We don't normally cover mobile games over here, but when Master Chief and Cacodemon are showing up in Candy Crush Saga, I guess I'm willing to make an exception. Yep, as Xbox goes all out with the announcements for its 25th Anniversary, this latest crossover is bringing eight of our favourite console and PC franchises to the hands of millions of mobile players for a festive "Game On Season."
Starting today and running through to till December 6, Candy Crush Saga is getting totally hijacked by Xbox. The four-week event weaves in characters and worlds from Halo, Fallout, Sea of Thieves, Forza, DOOM, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro in the game.
Unlock cool virtual pins and experience a new soundtrack
Central to the event is a massive in-game pin collection. As you crush (get it) your way through the arcade-themed Leagues event, you can unlock virtual pins of Master Chief's helmet and Dr Neo Cortex, to name a few.
If you're really lucky, you can get your hands on physical versions, as King has turned some of the digital pins into real-life limited-edition collectables. You do need to be a resident of the US to enter, but the sweepstake over at CandyCrush.com is giving out a 1000 physical sets of these pins.
Something else really neat about this crossover is the music designed to "candify" six classic Xbox themes, enlisting the German Film Orchestra Babelsburg, a Bulgarian Choir, and, I kid you not, an accordion player.
To celebrate the announcement, King has released a behind-the-scenes video of the recording process. The music of Halo, Fallout, Sea of Thieves, Forza, DOOM and Banjo-Kazooie has been integrated into Candy Crush Saga in such an unusual way that it's worth a listen alone, even if you don't pick up the game. Luckily, you can check out the tracks in full over on Spotify. The DOOM track in particular, as expected, absolutely slaps.
For Halo, they kept the instantly recognizable choir but wove it into the Candy Crush universe as a "polar rhythmic element." Paula Ingvar, General Manager of Candy Crush, summed it up perfectly: “Hearing the Halo theme played by an orchestra, a choir and an accordion in Candy Crush still makes our team smile."
More announcements from the Xbox 25th Anniversary
It's been a steady stream of announcements all day as Xbox celebrate turning 25. We've had Xbox Playback to check out your own journey with Xbox over the years, a new Firefight mode update coming to Halo: Campaign Evolved, and a bunch more OG console games added to PC. And I'm sure there's more to come from Xbox!
The Game On Season crossover is live right now across iOS, Android, Amazon, and the Windows App store, and runs until December 6.
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