Monster Hunter: World review

Reviewed on: PS4

The fear of every player who hasn’t played Monster Hunter yet revolves around all the mechanics and knowledge that veteran players avidly show off on discussion forums. I myself was wary of this franchise and played very little of Monster Hunter 3 on the Nintendo 3DS. I watched my friends playing frantically, flaunting glorious armor and glamorous, glittery weapons while I trudged around the valleys all limp… I gave up and moved on to something else: that wasn’t for me.

Then the boss at the editorial office tosses me Monster Hunter: World and says “Here, this kid is yours!!”“. I got suspicious, thinking it was a prank, but as soon as the code validated I had to let out a loud “Whoa!!!”. I thought to myself: how could a married man with a daughter and a job handle a game of this size and still write a polished review for all the great folks who visit our site??? The answer: by playing, of course!!!

Anyway, without further ado, come with me!!!

A New World of Adventures

The whole thing starts on a ship where you meet the first extras and customize your character and your faithful travel companion: the Palico (called Amigato in Brazilian Portuguese; I found that name GENIUS). I have some very narcissistic friends who made a point of making the character as close to themselves as possible (the same goes for the feline, for those who have a cat at home), but since I don’t care much about that and only have dogs, I quickly skipped to the gameplay.

Back to it: in the middle of the chit-chat some pretty crazy stuff goes down (which I think is nice for you to see for yourself) and you end up reaching your destination after a lot of sweat and toil. In the “New World” you are very well received by the most important people of the place and after a short dialogue you (being a smart guy) figure out you are going to be the newest deluxe intern around. Seriously!!! Everything will fall to you!!! Do they need someone to kill a 3-meter-tall beast that has been attacking civilians? Call the intern. Run out of happy mushrooms? Call the intern. Do they need someone to capture a giant, murderous lizard alive for “scientific purposes”? Call the kid!!! And along the way you keep making your path to help the team and contribute to the growth of the village.

An imposing game!!!

As soon as you start playing, you notice all the love and care Capcom put into development. Gigantic scenery (with no loading), superb graphics, impeccable soundtrack (both the ambient sound and the score) and artificial intelligence that challenges you and rewards you in every challenge.

Everything in the setting is alive. Creatures walk calmly around, smaller predators organize hunts, there is rain and sunrise… All of this while you try to reach the mission objectives. The realism is so great that it is common for a predator to show up and attack its prey during the battle (but that’s good, because it helps you kill the victim faster). Marvelous work by Capcom and I have no doubt it will become a reference when it comes to open-world games.

Your character’s evolution happens naturally and you won’t feel a drastic change in difficulty between one mission and another. The ideal is even to revisit some missions in order to collect more items that the monsters you manage to defeat leave as spoils and, with that, craft better armor and weapons (which will make things simpler for you). And, to put it plainly, that is the circle the game goes in: Hunt – Gather items – Upgrade gear – Hunt.

The art of hunting here is something to be done calmly. The game gives you the option of choosing among 14 weapons and each one of them has a different way of being used, and the right choice will make your job a lot easier. It’s worth studying and training (inside your room you have access to the training area), but nothing stops you from using the same tool from start to finish. The same care applies to the items and skills of your Palico, which during the game develops techniques that will help you in the most complicated moments.

Outside the wild, everything is centered on the village, which is where you will sign up for missions, upgrade your items and your Palico’s, and look after your image as a hero. At first glance it may seem quite confusing, but after a few hours you get used to the place and will find your way around without any headache. These are the places you will find:

Your room – As the name says, it’s your hovel. A place where you can organize your stuff (items), manage your Palico’s equipment and skills and claim promotional items with your private cat-butler.

Commerce yard – Here you find the village chiefs, accept quests from extras, play with a grumpy little pig. It’s like a medieval fair, but without all that characteristic dirt.

Smithy – This is where the magic happens: the place where you upgrade weapons and armor. Don’t worry when looking at all those numbers: you learn them naturally, whether on your own or with your friends.

Canteen – A must-visit before any mission. Eating here is serious business, and the meals grant various bonuses to make your life easier during the game.

Meeting area – A.k.a. the “Multiplayer Corner”, this is where you can sign up for missions with random players, take part in challenges where the goal is to hunt an animal in the best time, and join guilds.

Multiplayer with Multi-friends

As expected, the multiplayer mode is a lot of fun. Whether playing with your friends or with strangers, hunting in groups allows for varied strategies, laughs and faster mission completion. Everything works very well and at no point did I have problems with the game’s server.

Playing with friends makes everything more fun, since you play without fear of messing up and hardly care about being carried by the team. With strangers it’s a bit more complicated; after all, you don’t want to look bad in front of anyone and you take teamwork more seriously (but of course that doesn’t stop one or another from attacking the beasts ahead of schedule and everything turning into a mess).

Personally, I believe this game was made especially to be played in a group of friends, but of course that depends on each person and the game never forces you to go around “joining” other people’s missions. But it’s worth a try just to form an opinion on the matter.

Final verdict

Monster Hunter: World is a hardcore game, but nothing stops you from playing at your own pace and without hurry.

It is complex for those who like to analyze stats and whatnot, but lets you play based simply on upgrading your set.

It is full of information on screen, but you learn to see only what is necessary.

That is Monster Hunter: World – a balanced game that lets you choose to be whatever you want, be it an errand-boy intern or the biggest badass in the galaxy. In the end, what matters is fun.

NARRATIVE: 9
AUDIOVISUAL: 10
MECHANICS: 9

Review done on the PS4 version kindly provided by CAPCOM do Brasil