31.1.2018

Making its console debut, Monster Hunter World is a big, sprawling action-adventure RPG. The combat is balanced, fair and challenging and the world brimming with life and beauty. The game does have a steep learning curve though; unnecessarily convoluted menus, a lack of direction and an emphasis on trial and error mechanics make Monster Hunter World a difficult game to pick up and rush through but certainly rewards those patient enough to reap the rewards if you can persevere through some of the bizarre design choices in the hub world. Monster Hunter World has an incredible gameplay experience, unique to what else is currently on console at the moment and for that alone,Monster Hunter is well worth checking out.The story, whilst generic, holds everything together in an acceptable manner and gives you enough incentive to trek through the game and hunt bigger monsters. As a member of the 5th, your task is simple – hunt down and kill or capture monsters that threaten the New World and the livelihood of the research team. With each main quest given, the monsters become tougher and more resilient and despite the plot progression, story missions are simply glorified boss fights stitched together with a bit of exposition and a slickly presented cut scene to introduce the new behemoths you tackle.Although this doesn’t sound very glamorous, Monster Hunter World’s main appeal comes from the fights and the exhilarating, adrenaline fuelled combat is outstanding. The fighting feels like a blend of Witcher 3’s sword play and Dark Soul’s intricately brutal attack patterns and play style. This blend works perfectly but players may find the lack of a health bar for any of the creatures a deterrent, especially those used to a more conventional way of approaching these sort of fights.Capcom have made a cleverly accessible game for a lot of people to pick up and play but to really get the most out of Monster Hunter World, some serious hours need to be logged. Expect to spend a good 10-15 hours just getting accustomed to the different weapons, experimenting with play styles, crafting and all manner of hunting before even making a dent in the campaign or taking full advantage of most of the gameplay mechanics. Once this eventually clicks into place, the game opens up in the most wonderful way and slaying a difficult beast after a 30 minute+ battle is an incredibly rewarding experience. With promise of more monsters to be added as free DLC, expect to spend a good 70+ hours playing the campaign and all the added extras beyond that.Although marketed as one, Monster Hunter World isn’t a traditional open world game. The main camp acts as a gateway to different large, hub areas that hold up to four or five large monsters to slay, accessed via the world map screen on the menu. Each of these areas are beautifully presented with a unique aesthetic and thriving population of creatures big and small. Large vespoids (giant mosquitos) buzz around stagnant swamps, herds of herbivores migrate across large, open plains and towering predators roar defiantly in the distance, at times engaging with one another in brutal battles for dominance. These hub worlds feel like living, breathing areas although it would have been nice to see all them interconnected together in one mammoth sized map. The game drips in visual splendour too and everything from the creative world design to the imaginative monsters is animated beautifully and realistically depicted. Monsters have specific attack patterns that change through fights too which adds an extra layer of challenge on an already tough but fun game.After the opening cinematic, it’s clear from the start that Monster Hunter World is a game designed to be played online as a multiplayer title. Quests are accessed through a quest board which brings up an online lobby, modified to 1 player if you want to play solo. SOS flares can be used during tough fights to bring in additional players but in doing so, the monster difficulty increases which does help somewhat to balance out the gameplay. Online only events garner some of the best rewards outside the main missions too and an arena area where you can battle most of the monsters in a controlled environment is intentionally designed to be played with more than 1 player. Still, there’s a lot to be enjoyed single player but but there’s no denying the multiplayer intent in Monster Hunter World is where most of the focus is with this title.Of course, Monster Hunter’s World uniqueness is ultimately it’s own achille’s heel. This won’t be a game for everyone and those jumping into this expecting the next Witcher 3 or Skyrim are likely to leave very disappointed. In its simplest form, Monster Hunter World is a series of boss fights set in large, open playgrounds that progressively get tougher as the game continues until you reach the final monster and help preserve the New World. Of course, this doesn’t even begin to describe the intricacy and level of overwhelming detail inherent in every facet of the game. Menus of information, statistics, monster guides, crafting and more can easily overwhelm you and it does take a while to fully immerse yourself into the game.With such a unique appeal and steep learning curve, Monster Hunter World is a game you need to be prepared to sink some serious hours into. It certainly provides an excellent return of money and time and the sense of achievement you feel after beating some of the tougher foes the game throws at you after an exhausting and exhilarating fight is unrivalled. Monster Hunter World is an outstanding game and although its certainly not without its problems, the gameplay is the real star here and for that alone, is worth checking out… if you can commit to the hours it takes to reach that point.

