David Perez
Central Bureau Chief
Capcom strikes back with a new game on the Monster Hunter saga.
After a fairly successful phase with “Monster Hunter 4” and “Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate,” the saga debuts on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with a game whose intended goal is to introduce the franchise to the West, where it was never very popular. And the game achieves that goal brilliantly.
“Monster Hunter World” introduces us to a huge open world that can be explored pretty much freely.
After creating our character in the editor – where the options are so much that it’s normal to spend more time there than necessary – we become a Hunter on his or her way to the Astera hunter base.
After a brief sequence, we are now able to go on quests and expeditions.
Astera is the central hub, where the player can buy weapons, goods, eat meals to increase attributes for a mission and go on for quests. The player can choose a quest for a reward which may include, for example, killing a certain number of monsters or just freely explore the different worlds.
Indeed, the beautiful, impressive and immersive worlds are probably the most stunning feature of the game.
The scenarios are varied and incorporate different kinds of monsters and plants, where we can even hide from the monsters.
A very nice feature is the fact that there are no loading screens when you move from one sector of the world to the other, in contrast with previous Monster Hunter games.
This gives a sense of fluidity to the game and helps increase the sense of hugeness.
“Monster Hunter World” takes advantage of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X advanced hardwares and is expected to be able to be played in ultra high-definition. If you play World on one of those consoles, the game gives you the choose of improving either graphics, resolution or framerate. This is an interesting feature because it allows each player to emphasize what he or she actually wants to.
Cooperative gameplay has always been a feature of the Monster Hunter saga and World doesn’t lag behind.
In World up to 16 players can join to the same server and up to four can depart on the same mission.
The game also incorporates Squads, which are equivalent of guilds or clans in massive multiplayer role playing games. Unlike previous games, there are no specific regional servers, this meaning that European, American and Japanese hunters can play on the same servers.
Even though single player is fun enough, it’s highly recommendable to get one or two friends to play with.
Not everything is peachy in World, there are some negative aspects to the game. Probably the most significant is the battle system, specifically the hitboxes.
Hitboxes are the areas where if you land a hit, you actually take health off the enemy.
They are pretty reduced and it’s hard to hit correctly, which is not helped at all by the fact there is no lock on enemies. So it’s quite common to trigger a massive combo, just to fail it because the monster just moved two steps.
Another thing is that “Monster Hunter World” is a game that takes some time to get used to.
There are so many features and pop up messages on the screen that it may end up overwhelming players.
Although, to be fair, the system is way simpler if you compare it with a previous Monster Hunter game.
The game pace is also slow, with hunts that can take 20 minutes just to find one type of monster, so it may get dull sometimes.
It’s definitely not the type of game for people who are used to frenetic action games like “Call of Duty” or “Grand Theft Auto V.”
“Monster Hunter World” is a brilliantly made game who manages to keep the essence of Monster Hunter alive while creating a game for newcomers.
It has huge and beautiful worlds, it’s even better when played with friends and, even though it has some problems with the pace and the battle system, it still manages to be an enjoyable and recommendable experience.