The Map Is Insane
Capcom’s reveal trailer back at E3 gave us our first taste of the sense of scale, but Monster Hunter: World truly is on a whole other level from its predecessors. With the removal of loading screens, the maps in Monster Hunter: World feel like a series of small interconnected locations with plenty of verticality.
The Ancient Forest is filled with trees and jungle trappings, but it doesn’t have a shortage of beautiful coastal beaches and wide open areas either. Swinging around the area on vines is a true pleasure, and just moving around the map is fun because it feels like there aren’t any limits to exploration. There’s something to look at in every nook and cranny, and using the environment to take out your mark is extremely satisfying. There’s nothing like knocking down a tree and trapping a monster under some vines to secure a kill or capture.
While the beta quests do limit your exploration time to just 15 or 20 minutes, you’ll have a lot more freedom in the final game itself.
There’s a Proper Ecological System
Monster Hunter: World doesn’t just wow players with big interconnected maps, it also introduces an ecosystem complete with turf wars and a food chain. Most of the smaller animals are herbivorous, and won’t attack you unless provoked. Some monsters take on the form of annoying oversized flies that can poison you if you get a little too close for comfort, so you’ll want to stay out of their way.
The most exciting thing we saw in the beta, however, was the possibility of other larger monsters interfering with your current hunt. Whenever you injure a monster enough, it might try to run off to another area where it doesn’t belong. If the Anjaranth feels that its territory is being invaded, it might even help you out by attacking your mark. But then again, that might not be such a great thing if your goal is to capture the monster instead of killing it.
Still, the unpredictable nature of these hunts is thrilling, and it’s something you’ll always have to keep in mind when exploring.
Weapon Variety Is Nice, and the Combat Is Fluid
The Monster Hunter: World beta does a great job of introducing players to the various weapon types that will be available in the final game. There are tricky types like the gunlance and heavy bowgun, and the friendlier ones like the long sword. If there’s one thing we know about Monster Hunter, it’s that you’re not going to have much fun with the game until you find a weapon type that really clicks with you. The beta training room gives you all the time and resources you need to familiarize yourself with the weapon types, so we definitely recommend doing that before jumping into your first quest.
The insect glaive was a real standout from the bunch, not just because of its fast and devastating attacks, but also for its utility and the move set diversity it offers. Equipping different kinsects can give you benefits like more speed or healing capabilities. Plus, it has a move that lets you leap into the air before coming back down with a strike, which makes it very useful for landing on the monster’s back and initiating a mounted attack.
It’s Still Better With Friends
As has been the case with every Monster Hunter game ever, Monster Hunter: World can be fun on its own, but it’s still best when you’re playing it with a group of friends. Even if no one on your friends list is playing it, the game does offer online matchmaking so you can still group up with other players over the internet to go on a hunt.
You don’t necessarily need voice chat to complete a hunt either; pre-selected chat messages are usually enough to get your team coordinated for a big fight. Unless, of course, you’re going up against the Nergigante elder dragon in the beta. Then you might need some voice communication to beat the quest within the time limit.
Still, Monster Hunter: World is going to be a fairly grindy game, especially once you start trying to put your equipment sets together. Given how long the hunts can take, it’s best to bring a buddy or three along with you for the ride.
Newcomer-Friendly
Without a doubt, this is the most newbie-friendly Monster Hunter game to date. Yes, the UI still isn’t the best, and it can be intimidating. There are still tons of little intricacies you need to learn about the weapon types and a lot of other mechanics that you’ll need to familiarize yourself with if you really want to get into it. Even so, Monster Hunter: World does a good job of easing newcomers into the game with manageable quests and friendly tooltips to teach you the basics.
It’s not perfect, but this is about as streamlined as Monster Hunter’s ever gonna get. If you’re thinking about getting into the series, this is probably the best place to start.
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