Monster Hunter Rise, the nearly perfected hunting game: A review

 Oh hey, would you look at that! A new Monster Hunter game released. I don't want to brag, but I am something of an expert on this franchise. And if you thought I wasn't going to review this game, you'd be dead wrong. This was going to be just a first impressions post, but then I beat the actual final boss. I don't think that "first impressions" extends that far in a playthrough. Anyway, Monster Hunter Rise was released after Monster Hunter World, which was the best selling game Capcom ever released so far. As such, Rise uses the mechanics of World as a foundation while attempting to do its own thing.

For those of you unfamiliar with Monster Hunter, the concept is simple. You hunt monsters, use their body parts (scales, fur, teeth, etc.) to craft better quality weapons and armor, and then hunt bigger and deadlier monsters. Rinse and repeat while doing a lighthearted story campaign usually about preserving nature or protecting your home. The stories in these games can admittedly be rather plain, but the gameplay itself is so fun and engaging that it more than makes up for it. Monster Hunter Rise follows this concept as well. It has a relatively simple story about your character becoming a professional Monster Hunter while defending a village from annual Rampages. Like, you're not a chosen one out to save the world. You're just a guy or gal who happens to be very good at killing monsters, which is why Kamura Village hired you as their guardian. They get attacked by monsters. Very frequently. It happens with enough frequency that you can put a date and time to the next Rampage on the calendar. 

With all that out of the way, let's talk about the actual story and characters. The plot is still as simple as the previous games. Your character grew up in a beautiful village heavily inspired by Feudal Japan and receives a license to legally hunt monsters that live in the nearby wilderness. You complete Quests to earn money and improve your reputation so you can be allowed to go on bigger, more dangerous hunts. Every now and again you help your friends and neighbors with their problems, such as delivering Wyvern Eggs to a chef so she can create a new recipe or killing a certain number of weaker enemies so traveling merchants can set up camp safely. The most interesting thing this game does with its story is the Rampage, an event where all the monsters start stampeding straight towards the village. It's quite possibly the biggest spectacle in the franchise. They try building up a mystery over what is causing the Rampage to happen, but I know a Monster Hunter plot when I see one. And the answer is, "if the mystery doesn't have an immediate explanation, An Elder Dragon Did It." Elder Dragons are the most dangerous monsters in the series, and are usually shown to have godlike power. And spoiler alert! The Rampage is caused not by an Elder Dragon... But by TWO Elder Dragons! The official explanation is that the Elder Dragons are trying to reproduce, and their telepathic mating calls (yes, you read that right) are irritating the other monsters so much that they start becoming violent and aggressive. So uh, the ultimate villain in this game is just a pair of draconic horrors trying to make babies. That's a sentence that I had to write for a review. Thank you, Capcom, for allowing me to write sentences that clearly should not be written.

I do like this game's villagers a lot more than Monster Hunter World's. Like, World's cast consisted mostly of charming, if static characters, and the Handler. The Handler was by far the most disliked character from that game. Why? She kept throwing herself into easily avoidable danger just so the player has an excuse to save her from the newest boss. The first couple of times were okay, but for some reason World didn't really know how to introduce its bosses unless it somehow involved antagonizing the Handler so she can be a distressed damsel you have to rescue. They do this over 15 times. This is on top of insisting on joining you despite her lack of survival skills or weaponry. And then giving herself a disproportionate amount of credit for your success. Seriously, her dialogue makes it seem like she's fighting alongside you directly, but she is at best a glorified secretary that handles all your paper work. But this game's equivalent, the Twin Maidens Hinoa and Minoto, are an immediate improvement. Neither of them give themselves credit for your success (they are rather respectful of your character), and both of them are competent warriors in their own right. Heck, during Rampage Quests (more on those later) you can sometimes summon the Twin Maidens to help you out on the battlefield directly as temporary team mates. And this is on top of taking over all of the Handler's responsibilities from the previous game (so basically secretary stuff).

