Monster Hunter has been a less popular, but incredibly fun game made by Capcom. The game series began on Playstation 2, with the title being simply Monster Hunter in 2004. Monster Hunter found its place on portable consoles for the most part with the exception of Monster Hunter Frontier G and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. With the announcement of the newest title, Monster Hunter World, fans are thrilled for the new addition to the series. Monster Hunter World is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Monster Hunter is a unique game. It is an action, hunting, and role playing game with the objective of hunting and killing monsters then using their parts to build gear. Different gear gives different abilities and buffs during hunts. The game is home to dozens of monsters with even more types of armor and weapons for each monster. There are 12 types of weapons in the game, like the long sword, bowgun, and insect glaive, so there are many options and lots of customization available in Monster Hunter.

There are different quests for solo play and team play. Team play adds a whole new realm of tactics and killing potential. Oakdale Senior Chris Boersen was a Monster Hunter 4u player: “The single player was interesting and challenging, but so was the multiplayer. It’s fun to take down bosses solo but its just as fun to work together to take them down with real people in multiplayer. Overall, it was worth my time”.

The gameplay is similar to that of Dark Souls because of the dodge then attack style of play. Each weapon offers a different way of hunting, but during hunts no matter what, you are dodging, healing with potions, and attacking constantly. What makes Monster Hunter so different from other boss oriented games is the fact that monsters don’t have health bars. You have to use hints like drooling, running away, sleeping, eating, and limping to figure how close the monster is to death. Other small details make the game fun and unique. For example, your weapon loses sharpness as you fight, and you have to use a whetstone to sharpen it occasionally, and you eat before every hunt, so you can get buffs for the upcoming fight.

The story of Monster Hunter is mainly focused around simply killing monsters. In some games, Monster Hunter is story oriented, for example Monster Hunter Stories. Throughout the series there is less of a plot and more of a backstory to give an explanation behind monsters and the town. But most of the games are essentially to just kill monsters, get stronger, and reach a higher rank.

Long time fans are ecstatic about the newest announced game, Monster Hunter World or MHW. However, because of its easier marketing due to it being on mainstream systems, there are more and more people who are new to the Monster Hunter series also excited for this game. It had an open beta which drew in Youtubers and streamers, which gave it even more publicity, giving MHW even more of a following. This may be the most played and most hyped up Monster Hunter to ever be released.

MHW is a large step up in every department from graphics to smarter AI because of its jump from 3DS and Nintendo Switch to next gen consoles. Capcom has a lot more to work with because of the power of Xbox One and PS4; PC runs almost any game beautifully anyway. The game is in a whole different world when it comes to graphics. The game looks beautiful and runs just as well.

Oakdale High School Junior Jared Deacon says, “The visuals in this game look so good, all the textures look good as well as the vibrant colors. Also, the gameplay looks really fun and interactive”.

In older games the map is split up into zones, with loading time when traversing in between them. In MHW there is a huge seamless map with no loading times. The surrounding environment is interactable; for example, blowing up the side of a mountain can reveal a dangerous waterfall which pushes the monster and your character off the cliff and onto the jungle floor below. All 12 weapons are staying in MHW, but every single one is getting new moves and combos to spice up the monster slaying action. It is unsure how many new monsters are getting implemented or how many returning ones are in the full game.  Seen in the beta were returning monsters like Diablos, Rathalos, and Barroth, and brand new monsters such as the Pukei-Pukei, Jyuratodus, and Great Jagras.

With all the new things in Monster Hunter World, there is a lot to look forward to. The full game is soon to come, it’s release date being January 26, 2018. Capcom has been trying to get the attention of new players for MHW, so us Monster Hunter veterans can show you noobs how its done.