Monster Hunter is one of Capcom's largest franchises, and one of Capcom's longest franchises. Starting back on the Playstation 2, Monster Hunter has created a following of monster lovers who love fighting and capturing monsters. That said, most Monster Hunter games have been on handheld, either Playstation Portable or Nintendo DS/3DS. The only one in recent years was Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Nintendo Wii U, but outside of that, Monster Hunter completely skipped the PS3. Now, Monster Hunter is back on consoles and looks better than ever.
The whole style is very old school, from the character designs, to the world layout, to the character expressions, but the production is so high that you immediately get capture into the world of Monster Hunter. You play a hunter amongst a group a hunter, who are currently fighting monsters throughout the land. There is a basic story about one of the strongest monster, Zora Magdaros, but outside of cutscenes of characters interacting, the story does not play a large part in the game, which is ok. The story is simply supposed to ease you into the world of Monster Hunter.
Once you jump into the world, it becomes classic grinding of JRPGs of old. Kill a monster, harvest materials, craft better weapons, rinse and repeat, maybe sometimes with friends. Monster Hunter rides on the creativity and difficulty of its monsters, each one being slightly harder than the next. There are monsters of all shapes and sizes, and every player will always have their favorites. Capturing the monster is more difficult, but rewards the player with more materials.
Monster Hunter is not a game that requires a lot of detail. It is simple and easy, and while it is repetitive, its repetition is very enjoyable because of the sheer amount of monsters to fight. Fans of the series will be disappointed to know that less than half of all the monsters in the Monster Hunter world actually show up, and the combat has been slightly tweaked to be a bit easier. That said, Monster Hunter World will still offer 100+ Hours of gameplay and fun as players climb up the Level Board to unlock new armor and weapons.
Monster Hunter World may not redevelop the wheel in anyway, but it is a series that constantly innovates over the last game in the series since the beginning. Battles are fun, crafting new weapons to make those battles easier is fun, and working hard to achieve a full armor set is fun. Monster Hunter World may not be the best, but it is debatably one of the best Monster Hunter games ever made on polish alone. There is a lot offered for fans new and old, and that is exactly what every game should strive to be.
9/10