2/5 ★ – Shidan's review of Monster Hunter: World.

I've mixed feelings with this game... First, the good things. How the environment works is great (the interaction between monsters is the best in any MH), the monsters and armor desing are good as always, but the weapon desing is lazy sometimes, some weapons are very similar in appearance, but being made of completely different materials and having completely different attributes. The music is on point most of the time (I think the new Lunastra theme is pretty bad). I enjoyed the alternative quests to unlock new camps in the map, those I think are well done. Also, I really liked the implementation of catching small creatures as your pets. All this elements are good enough, but I've to say that the bad aspects are heavier than the good ones. Now, I talk for myself here, but I think that some friends I've met while playing MH for years, probably would agree in what was unique about Monster Hunter and what made us want to play that many hours. These elements are the art design (scenario, monster, equipment, character designs and music), world-building (art design, NPC dialogue, details in the environment and how nature is portrayed, texts about legends and about the world in general), the game-feel and finally, the multiplayer (something that I wouldn't played if the other aspects weren't as good). First, I'll talk about the gameplay, because it's the worst problem and because the new focus also changed the other aspects of the game. Before, the gameplay was more grounded and "impactful", every hit you took and every attack you land had a notable impact in the character, in the monster and in the player. Now, I think this is mostly lost, the game is mainly focused on a faster combat with overpowered tools (the worst being the Clutch Claw), prioritizing the DPS/hack n' slash elements. This is the most relevant problem because I think that Monster Hunter wasn't about this. This focus on the combat more like a MMO and the focus on HD graphics and realistic animations (this last thing I consider a good improvement) left as a consequence another huge problem, the storytelling, the plot and the lack of coherence in it. It's insulting how bad it is, the main story says that you are in the new world to kill "invasive species" when humans are the only invasive species that go to the new world to kill everything, literally everything, they try by many ways to justify traveling to a new world for colonization and to slay the native species, when in previous games it was mainly for protection. At last, the fact that you can't skip the cinematics makes it even worse, for example in Silent Hill (a 1999 game) you can skip every cutscene. Also, MHW is the most accesible game of the series and that's not necessarily bad, but it's condescending, treating you as an idiot, not letting me enjoy the good things in the game. All these problems make the good aspects irrelevant to me... I'm sorry to feel this way, but I'm more sorry to see what monster hunter has become. Notes: -I'll play MH Rise Sunbreak, since I love most of the Monster Hunter games and I've to experience the future of the franchise for myself.