Monster Hunter: World Review.
Developed and published by Capcom, Monster Hunter: World has finally arrived on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While console players have access to the latest game in the franchise now, PC players will, however, need to wait as the game is only set to release late 2018. This is according to Monster Hunter: World Producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto.
Monster Hunter World places the player in the shoes of their very own, self-created character who has been tasked to travel with the Guild and its Research Commision in order to get to the bottom of a mysterious phenomenon where, once every decade, the Elder Dragons trek across the sea in order to travel to the land known as the New World in a migration referred to as the Elder Crossing.
While travelling to the New World, the Fifth Fleet has a brief encounter with the colossal elder dragon - known as Zorah Magdaros. This throws things into disarray when your hunter, as well as his rather quirky and energetic handler, have to find a way to reach their base of operations, the town of Astera. Once you have reached Astera, the epic storyline begins to move at a slower pace as you start to find out more about Astera and explore the world around you in order to eventually discover the reason behind the Elder Crossing.
Monster Hunter: World, while slow-paced at first, has an excellent storyline to it. Seeing the Elder Crossing up close and personal is really a sight and something to experience. What also adds to the entire storyline is the fact that it moves at the pace of the player. While the player has the option to jump straight into the main campaign, they also have the option to take on a number of side-quest where they can either hunt and kill monsters or capture them for research purposes. To add to these side-quests there are also a number of research quests that will see your character explore the world in order to collect various items such as honey, mushrooms, and various fauna and flora in order to assist researchers as well as gain vital experience and upgrade points.
While out in the world you will come across a variety of beautifully designed forests, wastelands, and other areas with their own complex ecosystems that are just visually breathtaking. These include the likes of the Ancient Forest, Wildspire Waste, Coral Highlands and the Rotten Vale. These beautifully created areas, as stated above, host their own ecosystems... as well as monsters to slay. These monster include the pack leader of the Jagras, the Great Jagras, as well as the highly vicious - T-rex, inspired - Anjanath. There are a plethora of monster to capture or slay, but be warned... they are each as deadly as the other.
Tracking monsters, this time around, is made a bit easier as the player can use scout flies in order to find footprints, markings, mucus and anything else that may assist in tracking down your prey. Once the scout flies have locked on to your prey's scent, they will guide you straight to it.
While slaying monsters sounds like fun, it can be challenging. While it does feature many tutorials, the game does not hold the player's hand. Monsters, much like the Anjanath and Tobi-Kadachi, can be relentless, vicious and highly challenging, which is why taking part in side-quests to upgrade your equipment can be a lifesaver at the end of the day.
Speaking of equipment, Monster Hunter: World features a number of weapons that can be chosen - depending on the player's playstyle. These include dual-blades, longswords, lances, bows and arrows, axes, and many more. As a brief tip, I would suggest spending a bit of time with each and every weapon in order to find something that is best suited to your style. I personally opted for the switch axe as my primary weapon and then relied on the bow and arrow when facing off against monsters that either have the ability to fly or were just too powerful and quick on their feet.
Once you have found the right weapon, you will notice that Monster Hunter: World has an excellent combat system. Not only can you thrash through monsters with your overly large weapons, you can also set traps to deal further damage to the particular monster you are hunting. As there is a living, breathing ecosystem, monsters can also be baited to areas where rival monsters may have their nest. This will allow the player the opportunity to take a break from the fight as two rival monsters go head to head.
Another high point for Monster Hunter: World is the on-the-fly crafting system. While out in the field you can craft health potions, antidotes, traps and so on. This makes things a fair bit easier, especially when you have a monster on the run, but need to craft some health potions.
When it comes to graphics, Monster Hunter: World is a beautifully crafted title. From the watering holes, to the beautiful forests... Monster Hunter: World is a gorgeous title. You can see that the team has not only put in a tremendous amount of effort into the world, but also the monsters and characters featured throughout the game.
Conclusion:
While it features a deep learning curve and does not promote holding the player's hand, Monster Hunter: World is a brilliant title, and one of the best in the franchise. Not only does it feature a deep combat system, but it also features a beautiful world in which to explore. To add to this, it features some of the most creative creatures I have seen to-date. I take my hat off to Capcom for the immense amount of creativity that has gone into Monster Hunter: World.
By: Darryl Linington
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