It is time for the first review of the new site!  Why not start with one of the biggest PC gaming releases of the year?  Bear with me while I develop a better review format over the coming weeks!

Overview

This is my first time experiencing the Monster Hunter universe so I didn’t know what to expect going into it.  Everything I looked at before release was to expect great combat with some grindy progression.  That’s exactly what I got.  The progression revolves around killing bigger monsters and unlocking better armor and weapon sets.  The grind comes in when you need a specific item for a piece of armor.  You’ll see that you need two gems that drop off a certain monster, so you track him down and kill him.  The “fun” part is that there is only a % chance of getting the gem you desire.  There is a deep system of armors, weapons, and charms that each have their own stats and abilities.  Luckily, the combat system is very satisfying because the items do require a significant amount of materials to craft.

Combat

The heart of this game, and what keeps you coming back for more, is the combat.  It is extreme satisfying landing a series of attacks on huge beasts, especially when you visually weaken or break parts off of them.  With 14 unique weapons to choose from, you are sure to find something that fits your play style.  The is a wide spectrum of larger slow weapon, to faster-paced dual blades, and even ranged options.  On the surface it looks like a button-mashing action game.  In reality it becomes a lot more tactical as you move on to the more difficult beasts.  You eventually have to start considering resistances and defensive abilities to prevent getting destroyed (and potentially failing a quest).  At some points through the game it can feel like a satisfying mindless grind, while other times you need to be alert and reactive.  I thought that since I am now over 70+ hours put into my character I would have snowballed into an unstoppable monster-hunting expert, but even now there are times I let my guard down for a moment and get slaughtered instantly.

Summary

While the game revolves around it’s combat and gear progression, there are a few additional topics that are important to note.  There is no real open world to explore.  You spend most of your downtime in a city with vendors, blacksmiths, and chef cats.  When you are ready you queue up at a quest board and get put into one of the many different biomes.  Multiplayer works well with friends on Steam once you get past the lengthy “tutorial” (which is a 12 hour mostly single-player campaign at the start of the game).  It is easy to drop into a friend’s game, then jump into their quest for rewards.  Coordinated groups can definitely benefit from efficiency through certain weapons and weapon abilities.  Everything I have come across so far is still do-able with a random, uncoordinated group as well.

Conclusion

Monster Hunter World looks great, feels great, and plays great.  Even as a AAA full-priced $60 game I would recommend it to anyone, PPG players especially.  With a monster battle rarely lasting more than 20 minutes, and the ability to drop-in/drop-out, this game is perfect for people that don’t have long play sessions available.  Even with 70+ hours invested there are still many things to do: try new weapons, kill Kirin, grind for better ability gems, build new specialized sets within my current weapon, etc.  Even though I have been avoiding the end-game grind, I still enjoy jumping into friends games for an occasional monster slaughter.

 

You can pick up your copy of Monster Hunter World at Green Man Gaming.