Hello everyone, hope you're having a great day, and welcome to my review of Monster Hunter World! This is a game series that I knew absolutely nothing about going into it. I've never played one of these before and I really wasn't sure I'd like the style of gameplay, but people kept recommending it to me so I finally took the leap and grabbed a copy. I know this has a huge following in Japan so I'm surprised we haven't seen a mainstream release on a major console before now. Although it's not exactly what I was expecting it to be, this game has kept me thoroughly entertained for the past few weeks and now I'm ready to give my review. So let's get into it.
Monster Hunter World is an action role playing game developed by Capcom. It was released for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on January 26th, 2018. In this game you play the role of a hunter that goes out into the wilderness to track and kill various creatures. Once you successfully complete a hunt you can carve their dead body to collect parts that you can then use to craft all kinds of different weapons and armor sets. That's basically the core of the gameplay in Monster Hunter, it's this continuous loop of tracking, killing, and crafting that goes on for ages. To me personally this seemed like it would get boring pretty fast, that's why I was hesitant to purchase the game at first, but boy was I wrong.
I don't really know how to explain it, I guess it's just something you have to experience for yourself, but that loop that the game revolves around is so satisfying that I couldn't put the controller down. I always wanted to do one more hunt, get a few more parts from this particular monster so that I could make a new weapon, it's extremely fun and addicting gameplay. I can see why these games are so popular in Japan, they're fun, and simple. You get to go to beautiful exotic locations, discover these incredible creatures, and beat the hell out of them so you can eventually make a new sword or set of armor from their parts.
Everything you craft from the parts that you carve has the look of whatever animal it came from. If you kill something that is red colored and has spikes, your armor or weapon will resemble that. It ends up telling a tale of where you've been and the adventures you've had just by looking at your character and the equipment he has. I never thought a game like this would pull me in so quickly, but Monster Hunter does a fantastic job of immersing you in the game world, and encouraging you to go further and further. I always wanted to see what was next, what would the next monster look like, what kinds of things could I make out of this one, and there's no shortage of different kinds of creatures to find.
You start off in your home base where you can craft things and take on new missions, then once you're ready you pick something and head out. You have a companion called a Palico, which is a cat that helps you fight. Your Palico is always with you and they're a big help in battle. You can craft things not only for yourself, but for your cat friend as well so they are always getting new weapons and armors too. Once you leave the home base area and get into the wild you find yourself in a huge open environment where you can go wherever you want. You will usually have a certain monster that you're looking for, but you can roam around freely and kill anything. To help you track your prey you have scoutflies, these green glowing bugs that light the way to where the monster is hiding. This is a big help because the maps are huge and it's not always easy to find what you're looking for.
There are 14 different types of weapons to choose from, and right from the start of the game you have access to all of them. It can be a little overwhelming at first to pick which one you should use, but this is a long game and you'll have plenty of time to try them all out. There's also a training area at your home base where you can practice with all of the different types to see what ones click with you. You've got your huge sword, long sword, sword and shield, hammer, axe, lance, and even ranged weapons like the bow, or bow gun. They all have their own sets of moves to memorize and they all feel very different. Some are slow but deal out heavy damage, some are quick but not as powerful. There's a lot to take into consideration before making your pick.
All of the weapons can be upgraded quite a bit, and as you gather more parts from the various monsters you fight you will be able to add elemental damage to your favorites, until you end up with a weapon for every type of monster. Some are weak to fire, some weak to lightning, so having options with different elements attached to them is essential. This can be a lot to take in at first, but once you get the hang of everything and you start to understand what works best for certain situations it really isn't that bad. I've never played one of these games before and it didn't take me long to figure it all out. Plus that's the best part of the whole experience, getting the parts from killing the giant creatures and making new gear out of them, so it's a fun process.
There's a good amount of monsters to hunt scattered throughout the different maps, and each area has it's own distinct animals. Each major monster has it's own set of armor that you can craft out of it's parts, head, torso, arms, waist, and legs. This means that you will constantly be switching your outfits up as you progress through the game. Not only do looks and defense factor into what you will be wearing, but each part of armor has a special effect that can be helpful if you're going up against a certain monster. Say you go to fight something that can poison you, well equipping a part that has resistance to poison will help you greatly. That's just one example of many, but you get the idea. There are so many layers to this seemingly simple premise that I was really taken by surprise.
The last thing I want to mention is the fact that this does have a story that carries the game along. You can choose to take on the story quest when choosing a mission, or you can pick one of the other various quests that don't further the plot at all. You can just keep hunting whatever monsters you want without focusing on the story, but if you want to unlock new areas and abilities you will need to do story missions eventually. Basically there's a monster the size of a mountain that is moving along the land and you are trying to track and study it. Everything you do is related to understanding why this giant creature is doing what it's doing, and the story is actually very interesting so I wont say anymore about it. Even after you complete the story the game doesn't end, it actually opens up a whole new set of abilities and the fun just keeps going for as long as you want to keep playing.
I wasn't even sure I was going to play this at all, I've had no previous experience with Monster Hunter games, and honestly the premise sounded kind of boring. Now that I've actually taken the time to finish the game I have to say this was an incredible journey, and I'm so glad I didn't pass this one up. It's clear to me now why these titles have such a following, they are so much fun, and the core gameplay loop is just so satisfying. Seeing all the amazing locations, all the crazy monsters moving around dynamically and going about their business. Fighting them in epic battles where you barely survive, and then making a piece of armor that tells a story of your personal journey is unlike anything I've ever played before. Now that I'm initiated into this world I can't wait for the next one, and even though I've finished the main story there's still hours and hours of fun to be had here. This is an amazing game that I would highly recommend, and I give Monster Hunter World a grade of.........................................
A
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it!