But what about the gameplay? The gameplay is relatively simple. Explore one of six different locations themed around various biomes, track down whatever monster you were hired to defeat, and take it down. But anyway, Monster Hunter Rise has perhaps the best combat and movement in the entire franchise. All thanks to a new addition, the Wire Bugs. The Wire Bugs are a new tool that all Hunters come with, regardless of their preferred equipment. These critters can be used to swing through the air Spider-Man style, and are the closest thing we'll ever get a traditional jump ability in a Monster Hunter game. If that wasn't a big enough boost to mobility for you, you can also run on walls like a Naruto character. And you can use the Wire Bugs in tandem with the wall running to stay airborne almost indefinitely. Not only does improve mobility so you can find or catch up to your target more quickly, but Wire Bugs also have direct combat applications. 

Every weapon type in the game (more on those in a moment) come with powerful special attacks called Silk-Bind Moves, which are basically the Hunter Arts from Monster Hunter Generations. These moves vary from weapon to weapon, but they are always either incredibly powerful attacks or utility moves that place a buff on the user. For example, Great Swords get Power Sheathe, a Silk-Bind Move that lets you dash forward while putting away your weapon. It also coats your weapon in blue fire, making it deal more damage the next time to pull it out. The Sword 'n' Shield, meanwhile, gets the Windmill, a Silk-Bind Move where you attach the sword to a strand of silk. This allows you turn your sword into a bladed whip, letting you twirl your whip sword around in a 360 degree dome of death. The biggest reason why you want use Silk-Bind moves is the new Wyvern Ride mechanic. Basically, if you attack a monster with a Silk-Bind move (or while airborne) you can build Silk-Bind damage. When this special kind of damage reaches a certain threshold, the monster you are fighting will become stunned. It is here you can hop on a monster's back and ride them like a rodeo, using the Wire Bugs as reins. In addition to looking like an action movie stunt, this lets you temporarily control the monster, and you can ram them into the wall to further weaken your opponent. Or, in the case of hunts with multiple monsters, you can make the monsters fight each other. It's just as awesome as it sounds. But anyway, Silk-Bind Moves consume at least one Wire Bug use (stronger Silk-Bind Moves require more charges). By default you get two Wire Bugs, and they will recharge after a brief delay.

But what about the weapons themselves? There's 14 weapon types in the game, 11 melee and 3 ranged. Each weapon comes with its own unique combos and fighting style, and are the equivalent of classes in more traditional RPG style games. Unlike traditional RPGs you can switch them out at any time (even in the middle of a hunt) so if you don't like how a weapon you chose early on plays, you can always change your mind later. There's no brand new weapon types, but almost every weapon received drastic overhauls in the transition from World to Rise. So I can look past the lack of new weapon types, though I still want that whip-sword from the Monster Hunter manga in the actual games (yes, there's an official manga). And I love all of the new move sets and controls. Like, they made Hunting Horn actually fun to play. The Hunting Horn, for those not familiar with Monster Hunter, is a musical weapon that plays songs to buff teammates. Frequently advertised as a support role. Think of the Bard from Dungeons & Dragons, and the Hunting Horn is similar in concept. I never cared for Hunting Horn myself. It always felt clunky and awkward to me, but I acknowledge that I tend to prefer more aggressive weapons (Sword 'n' Shield, Switch Axe, and Great Sword being my favorites). But Rise tweaked the Hunting Horn's combos, and with the addition of the Silk-Bind attacks, gave the weapon the tools it finally needed to be aggressive. It still plays songs to support allies, obviously. That team-player theme is a core aspect of Hunting Horn's design. But now it plays like a more stylish, musical alternative to the Hammer, which used to be the go-to stunning weapon. It also helps that Hunting Horn has some of the most visually impressive animations in the game, mixing weighty slams with break-dancing and ballet twirls. Basically, Hunting Horn got better while also becoming even more like a D&D Bard.

