Monster Hunter is one of the biggest franchises in gaming. It is known for its huge monsters, its slew of weapons, and its crazy world. Mostly Monster Hunter titles are known for being played on a Nintendo 3DS, but with the announcement of Monster Hunter: World, new fans will have the chance to experience the game themselves via a traditional home console.
The announcement of Monster Hunter: World came about back at E3 2017, where it blew the lid of Sony’s press conference. Fans didn’t know what it was at first, but when that title screen lit up, the crowd in the audience and around the world alike were in awe.
I luckily had the chance to play the game a little early at New York Comic Con 2017. And I’ll say right now, Monster Hunter: World is fun. But I will also note that this game won’t be for everyone. When I got my chance to play the game I was out into a squad with 3 other players and we were off into the wild adventures that only Monster Hunter: World could bring us.
My squad and I were mostly new to the whole Monster Hunter world, but luckily we had one player who knew what they were doing, for the most part. Monster Hunter: World doesn’t hold your hand, you pick your loadout and off you go. The world is yours to explore; track down monsters, collect herbs/plants, or just go for a stroll. You play how you want and World does a great job staying true to that format.
The demo we played had plenty of monsters to attack, some which were non-hostile and some like the Rathatlos, a flying-breathing dragon. I will note that, while the game looks amazing and plays amazing for the most part, I found that the actual hand to hand combat was rather anticlimactic, boring, and dull.
For heavy attacks, you would just have to press the designated button and the character performs it. The gameplay is not how I expected it to play, I had envisioned something along the lines of Dark Souls / Bloodborne, where the player would be agiler and each attack would have some effect on the beast. However, in MH: World, the enemies are essentially tanks and it will take a while to actually slay one. I guess its hard to describe how the actual hand to hand gameplay goes, as the demo went by so quick, its difficult to articulate what the gameplay actually felt like. All I know is that it kind of threw me off and left a sour taste in my mouth.
Another issue I had with World, was that the monsters do not have any health bars, as a newcomer to the franchise I would have automatically thought we would see health bars to see how far along we were, but no. You keep hacking out the monster with everything you got until you start seeing it to fatigue, then sooner or later the finishing blow will come.
For the most part, Monster Hunter: World is fun enough for newcomers and veterans alike. It bridges the gap between the two fan bases and merges them together in this highly anticipated title. Will it be able to gain mass appeal? I’m not sure, but the game is going to be a big one come early next year, I know that much.
Monster Hunter: World is expected to release for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on January 26, 2018. Are you excited for the new monster hunter title? Let us know in the comments below!