19.2.2018

Well, what to say about MHW...How about that, since launch, I have put in around 100 hours, despite having a full time job and a family? How about that I have reached the end-game and am only now beginning to feel the oft-cited "grind", which is no less enjoyable than it was at the beginning? How about that, as a complete newby to the series, I have found it to be one of the most engaging and rewarding games that I have played in the last 5 years?I admit, I was skeptical. I played each of the open betas on the PS4 prior to launch, and never really understood what I was doing. I'd pick a weapon, join a team, and flail at the monster uselessly while my obviously veteran team mates pulled off dazzling mid-air combos or explosive,high damage moves that utterly mystified me. I was on the fence but a friend who was very keen on the game promised me I would enjoy it with a little more practice.Boy, am I glad I listened to him.This game is like Dark Souls in one respect and that is that you get more out of it the more you put in. The game consistently rewards practice, learning and (eventually) understanding of its systems and ways of doing things.Yes, the controls are incredibly weird if you are used to hack-and-slash games like God of War. Yes, there is no auto-targeting. Yes, there are mountains of menus and systems underneath every little thing. Yes, it is incredibly weird to a Western audience used to simplified and accessible gameplay and mechanics.But if you give it the time an understanding grows on you. The weird control scheme rewards practice, timing and knowledge of your chosen weapon (seriously, check out YouTube for tutorials on your weapon of choice - I spent the first 40 hours of the game only getting about 50% of the damage potential out of my first weapon type). The lack of auto-targeting allows you to hit the monster just "there", where you wanted to, right on his weak spot. Those menus can largely be ignored for the first main part of the story, but delve into them and you will find a cornucopia of buffs and status effects which can make that seemingly insurmountable next challenge manageable. That lack of simplicity rewards mastery with a true sense of pride and accomplishment.The core gameplay loop of 1. fight a monster, 2. kill the monster, 3. use parts from that monster to upgrade equipment and prepare for the next monster, 4. fight a monster ... and so on is delectable. These battles are epic, ranging skirmishes which, once you get a handle on things, take around 15-30 minutes apiece. If you are a bad 'un for that "just one more go, then bed" type of mentality, then you'll end up looking at your watch at 4am and thinking "oh, I thought it was 11..."The story is not great, admittedly, and serves more as an extended tutorial for the systems and mechanics waiting for dedicated hunters in the end-game. Now that I have reached that point myself, things are becoming a challenge again as I seek out tougher and tougher monsters in the hope of optimising my various builds. But each fight is still a tense battle of nerve and wit against fantastic beasts who would just as soon have you for lunch as look at you.For fellow newcomers to the series, I highly recommend this game. However, be prepared to have to look up a few things online and spend around 5-10 hours with it before things start to click. If you do, I guarantee you will get so much more out of this game than many other games you could name from the last 5 years.It's a masterpiece, and one which will grace my PS4's disc tray for months to come.

31.1.2018

Awesome - 5 stars.Amazing game play. Not for faint hearted players that need an easy instant kill or have 5 minute attention spans.The fights are grueling,the fights are long and the further through the game you get, the less mistakes you can get away with.I loved this series from way back when (2005 or 2006 I think). Joined with a couple of friends and was hooked straight away.I have loved every series that came out since.I had huge expectations of this game coming to the main consoles and seriously expected a lot of disappointment.They have pulled it off really well though.The maps are far more complicated than they have ever been before but the new crazy tracking system really lets you copenicely with it.I put in quite a few hours and I am still near the beginning!As everyone else has said, the main worry was that they would try to make the game more accessible to the masses - meaning, make it unplayable for everyone.This is a series that is often pretty punishing. It is difficult, you should die and occasionally fail.There has been a massive overhaul to the monsters with mainly new additions (plus the old must haves).Love the new AI especially the interactions between creatures and other things on the map.Weapons are great and I am so happy that it now shows the damage multipliers.This series is known for not being new player friendly - the last couple have really tried.But once you get into it, you will be hooked.Really, there are so many positives to mention.This game should come with a screaming warning however ***This game will ruin your social life***OK, so lets go through the negatives (Which are easily outclassed by the positives):The multiplayer has far too many issues - it works (Which is the most important part) and once you're in a quest and up and running its fine but based on a game that is meant to be co-op, there are missions that you have to start solo for someone to wait and join you afterwards (After you have finished the cut-scenes) - I hope this was not a deliberate choice but a way of coping while they work out the multiplayer issues.No previous MH game has ever had this problem. Ridiculous/Rookie mistake, if it was a deliberate choice - hopefully this will be a problem sorted out.These games all seem to be getting easier and easier (well, the beginning of each series anyway). Not sure how much of a bad thing that is though as it is still not really a new player friendly game.The scale of the monsters seems to have increased, they look bigger... but the attacks feel less precise... but that could just be me.I don't know if i have just been super lucky but items that have always been rare and make you work for them seem to be given very freely.For those who know the game, I got a rathian plate on my first rathian fight, I got a ratholos plate on my first rathalos fight, new hard creature (Anjanath) got a plate from him too on my first fight - all on lower rank missions.Lol, but struggling to get the simple items (flame sacs / aqua sacs etc)Now that I'm rambling, I am a definite fan of the weapon trees upgrade.You can now see where the trees go and what you need for later upgrades - slow at the beginning and the more you progress the more the weapon trees open up.But wow, what a game.Cant wait to get home and get through more of it.

