Review of Monster Hunter Rise: an enjoyable hunt with friends
Our Verdict
Rise nails the theme, introduces smart improvements to combat, and is a thoroughly fun experience from start to finish. If you don’t mind the dip in performance compared to the previous game, it’s the best Monster Hunter on the market
Perhaps the greatest Monster Hunter game to date is Monster Hunter Rise. Those were my first thoughts about the game, and I'm happy to report that they are not at all let down. It takes everything that makes creature Hunter World a pleasure to play and adds so much more. It has a fantastic theme, superb creature designs, and more.
As a fresh hunter, the Elder from Kamura Village sends you to put an end to the raging creatures who are out to destroy your house. Its scope is often less grandiose than that of World's tale, but it accomplishes a great deal in laying out the threats that lie ahead. The Elder's chuckle is a little theatrical, but other than that, it's not too obnoxious in either Japanese or English.
The whole hamlet, including two enigmatic twins, as well as a large number of human and animal pals, help you. When it comes to adorable animal sidekicks, previous Monster Hunter games mostly depended on the feline Palicoes. Rather, Rise presents us to Palamutes, devoted canine friends that combine the qualities of a strong warrior and a majestic horse. Your dog will not only fight monsters with you, but he or she will also make it easy to chase after them and scale difficult cliffs.
They're not, however, my favorite animal companion in Rise. No, that honor belongs to the Cahoots, the messenger owl that every new hunter receives. Since that's the best name for an owl, I named mine one Blathers. Blathers cuddles up to me and nibbles off my hand with fondness. One day, after I'd left him out at the edge of town, he made the decision to go harass the ninja sentry perched dangerously on rooftops.
I think Monster Hunter Rise's attention to detail is its best feature. It's one thing to make my Cahoot, perched atop a pagoda, the bane of the village guardsmen; it's quite another to introduce each creature with an arthouse movie introduction. The dark lines that pay tribute to the grainy, eerie video from the Japanese horror film Ring, the frightening low-note plucking of the koto strings, and the eerie poetry cautioning against underestimating the beast I'm going to pursue. All of this is a great method to show you why each monster is a monster, something that previous Monster Hunter games didn't do well enough for the lesser creatures.
Rise has a theme, in contrast to all previous Monster Hunter games, and it plays into that concept with great fervor. The core section is a charming Japanese-style hamlet with pagodas and other Japanese accents. It's really far less confusing than World's spaghetti junction-like pathways. When you proudly parade in the newest fashion or whatever slapped-together mishmash of monster parts you put together seconds before the next hunt, the hamlet comes to life with the bustle of the residents going about their daily lives.
However, due to the credits rolling shockingly early, Monster Hunter Rise's tale strangely seems like it has less scope. It's a challenge since there are a lot of creatures to hunt, including some well-known returning favorites and some superbly crafted newcomers. Highlights include the battles with Goss Harag, a massive bear-like monster that sculpts ice swords on its hands, and Bishaten, a monkey-like creature who yells various fruit flavors at you.
However, if you're just going through the Village Quests, Rise may seem to be holding back at times. The Hub Quests are a challenge for seasoned Monster Hunter players, since the creatures here have far higher health and can do more damage with each strike. To view everything, even the Apex monster varieties (which resemble Tempered Monsters from the earlier games), you will also need to finish them, but that is what other hunters are for.
Fortunately, I haven't had any problems while playing online with friends or strangers. Every now and again I would join after the search had begun, but not so far ahead that I couldn't make a substantial contribution. Talking to the village messenger or interacting with the Quest Board in the Hub area is all it takes to join a game. It's fortunate that these monsters are tough, especially when facing the more difficult ones from the Gathering Hub assignments.
Rise's locations are all enormous, and not simply because there is just one large map instead of several sections divided by loading screens, like in earlier Monster Hunter titles on the Nintendo platform. By using Wirebugs and your devoted Palamute mount, you may ascend cliffs and get a better understanding of the terrain from an elevated vantage point. You can roam about more freely, so you won't have to take the same route again in search of a Rathian's nest.
These days, tracking monsters in Rise is essentially a pointless task. In Monster Hunter World, players must locate signs of monsters and use colored fireflies to locate and locate them. In the past, Monster Hunter games required players to physically tag the monsters with paintballs after tracking them down by hand. Instead of doing any of that, Rise chooses to always display the monster on the map. It eliminates a significant amount of downtime and makes the game more approachable for new players, which is a positive thing - don't get me wrong. I just believe that the element of "hunting" has been needlessly eliminated.
My new favorite strategy in Monster Hunter World has replaced my old favorite method, which is no longer available. You may now use the Silkbind to make monsters fight each other rather than just nibbling away at them like a bothersome flea. In a somewhat bizarre and cruel fashion, you may even smack the monster on its rear to make it slam against walls till it topples over if there isn't a monster nearby. My new favorite strategy is this one since I can murmur, "stop hitting yourself," to each victim after every strike. Am I being unkind? Maybe, but I'm taking advantage of any chance I have to collect points, especially because some of these animals can wipe out my whole health bar simply sitting on me.
The Wirebugs make it easier than ever to really combat the monsters with all of the Monster Hunter Rise weapons. Heavy melee weapons, such as the switch axe and hammer, now get a lot more vertical strikes, which makes them much more enjoyable to swing. For the most part, I still use my tried-and-true Dual Blades, but in World, I felt more motivated to try new things. Additionally, to better fit your play style, the new Switch Skills in the item box drastically change up the fight.
The performance is Rise's main flaw, if there is one. I may be a little spoiled with Monster Hunter World's flawless performance on the PC, but expecting the same from the Switch would be like looking for diamonds in silt. While it is feasible to play at the 30 frames per second that Rise aims for, I do notice that my response times aren't as quick. Nevertheless, the fact that a game of Monster Hunter World's scale can run as well on Switch is astounding.
Furthermore, I believe that at least one of the systems is not really necessary to go forward very far. Apart from the devoted friends you made at the beginning of the game, the Buddy system never really amounts to much more than sending them to get new things. I'm using it to farm for goods right now, but I feel like I should be doing more. Maybe there's more to it than I know.
However, issues with the Buddy system and performance are not fatalities. Monster Hunter Rise remains, in my opinion, the greatest Monster Hunter to date. The attention to detail and the fact that everything functions are what astound me, even if I always knew the fighting would be excellent. This is the ideal game to start with if you are new to the series, and I urge anybody who has a Switch to at least give it a try.