 of Episode 3
• The Didact’s Gift – Chapter 5 of Episode 4
• Spartan Thorne – Chapter 1 of Episode 5

If you haven't yet played Spartan Ops, I highly suggest you do so. Aside from offering great content, it's completely free. You can even play co-op with friends! If you've already played the missions, what did you think of them?