23.2.2018

After reading some reviews (mainly the awful 1 star reviews) I decided to write my own review. (Seriously the guy who wrote "Why doesn't the main character talk? It's bad" ... is stuff like Bioshock 1, Skyrim, the old Fallouts bad too friend? Breath of the Wild must be torture for him. We need more main characters like Nate the Soldier from Fallout 4 who is his own personality and not yours, RPGs are meant for them not us)I am a long time player of the Monster Hunter series, and I will say this game is fantastic step in the right direction - with some hiccups.The graphics are amazing for Monster Hunter, and with a wide open world; it's truly what the games needed for so long. A living world,living animals, not just being there but interacting with each other; herbivores being hunted, predators fighting for territories, and tracking unknown beasts, is something incredible.You're not just using some basic swords, you're using bows, bowguns light or heavy, great swords of badassery, hammers, hunting horns to support your allies, duel blades, katanas, blades which transform to suit your sick desires! Whatever you fancy, whatever you want to bash and smash, you can use! You can also craft armours from the fallen beasts you slain, looking like a king of a noble kingdom, or some badass seadiver who carries around a FLOWER as a hammer.Call in your friends or randoms to aid you in combat and grow through the ranks to become the Top Hunter!While this game is fun and is amazing to play, it is... an average Monster Hunter game. Not knocking it, but comparing to older Monster Hunters,it lacks. But why it lacks is divided in Monsters and Multiplayer. Monsters is forgivable, since Capcom had to rebuild every monster AI from scratch and thus limited how many monsters can be in the game so far, but with Capcom promising free Monsters in DLC, I think we can overlook this. However; the biggest issue for me is the HR system which is your rank in MH. Originally HR went up with online missions and the more it went up, more monsters appear and new ones can challenge you, but since every mission in world is online, you get HR like crazy, and with the limited monsters, you'll just be repeating fights.The story itself is... passable, not the best but it's Monster Hunter, who's here for the story? Not me. I come to kill, story is there for being there. If you think this story is bad, fair, and if you want a good Monster Hunter story, play 4 Ultimate.But all in all; this game, THIS game was worth the wait. It has problems, every game does, but to bash it for "silent protags" or other silly things is stupid.Don't listen to the 1 star reviews, form your own opinion, don't skip an experiance because of some guy who doesn't respect one of the best games so far of 2018.

22.2.2018

Scratches a particular kind of itch.This isnt the game for you if you're looking for an in depth story or some grand lore, however if you like to take on massive monsters with a variety of approaches then it definitely is.MHW isnt like a traditional RPG, you dont pick a class, skills or anything like that from the outset, make a customer character, pick a weapon you like and head out into the wild world to hunt stuff. The general loop is prepare for a hunt by forging/upgrading your equipment, craft any items (potions, antidotes, bombs etc) you want, eat a meal to boost your stats then venture out to the area to hunt, gather and explore. Once you're done return with your savaged monster parts,

11.2.2018

Monster Hunter: World is all about... hunting monsters (duh). It's an action based game that centers around a core loop of- find a monster, kill and skin it, make gear out of monster (several hunts of specific monsters may be required), upgrade to kill another monster, get stronger, repeat. This game is not story orientated, so please don't go in looking for a beautiful Disney story with engaging characters (though some do have some good lines), the story is primarily an incentive to go skin another monster. The series in general, I feel, has mastered the art of satisfaction when you finally defeat a foe that has proved a massive barrier. Once you beat them, you feel you have gained knowledge and learned more,

29.1.2018

As a fan of the series since the first version of the game released to PSP, I was skeptical how the game would be presented on such a mainstream console. I was worried it would be dumbed-down for new players and that the skill which used to be needed to play the game would diminish.After around 8 hours of game play I do not regret purchasing the game for a second. Although I have yet to get really into the game, it still seems to retain some of the skill needed for a successful hunt, but it opens up the world so much more for individual play styles.For example, using the environment to you advantage to poison, trap and injure your target is extremely satisfying and the AI is a vast improvement to the old games,

