One of the best games of the year, now on PC.

Monster Hunter. At this point, pretty much everyone has heard of the Capcom franchise in some form or another. It was popular in the West for its portable iterations, and I always enjoyed them on the 3DS and PSP. Of course, ZTGD editor, Jae Lee and I always told each other during our co-op sessions how great it would to be doing all of this on a big screen TV with a controller in our hand. Earlier this year, we got our wish with Monster Hunter World hitting PS4 and Xbox One and we absolutely loved it. Cut to some eight months later, and now we have this massive game hitting the PC, making it Capcom’s biggest game in years. Let’s talk about it.

For those that don’t know, and how can you not at this point, Monster Hunter World is essentially “boss fight: the game.” Players take on a variety of different monsters both large and small (usually large) with specialized weapons that all play differently. Of course, that is just a simplified explanation, but that is mainly what is going on. Taking on the role of a newly recruited hunter for the 5th fleet, they travel to the new world only to find it in chaos after a giant monster called Zora Magdaros has begun migrating to this new land and bringing with it more monsters to hunt.

Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC
MSRP: $59.99
Price I’d pay: $59.99

Players are tasked with hunting monsters in missions that require them to track, fight, and trap said foes. It’s not as simple as running up to a monster and attacking it until it’s dead; one can do that, but it can become difficult. They can use a variety of items to help out in their hunts. Getting sick of a monster jumping around the map? Lay down a nice trap for it to get caught in. Monsters are flying away to another location? Sling a flash pod at it to blind and stun it. The possibilities are endless thanks to the massive crafting system and item management.
Along with items to use, the biggest aspect of Monster Hunter is the weapon variation. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses and each plays entirely different from the next. It is very nuanced, and finding the right weapon for the job that fits the player’s style is both fun and rewarding.

Speaking of rewarding, after completing a hunt, players are rewarded with crafting materials for new gear. This includes weapons and armor sets that both look fantastic as well as add special stats to the player using them. Finding the right combination of gear for one’s load out is a game in and of itself. This is where the grinding aspect comes into play. Players don’t grind for levels, they grind for materials to get the better gear. That’s what makes the big difference.

Now that I’ve given a rather rough explanation of general Monster Hunter, let’s talk about the PC version. I’m running a GTX 1060 video card with an i5 6600k processor. My processor is a little weak to meet the recommended specs, but it works out just fine. I started by booting it up with the highest settings possible at 1080p 60 FPS. It ran fine, but there was some slight animation stuttering. I turned down two settings to “high” rather than “highest” and I had zero issues out of the game. It can be a bit of a graphics hog, and people with a weaker video card may run into some issues at higher settings, but with my mid range rig, I was having no issues at all on high settings. It comes with full controller support and I used my Xbox One controller to play the majority of it, and at a steady 60 frames, Monster Hunter looks and plays like a dream.

The issues I had with the console release are still here. Primarily the cumbersome way to get into co-op. Finding an online game is easy enough, and this game has been pretty popular on PC as of this writing. There are plenty of people to play with. The fact that if I want to co-op the story with some friends, I have to first see a certain cutscene THEN invite my friends who have already seen said cutscene is a mess and a half. It’s annoying and something that I really wish was never there. Once players have finished the main story, which can be done in about 20 hours, they are free to do whatever they wish in co-op without any kinds of restrictions, and since this is Monster Hunter, the 20 hour mark is just the beginning of this game.

Capcom knocked it out of the park with Monster Hunter World. They finally brought it back to the consoles, and now all the PC players can finally enjoy it. It is one heck of a ride, and with the systems in place it can be one of the most rewarding experiences players can have. On top of all that, Capcom has already planned to bring a lot of the missions and special events to the PC version over time, and they’re all free. The PC version holds up very well and even if with its co-op woes still present, this is one game that no one should miss out on, and now that it is everywhere, you have no excuse to not pick it up.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Great game play
  • Wonderful presentation
  • Rewarding systems
  • Tons of variety
  • Nice free content on its way
Bad
  • Cumbersome co-op through the story mode
  • Can be a bit of a graphics hog on higher settings
9.5
Excellent
Written by
Drew is the Community Manager here at ZTGD and his accent simply woos the ladies. His rage is only surpassed by the great one himself and no one should stand between him and his Twizzlers.