Legendary horror director John Carpenter has recently played Halo Infinite, and he thinks it’s the best in the Halo series. Developer 343 Industries finally released the single-player campaign to their latest sci-fi FPS last month, following a long and tumultuous development cycle that saw Halo Infinite be delayed for a full year to account for negative fan feedback after the game’s initial showing. A month before that, 343 released Halo Infinite’s multiplayer component under a free-to-play model to celebrate the franchise’s 20th anniversary, breaking records for the most concurrent players for an Xbox Studios title on Steam in the process.
Halo Infinite’s single-player campaign was met with warm reviews when it launched in December, with many critics praising it for being a solid jumping-on point for new players that also pays tribute to the Halo games that came before it. Marcus Lehto, the person who originally designed Master Chief’s iconic Mjolnir armor for the original Halo, had similar thoughts on Halo Infinite’s story saying that it brought back "the magic of Halo.” It seems he’s got some distinguished company in this regard, as none other than John Carpenter has expressed his own praise for Halo Infinite.
As reported by Kotaku, John Carpenter recently took to Twitter to give his thoughts on Halo Infinite yesterday. He describes Halo Infinite as “a fun shooter” with “immense and beautiful production design,” ending his brief-but-glowing review by stating that it is “the best of the Halo series.” Members of Halo Infinite’s development team have responded to John Carpenter’s good word with excitement, as Halo creative director Frank O’Connor decided to rewatch Heart Of Darkness in thanks to Carpenter and 343 Industries founder Bonnie Ross wishing the esteemed director a happy birthday.
In addition to the aforementioned Heart Of Darkness, John Carpenter is well regarded among cinema fans for his work in directing classic horror titles like The Thing and the original Halloween. He is also pretty outspoken about his love of gaming, having praised Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla as a “return to form” for the series and fondly recalling that the first video game he ever played was the original Sonic The Hedgehog. In return, games like Among Us and Carrion have drawn influence from his films in terms of atmosphere and visual aesthetic, and Saints Row IV even featured a reenactment of the classic fist-fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David from They Live among its many pop-culture references.
Halo Infinite has been pretty well received in both its single-player and multiplayer components. There has been some controversy regarding the game’s microtransactions, but 343 Industries has recently pledged to address Halo Infinite's microtransaction pricing in an upcoming patch. In the meantime, having an endorsement from a Hollywood legend like John Carpenter is certainly a promising sign for the latest installment in the long-running Halo franchise.
Halo Infinite is available now on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: John Carpenter/Twitter (via Kotaku)