24.2.2018

I want to start off by saying this is the first review I’ve ever written for a game, so this sums up how much I love it! I’m a big dark souls fan so do enjoy a challenge. As others have stated it’s a bit overwhelming at first with all of the different menus etc. but give it time and it will reward you. I wasn’t sure at first but I’m so glad I stuck with it. I admit it’s by no means perfect, I found the combat a bit clunky to begin with and it does frustrate me sometimes. However this doesn’t detract from the overall experience.I would say it’s a proper gamers game, and you need to be patient because one fight took me about an hour! The monsters you fight are very clever,

8.2.2018

Monsterhunter.... played on psp hated it then this came out. I watched my mate played it for abit and it looked decent... so i purchased it.In the all its a good game, very simplistic and easy to pick up. However capturing these beast is no easy task due to no tutorial for capturing from what i have seen. I googled tools for capturing and sourced the items needed and then my mate showed me how to do it. But then again capturing is simplistic within its self.If you like hack n slash this is defo the game for you abit of mindless huge monster bashing..... lol the story doesnt really engage me i find it rather boring. But hunt the monsters alone or with mates is pretty fun.Online now this needs some tweaks,

30.1.2018

This is the first Monster Hunter game for the mainstream consoles (with I think only the Wiiu having got a version before with Monster Hunter Tri).The game itself all about hunting a series of monsters across a number of environments and then repeating hunts, investigations, captures and bounties in order to increase your rank and equipment to take on ever more dangerous monsters. All of this is based out of a hub world with an online component.In bringing the game to consoles Capcom have taken the opportunity to modernise it whilst keeping continuity with the series at heart. There is no more loading between map zones,

10.2.2018

This is my first Monster Hunter game and I can say for sure it won't be my last. The first few hours where a bit of a grind as the game is quite complicated and a lot of stuff isn't explained very well, I stuck with it though and now I am completely addicted.So even though the games mechanics are a little complicated the games objectives are quite simple, you hunt monsters for materials and collect resources from the environment to upgrade your equipment, you can then hunt stronger monsters, you also collect information from the monsters tracks and send it to be researched, once you have collected enough info you learn the monsters patterns and weak points, that's about all there is to it,

29.1.2018

The Monster Hunter games have been a long running series for many years across many formats. The last few have been on Nintendo handheld platforms, so finally with Monster Hunter World, players with PS4 and Xbox systems (PC coming later) can delve into the world of hunting monsters.Now, the series has always kept a few oddities in the gameplay that people felt had to be there for it to be a true Monster Hunter game. With World, the developers stood back and looked at these strange additions and massively modified and even thrown out those old things. The game is now much more accessible to new players. Sure the difficulty is still there as you progress but all of the changes make it a little more welcoming to new players and veterans alike.Plenty of monsters to hunt,

23.8.2018

MHW is a fantastic game that kept me entertained for over 100 hours.Having tried a couple of other MH games previously, and not especially enjoying them, I was sceptical whether or not I would really like this latest instalment. But as others have said, Capcom have done a great job making this game more accessible for newcomers to the series, and in fact generally seem to have perfected nearly every aspect of their unique formula. It's tough, but not too tough if you're prepared to grind out each boss a few times to collect upgrade materials for your assorted weapons & armour.The graphics are excellent, and each of the five main exploration regions feels vibrant and alive as you stalk your deadly prey across deserts,

1.2.2018

I'm not gonna lie for new players like myself this is a hard game and has a steep learning curve. However I personally love it. It's a challenging game and it is a grind. So if you don't like grinding in games then don't even think about buying this game. But if you stick with it it's a great game, the satisfaction of taking down one of the more challenging monsters and then harvesting them for parts which you need to do to upgrade your armour and weapons since you don't actually level up your character. Also some may find the whole Japaneseness of it not to their taste as characters starts to talk and then it devolves into text. But I didn't find it a problem. Battles can go on for a while and aren't set in set arenas,

12.2.2018

The intro can be a bit dry with a lot of cut scenes and tutorials, but be patient and you have a great experience on your hands. Beautiful environments, interesting creatures to discover, and just the right amount of Japanese weirdness. The story is fairly by the numbers, and the dialogue is all over the place (which I actually liked) , but the main appeal of this game is the hunt/loot system. On this front, the game more than delivers on its premise. Tracking creatures through the lush jungles or sweltering deserts is gripping and the eventual battles are spectacular (especially when another monster flies in to join the fray).

Monster Hunter: World - Reviews

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