"Just one more hunt"
aaand it's already 3am.

As of this review, I've sunk in over 350 hrs on the console version and 50 hrs on the PC version, I am a Monster Hunter vet where my first game was Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

Let me preface this review with this statement:

This is the best game I've ever played in years.

With that out of the way, let's start with the bad:
-Optimazation is spotty, initial drivers are pretty bad
-Weak PC graphic fidelity
-Mouse acceleration is forced on
-CO-OP campaign is a clunky experience
-Menus on menus (Though it's much better than what we had on the older games)
-Multiplayer is a spotty mess.
-Glitchy weapons causing performance dips.

Now mind you, my PC settings are as follows
intel 2700k
GTX 1080 Founders
16gb DDR4 RAM

Nvidia's handle on the newest drivers is laughable at best and inexcusable at worst, if you're having performance issues, try rolling back your drivers and you should be ok, most of my gripes actually fall under the spotty performance and multiplayer. I can only hope these are patched out.

With that out of the way, let's begin the actual review of the game.

As I've mentioned before, I am a monster hunter vet with probably over a thousand hours in the series as a whole, starting from MH3U -> MH4U -> MHGen -> MHFU -> Monster hunter worlds. If you're a veteran who played the older series, this is a solid game that trims out a ton of the clunk in the older games for smoother gameplay at the expense of almost nothing. The only thing that realy gets trimmed is the time-padding clunk the older games had which really doesn't negatively impact gameplay.

If you played Monster Hunter Worlds on the console, the decrease in load times between hunts is almost worth double dipping alone. We're talking a 10-30x reduction in load times. With my gripes being in performance, setting your in-game resolution to be Variable(Priotizing frame-rate) should deliver a solid 60 FPS a the cost of some minor fidelity, however when a hunt is getting hot it's negligible.

For series newbies curious about monster hunter, this is definitely the starting point I recommend, there will be some growing pains as you learn the games systems, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was in the older games. Take your time to learn and play, watch some youtubers (I recommend Gaijin Hunter and Arrekz gaming) and they'll teach you the systems in the game and what it has to offer.

The game's systems while daunting to get into initially, grew on me and I eventually started getting comfortable, which easily lead to the Civiliazation effect of "just one more hunt". Hunting in this game is seriously addicting and a complete joy, no two encounters are the same and each monster has it's own unique quirks and weaknesses that require the player to sit back and learn, rushing in is a quick way to get sent back to camp via express cart. It's a game that requires some degree of pre-planning and patience, players who respect the monsters and the games systems get rewarded handsomely, and those who don't get punished.

Please expect the following to come over the next few weeks:
Free content updates that include new content and monsters.
Crossovers from FFXIV, Street Fighter and Megaman.
A reduction of sleep

Summary:
Performance sucks, but gameplay is great.

[b] "Just one more hunt" [/b] aaand it's already 3am. As of this review, I've sunk in over 350 hrs on the console version and 50 hrs on the PC version, I am a Monster Hunter vet where my first game was Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Let me preface this review with this statement: [b][u]This is the best game I've ever played in years.[/u][/b] With that out of the way, let's start with the bad: -Optimazation is spotty, initial drivers are pretty bad -Weak PC graphic fidelity -Mouse acceleration is forced on -CO-OP campaign is a clunky experience -Menus on menus (Though it's much better than what we had on the older games) -Multiplayer is a spotty mess. -Glitchy weapons causing performance dips. Now mind you, my PC settings are as follows intel 2700k GTX 1080 Founders 16gb DDR4 RAM Nvidia's handle on the newest drivers is laughable at best and inexcusable at worst, if you're having performance issues, try rolling back your drivers and you should be ok, most of my gripes actually fall under the spotty performance and multiplayer. I can only hope these are patched out. With that out of the way, let's begin the actual review of the game. As I've mentioned before, I am a monster hunter vet with probably over a thousand hours in the series as a whole, starting from MH3U -> MH4U -> MHGen -> MHFU -> Monster hunter worlds. If you're a veteran who played the older series, this is a solid game that trims out a ton of the clunk in the older games for smoother gameplay at the expense of almost nothing. The only thing that realy gets trimmed is the time-padding clunk the older games had which really doesn't negatively impact gameplay. If you played Monster Hunter Worlds on the console, the decrease in load times between hunts is almost worth double dipping alone. We're talking a 10-30x reduction in load times. With my gripes being in performance, setting your in-game resolution to be Variable(Priotizing frame-rate) should deliver a solid 60 FPS a the cost of some minor fidelity, however when a hunt is getting hot it's negligible. For series newbies curious about monster hunter, this is definitely the starting point I recommend, there will be some growing pains as you learn the games systems, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was in the older games. Take your time to learn and play, watch some youtubers (I recommend Gaijin Hunter and Arrekz gaming) and they'll teach you the systems in the game and what it has to offer. The game's systems while daunting to get into initially, grew on me and I eventually started getting comfortable, which easily lead to the Civiliazation effect of "just one more hunt". Hunting in this game is seriously addicting and a complete joy, no two encounters are the same and each monster has it's own unique quirks and weaknesses that require the player to sit back and learn, rushing in is a quick way to get sent back to camp via express cart. It's a game that requires some degree of pre-planning and patience, players who respect the monsters and the games systems get rewarded handsomely, and those who don't get punished. Please expect the following to come over the next few weeks: Free content updates that include new content and monsters. Crossovers from FFXIV, Street Fighter and Megaman. A reduction of sleep Summary: Performance sucks, but gameplay is great.