The only weapon I don't particularly like is the Long Sword. This is a very unpopular opinion. Long Sword has always been the fan-favorite weapon type in the community. And I acknowledge that it is statistically speaking, a good weapon. All the weapons are great, but it takes skill and practice with each one to make it truly excel. The issue I take with Long Sword is that it's a touch over tuned. What do I mean by this? A sloppy, sub-optimal Long Sword user will get similar results to a properly optimized veteran using say, a Great Sword or Hammer. Like, I never feel like I'm doing well when I use a Long Sword, and come away genuinely baffled whenever I manage to kill a boss with one. And the worst thing is I can never figure out what I'm doing wrong. I know how the weapon works. I know how you are intended to use it. But it just doesn't feel good to play. At least with weapons like Great Sword or Hammer, you feel powerful with slow yet might blows that can knock down the strongest of monsters. With weapons like Dual Blades and Bow, you feel a graceful dancer weaving through your opponent's attacks as you whittle them down with lengthy combos. Long Sword just feels like a dork that watched too much anime and is trying too hard to be as cool as the protagonist of said anime. What's worse is the most of Long Sword's damage comes from counter-attacks, and generally, that kind of play style frustrates me.

On a positive note, the bosses! All Monster Hunter games live and die by the quality (and sometimes, the quantity) of the boss battles. After all, Monster Hunter is a franchise where you spend 75% of the time fighting bosses, and the other 15% preparing to fight said bosses. The remaining 10% is spent trying to figure which armor pieces and color pigments would look most fashionable together, for we all know that Fashion is the True Endgame. Tangent aside, Rise has one of the best rosters in the franchise. The only boss here that is disappointing is Jyuratodus, the oversized mudfish from World. They did tweak its boss battle and stats to make more appropriate for a High Rank-exclusive monster (High Rank being the equivalent of Hard Mode). But Jyuratodus still has a boring design, and is still overshadowed by different monsters that handle the concept of a mud-themed monster better. But the good news is that it's not the only Water element monster this time, so we can finally make water element weapons that are actually cool. Such as Almudron, a giant catfish-sea otter. It uses its paintbrush like tail to mold the mud and soil around it, changing the layout of the area and creating pools of acidic mud that burns whoever steps on it. And its weapons and armor have a crazy, sci-fi look to them! The armor especially looks like something that the main hero of a mech anime would wear. At least on male characters. The female version of the armor turns your character into a cyborg catgirl, which is still on the anime spectrum. Just on a different part of it.  

But fear not, dear Hunters-to-be, for you will not face these beasts alone. You can either team up with other players online, or take animal companions called Buddies with you. Buddies come in two varieties, the catlike Palicos, and the doglike Palamutes. The latter is simpler to explain. Palamutes are large dogs that can be ridden like a horse into battle. They attack monsters directly and can be customized with various tools to change their abilities. For example, the Stout Fang tool lets your doggo climb up on a monster's back and place a bear trap on the monster, dealing large amounts of cutting damage and directing the monster's attention away from you and towards your loyal canine. The Palicos is a bit harder to explain since they have a lot more stuff going on. Basically, Palicos are primarily focused on support, though they can deal damage in a pinch. You can pick from one of 5 different classes for your Palicos that change how they behave in combat. Healer, Fighter, Gatherer, Trapper, and Bombardier. All of these are self-explanatory. Or rather, they would be if it wasn't for random generation. You see, only the first and last abilities and attacks a Palico can learn and use is determined by its class. Attacks 2-4 are all selected randomly from a pool of potential abilities. And it is entirely possible to get abilities meant for one class on a Palico of a completely different class. Like getting a healing move on a Fighter. But is it possible to get a Palico that only has the exact abilities you want? Yes. It might take you a long time, since again, these abilities are randomly selected. You could get a Palico with all healing moves, all damage moves, all trapping moves, or any combination thereof. I believe there's over 300 possible combinations, so... Have fun min/maxing!

