Monster Hunter World (review with gameplay video)
Lets start by saying this is my favorite series of games by far for endless battle games. It has just enough farming like that's all you do is hunt and gather throughout the whole game series. You have to to get make better weapons and armor. That's all there is to it.
So I started the series on the PSP and played the multiple releases I didnt do to bad through them but they got really hard really fast and it seemed very repetitive. I was always trying to just get that one material to make the next sword or armour set. I even made a character and cheated just to run through everything once and still had the same dilemma in the playthrough of gathering the proper items to make the next weapon or armor. I Did play through to the last fight and got the little mini story update but it still kept me playing and trying on a non cheating character just the same. It still let you play after it was completed no mater what.
Then I played the Wii version MH3 until they shut down the servers. That was fun because it has 2 features that made the game. There was actually 3 in total that were fun factors. First there was underwater areas. That was a great add on to the gameplay that was sometimes a good thing and others very annoying. Next was the introduction to open field where you would just go hunt and gather no quest limitations just fill your bags and kill thing. This reduced the limitations on some minor items in the game really fast. The best feature was the part that they killed the game with by shutting down the servers a few years in. It was the online portion. It was the only real advancement in the game but they took it away. After so long into the game you were forced to play with others to continue the advancement in the hunts. There was no choice but when the servers were shut down it took the rest of the game away.
So the game was reborn on the Nintendo DS or 3DS. They had a few releases and removed the water hunting portion but brought back the best features for the previous release. They seemed to mix everything you encountered or at least the best features all into 1 game. This was great and online wasnt required at least as long as I had played it to continue playing and advancing. It seemed to be the best game yet. As soon as I got into it and lost some interest I later heard of the release coming up for Monster hunter World. Iput the portable game up and waited for the BETA play weekends.
Monster Hunter Worlds BETA time was fun but not great. It gave you the smallest taste of what was going to be in the game and the features were limited. It however never gave away any part of the final release other than the graphics and 2 game options. Basically it was a 'here, try this and we aren't letting you know what you are getting into.' Just as fast as you started getting into it you were done and the playtime was over.
Now release day has come for Monster Hunter World. What to be expected was still unknown other than same hunting and gathering theme with a few new features. Ok so now I get to play on a big screen and see how I really like it. First the update to play did not take very long like 15 minutes and ready. The Character creation had many options and could change everything but well you found the defaults were basically already set with minimal changes desired. Then pow small cinematic and immersed into a interactive introduction to the game and the graphics. Just as fast as it dropped you into one thing it showed you potential of another environment. Now back to what looked like the demo area.
So it seemed like from the start as usual will be a beautiful game and it has been so far. The game features have expanded a whole lot and make some features really easy to work with and everything adjustable. More features than you can control with just one controller so now there are menus to help navigate to the feature or option you want and not to deep as to hold you back from making those things happen. Well now when you start getting introduced to the game expecting the basic small maps it starts out really fast showing you small areas but next jumps to the town map. Holy Cow! the town is huge! At least it is huge compared to any of the previous games. There appears to be options for it to expand and fill through the game but not in the very beginning its a huge open space with multiple ways to get anywhere.
So the whole game seems to be bigger than it had ever been. The graphics again come out on top. Again you start with a basic forest level that gives tease that you know will cover other area types just as in the previous games. More new features came with this game. Some expected and others not so much. So far in the couple hours playing I have found a lot of leveling up hunting abilities basically by doing things you would do as a hunter. Gathering was simplified but required more work searching out where things are located and gathering from across the maps that can expand as you play. The negative or maybe the positive part is that you have these green flies floating around pointing out everything you can gather or hunt as you are in any area. and you really don't see what the effects are of a lot of the things you gather as you pass them by. But it doesnt start out easy or to difficult because you can choose what you are doing. If its to hard you can fast travel to camp now rather than having to purchase or make the item to do it. your whetstones are infinite and the game sets you up to auto create specific items as you gather the materials. I haven't seen fishing yet but I know it is in the game. I see mining but no pickaxe options so that helps because they game you some bag space back by removing the bugnet, pickaxe and whetstone from taking up space as part of your every excursion.
The monsters you hunt have variables and now what seems like they have traits that can help you identify your surroundings. Its everything from sounds they make to the actions they do. Its no longer just animals standing in place or running away. The environment also can be random and you can see things pop up in the background before it becomes something in your game. I saw a monster walking across a log in the background and later it came out attacking some other monsters if not just before it became a monster to be hunted or escaped in that case. The options are open based on open explorations so far or by quests and your game can change when quests pop up based on what shows up on your maps as you are out completing another fight you might get the option to fight something bigger before you can complete the quest if you choose to accept the challenge.
I haven't looked very far into the building of weapons and armour but have seen enough to know that it hasn't changed much. You still have to gather materials just the same. The feature I like the most is that it shows the tree of how you can upgrade your weapons so you know how many and what weapon tree you are on. I know previous games I have gotten stuck on a branch of a upgrade that caused me to have multiple weapons that were same that didn't have another weapon option to build to so I wasted a lot of materials i didn't have to. I saw similar to the other options of your tools, weapons, armour bugs etc...
So overall this might be my next favorite game in the series. I know it gives you multiple options for multiplayer starting very close to the beginning of the game. So far I have seen players join and leave the main game lobby but not join multiplayer options. It also gives you options for them to join some quest types after they have started and not in others. This feature is yet to be judged but I look forward to playing with others to take down bigger Monsters throughout the game.
If you like farming games and possibility of pure action games and the multiplayer option then this is your game. If you are a hardcore gamer or even someone that like a game to play a quest or hour at a time casually so far this can be that game also. If you love superior graphics in gaming this game will never disappoint in any of the series. I don't have any real negatives I can say about this game so far other than it will suck the life out of you time wise just playing it. Just go pick up a copy and enjoy a good time with friend killing things and making better equipment as a challenge.
Monster Hunter World (Gameplay)
Till next time, enjoy and GAME ON!
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This one does look interesting, I've never played Monster Hunter myself. I had a quick go at the PSP version, but got annoyed at the controls (I really find controllers difficult, mouse and kb for me).
There is or will be a PC release so yo might get your chance to play. I don't know what the control restrictions are on PC currently.
I might pick it up on sale or if it hits a humble bundle. Low expectations for a decent port, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.
Controls would be my only concern I know the game was developed on 3 platforms at same time but that's about all I know about it so far.
Yeah, qte that still display the console colours is particularly annoying. But I think the days of unmappable controls are behind us. I hope...
Hopefully
Nice review! I myself am a Monster Hunter fan, and I've followed it ever since the PSP days just like yourself. I definitely agree that MH3 was the best in terms of the new features in gameplay (underwater and multiplayer are the best).
I've tried MHW betas and although they were pretty easy, it made me all the more excited for the actual release of the game because I've been dying to play it already.
I'm just about to get my pre-order of MHW tomorrow or sometime next week. I've seen from the betas and other reviews that there are noticeably quite a lot of changes in the game. I might even say the developers made it more user-friendly to appeal more to their new market.
Nonetheless I'm still quite excited to try it out for myself, and I'm glad you got to share your experience. Hope we can play sometime as well!
Once you get your game let play!