MeinMMO reader Chris is a passionate player of Monster Hunter Rise and has written a user review of the game that we don’t want to withhold from you.
Monster Hunter Rise is the latest installment in Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, which has also conquered the Western market since Monster Hunter World.
After Monster Hunter World did not find its way to the Nintendo platforms, the series returns exclusively to the Switch until 2021. Monster Hunter Rise stays true to the familiar pattern:
- We forge weapons and equipment,
- prepare for battle with items and provisions,
- hunt larger and more dangerous monsters,
- dismantle them for parts to forge new and stronger equipment and weapons to hunt even greater monsters.
This spiral of hunting for new loot and ever-greater challenges has lost none of its fascination in Rise, which has made the series so popular.
I made my first attempts in the Monster Hunter franchise on the Wii with Monster Hunter 3 Tri and failed miserably at the complexity and depth (not to mention my lack of skill…).
But fortunately, I wasn’t alone in this experience, as Capcom decided to make the series more beginner-friendly with Monster Hunter World – and millions of new monster hunters were born. Rise continues this path consistently and builds on the great success of its predecessor while not shying away from new and original ideas.
New Features in Monster Hunter Rise
The first of these new features greets us at character creation. In addition to our feline companion, the Palico, we can now also take humanity’s best friend on the hunt – the Palamutes.
We can customize these companions with different color patterns and equip them with armor and weapons throughout the game, as these four-legged friends actively support us in battle in the harsh world surrounding Kamura Village.
The areas around Kamura, which serves as our central preparation location, are significantly larger and more vertical than in World, and our Palamutes help us here as well. By holding down the A button, our loyal companion acts as a mount, allowing us to navigate through the areas much faster.
Wire Bugs: Your New Friends in MHR
Another handy new feature is the Wire Bugs. With these little guys, we swing into the air and climb walls as if we were a certain friendly spider from the neighborhood.
This is necessary because the so-called Irrlitzes are waiting for us on many rocks and cliffs. These are small, glowing insects that give us temporary bonuses to things like attack or stamina, making our hunts noticeably easier.
In general, Kamura’s wildlife proves to be extremely useful and helpful. A poison frog here, a falling bug there – we can use all this to make our hunts for the big creatures easier.
But back to our Wire Bugs. They also allow us to execute completely new attacks with the known 14 weapons. These range from classic choices like Great Sword and Bow to the Morph Axe.
Veterans will feel right at home here as the combos from World have largely been retained. Newcomers need to prepare for a learning curve, as without mastering the weapons, they will find themselves flat on the ground faster than they can say Anjanath. As an old longsword user, I, at least, was spared from that.
I jumped on my Palamute, elegantly swung through the air with my Wire Bugs, and into my first battle. And behold – the handy little ones trigger yet another new feature. The Wyvern Riding. If we hit our target repeatedly with Wire Bug attacks, we can bind the monster to the ground and allow us to ride it.
Then we can control our oversized horse for a short time and even execute attacks against other monsters. If we do this a few times, we can unleash a powerful attack before being thrown off. Or we can simply let our colleague ram into the next rock wall and deal massive damage.
The New Mode: Rampage
But in Rise, the monsters no longer simply allow us to craft ourselves new boots from their leathery skin – they fight back! This is where the new quest type Rampage comes in. In a sort of tower defense, we must defend Kamura against attacks from the monsters that assault our gate in multiple waves.
For this, we build ballistae and cannons at designated points or place bomb barrels to stop the hordes of monsters. It’s a successful and fun change of pace from the everyday life of a monster hunter. However, I found the Rampage quest a bit chaotic and too long, especially when playing alone.
For the successful defense of the village, there are new switch skills the first time around. These are special actions that are unique to each weapon. They allow us to swap certain combos and thus adapt our playstyle to our preferences.
The Monsters Remain the Highlight
However, the highlight remains the hunt for monsters in different areas. Rise offers plenty of variety for the eyes, from snowy regions to lava caves to deserts.
The reason for our travels to different regions – no idea. Storytelling has never been a strength of the series, but in Rise, it is so superficial and incidental that one could completely do without it.
But to be honest – who cares about the story when a Pukei-Pukei poisons me for the twelfth time or I panic roll around when a Diablos buries itself in the sand?
The monsters are excellently designed and animated. Each of the enormous bruisers comes with their own movement patterns and abilities that need to be quickly learned to avoid falling short.
When two of these dangerous representatives cross paths in an area, they will proceed to attack each other. This deals massive damage to both and looks fantastic.
The Presentation of the Game is Neatly Packaged
Overall, the presentation of Monster Hunter Rise, despite the somewhat limited capabilities of the Nintendo Switch, is at a good level. Graphically, the game can definitely hold its own, despite a few blocky and muddy environment textures. Monsters, weapons, and armors look outstanding. However, the console must occasionally pay tribute to the graphical spectacle. Especially in battles with multiple monsters, the performance noticeably drops and falls below the 30 FPS mark, both in handheld and TV mode.
The soundtrack captures the Japanese style wonderfully, and the sound effects during battles are rich and suitably underscore the on-screen action. It’s also great that our character alerts us to heavy monster attacks through various phrases. However, the repetitive remarks when pursuing or dismantling the monsters can be somewhat annoying.
Critique: The Battles are Fun, But…
For understandable hit feedback, smooth rendering is incredibly important, especially in the action-heavy and fast-paced battles. Furthermore, the hitboxes of the monsters are not always clear, and attacks can still take down my hero even when I am clearly out of reach.
This is frustrating, especially on higher difficulty levels, when a few attacks are enough to completely drain the health bar. At the beginning, this is still bearable, as the battles are still manageable – in the endgame, however, this is different, and especially newcomers must expect a challenging experience and some screen deaths.
Conclusion
Overall, Monster Hunter Rise is a very good installment in the series and is among the best and most beautiful games currently available on the Switch. However, its full potential will likely only be realized next year with its release on PC, when the battles can flow smoothly at 60 FPS and with a bit more polish on screen.
Happy hunting – wishes Chris from the EnrageTimer podcast (via Spotify).
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