If I was to make a complaint about Monster Hunter Rise, I would say it felt strangely short in comparison to past games. The first set of credits roll after you slay a samurai-inspired monster called Magnamalo (which coincidentally is the monster on the box art), a boss you can access after just 4-5 hours of playing the game. It's usually tradition to play two different sets of credits, one for each difficulty option, but this is by far the soonest you've ever been able to "beat" a Monster Hunter game. Granted, Rise doesn't have anywhere near as many "filler" hunts as previous games. What do I mean by filler? Hunts that exist to pad out the play time by making you do menial tasks like gathering berries instead of focusing on the fun part of Monster Hunter (the boss battles). Capcom has released free updates to address this, however. Adding in even more bosses, a new ending to the story campaign, and tons of new equipment to craft. So even this criticism is moot if you have downloaded the updates. But on the subject of criticism, I have heard people say this game is too easy compared to the previous games. But I think whether this criticism is valid or not is dependent entirely on your history with the franchise. Because the thing about Monster Hunter is, is that any muscle memory you develop in one game will usually translate into the next game. Monster Hunter Tri was the first Monster Hunter game I played, and I found that game much harder than Rise. But back then, I was a dumb 11-year-old who didn't understand how most of the mechanics worked. Of course Rise is easier in comparison, because I'm now a grown adult that actually knows how the game works. But ultimately, when criticizing a game for lack of difficulty and being easy to the point of boredom, it's important to take your own skills into consideration.

The last major gameplay related topic I want to discuss is the new Rampage Quest. This is a new game mode heavily inspired by the Siege Hunts from the older games. In Rampage Quests, you take command of a stronghold, place down traps and turrets, and prepare for a horde of monsters to charge in. The goal of Rampage Quests isn't to kill a specific monster, but rather, it's to survive for as long as possible. The monsters encountered here are slightly nerfed for the sake of keeping the game actually playable, having much less health and more primitive AI. And as previously mentioned, you can summon one of the named villagers such as the Twin Maidens or Elder Fugen (who is essentially your mentor) to help fight the monsters alongside you. When the game first launched, there was a set of special remixed, buffed up versions of preexisting monsters, known collectively as the Apexes. In most Rampage Quests, the final monster in the horde would be an Apex and indeed, you could only fight Apexes through Rampage Quests. Capcom changed it so you could fight Apexes by themselves in normal hunts. And depending on who you ask, Rampage Quests are either a welcome change of pace from normal hunts, or an annoying and unnecessary tacked on minigame. Me personally, I like the idea of Rampage Quests, but I feel it's too shallow as is. You can unlock temporary upgrades for your stronghold by completing a set of randomly selected optional goals, such as killing a certain number of monsters with a specific weapon, or placing down a certain number of turrets. But I kind of wish you could get permanent upgrades. Imagine if you completed a special hunt for one of the villagers and it allowed them to say, make turrets deal more damage, or give the final gate more health. But as it is, the Rampage Quests are a fun side-activity, but they really need some more fleshing out in future games (because I don't the overhauls I would like would be possible with just updates and DLC) if they are going to be a recurring mechanic. Part of me feels this is going to be a "one and done" thing, like the underwater combat from Monster Hunter Tri.

Monster Hunter Rise is rather interesting when it comes to presentation. While it is, on paper, worse looking than Monster Hunter World because of the power gap between the PS4 and the Nintendo Switch, which means that World has better quality resolution and texturing. However, I find that I prefer the aesthetic of Rise over World. Why? Even though the resolution and textures aren't as good as a PS4 title, the game still carries itself with tons of style and charm. Kamura Village is the most beautiful hub town in any game in the franchise, with its cherry blossom trees reaching overhead and the Japan-inspired architecture populating the central plaza. The weapons and armor have arguably the best, most creative designs in the franchise. From the crazy sci-fi elements of Almudron's gear, to the grotesque and fleshy Khezu gear. The particle effects on things like fire blasts and laser beams now have this exaggerated, almost watercolor look to them. The monsters themselves look amazing. All the brand new monsters are based on Japanese folktales and ghost stories, and they pull the inspiration off in creative ways. Oh, there's a ghost story about haunted umbrellas? Aknosom is a crane that pretends to be an umbrella and uses its wings and crest like a parasol. Old folktale about a vengeful farmer poisoning his descendants' land for not treating his legacy with respect? Almudron is a old, vengeful hermit monster that uses poisons to manipulate the earth.  The returning monsters also received visual tweaks to make them look nicer. Zinogre, one of my all time favorite monsters, now has a brilliant blue glow coming from its eyes and back when it becomes enraged. Khezu is still a horrific leechlike abomination, but now it has pulsing veins all over its skin, making it even more nightmarish. The Apexes have darker colors on their bodies, which make the bright red scars pop out even more. 

 And that's not even counting the little things. Every time the Dango Tea Shop prepares your meal you get a cute cinematic of Yomogi the Chef and her Palicos juggling mochi balls while singing an equally cute song about Dango (a kind of Japanese dumpling that's served on a skewer. Imagine a shish-kabob but with dough instead of meat). The series-standard automated farms in this game are now submarines piloted by your Buddies, and if you're quick enough you can see your submarine crew sailing along the river just behind the Gathering Hub. The game is full of tiny, charming details like this. My point is, this game is charming and lovely in its aesthetic. But my favorite thing about the presentation are the monster intro cinematics. Every time you hunt a new monster species for the first time or visit a new hunting ground, a cinematic will play. These cinematics are done in the style of a Kurosawa film, featuring a grainy filter for that old school feel and using the musical cues that Kurosawa used in his own movies. For those unaware, Akira Kurosawa was a legendary Japanese filmmaker, famous for singlehandedly convincing the rest of the world that Samurai are cool. His influence on cinema can be felt in modern movies to this day. Heck, even Star Wars pulled inspiration from Kurosawa's work. I bring this up because Monster Hunter Rise is very much a love letter to Japanese culture. So the fact that they pay loving homage to one of the most famous Japanese filmmakers in history is amazing. Also, completely unrelated, but this game uses the same graphics engine as the modern Resident Evil games, since Capcom owns both franchises.

The music is amazing. But this game doesn't get a pass for that. All Monster Hunter games have good music. It's just a rule of nature. Birds fly, fish swim, and Monster Hunter has awesome music. But anyway, this game is much more Japan-inspired in its soundtrack than previous games. We got the whole shebang here. Taiko drums? Check. Shamisen? Check. Vaguely Japanese sounding and incredibly tranquil lyrics? Check. And once again, we get a new remix of Proof of a Hero (the theme song from the very first game) when you fight your first Elder Dragon. We still have a more traditional orchestra for returning boss themes. And some of those bosses got remixes to their songs to make the fight more memorable. Zinogre already had one of the best theme songs in the series, and they just make it better by adding an ominous Choir to the theme. Seriously, the first time I fought Zinogre, I just stopped to listen to its theme music because it was that good. I then got slapped in the face by a 300 ton werewolf coated in heavenly thunder (that's the best way to describe Zinogre), because standing still in a mobility-centric game like Rise is practically a death sentence. Point is, Rise has arguably the best music in the series.

In conclusion, Monster Hunter Rise is yet another great installment in a great franchise. It combines the mechanics of World, some brand new stuff, and just a dash of Monster Hunter Generations content. The only real negatives are things that can (and in some cases, have been) be fixed with updates. If you have played Monster Hunter before, well, it's a Monster Hunter game. There's a level of consistency when it comes to the series quality. And for people that are new to Monster Hunter, this is an excellent time to join in. If you were to ask me what I rate this game, I'd say, "Fun isn't something you consider when balancing the universe. But this, does put a smile on my face." in my best Thanos impression. Which is the best rating I can give out, on my scale made entirely out of movie quotes.

P.S. Apologies for vanishing off the Internet for 2 months. I got burned out from the blog, took a break to work on my novel (and play video games), and then realized that I hadn't done anything with the blog in 2 months. Hope this review was worth the wait.