Some people love to grind. It's why Destiny is so popular. It's why MMOs are so popular. A lot of games are all about grinding your way to higher levels and better loot. Such is the case with Monster Hunter: World. You go forth and hunt down dinosaurs and dragons and other beasts, kill them, harvest their parts (and gather other resources) then bring them back to the base and craft them into upgrades or better gear. Rinse and repeat. If this sounds tedious to you, you might want to try out a more straightforward monster-hunting game like Shadow of the Colossus, which is a much more minimalist experience. This isn't a game about going out and finding better loot, it's a game about going out and finding better stuff to craft better gear with. As Paul Tassi notes, that can feel a bit laborious.

2. The combat is too clunky/floaty.

I've seen people erroneously compare this game to Dark Souls. That's wrong for two reasons. First, Monster Hunter games predate Dark Souls. If anything, From Software borrowed from Monster Hunter when the studio developed Demon's Souls and the later Souls games. Second, because Dark Souls combat didn't just borrow from Monster Hunter, it vastly improved upon the series' combat. Compared to the Souls games, Monster Hunter: World has floaty, clunky, irritatingly imprecise combat. That's only made tolerable by the fact that your enemies are usually so gigantic it doesn't matter how poor hit detection is. There are some cool weapons and some cool moves (I dig the Insect Glaive and its vault jump quite a bit) but overall I just don't really care for combat in this game. It's fine, I suppose, but it ought to be much, much better. Give me Dragon's Dogma any day of the week over this.

Monster Hunter: World is best played with friends.

3. It's heavily weighted toward co-op play.

A growing trend in video games is to have everything geared toward some form of multiplayer. In Monster Hunter: World, like in Rare's upcoming Sea of Thieves, cooperative play is the name of the game. (I don't think Sea of Thieves is for solo players at all.) Sometimes this is great, and for some gamers co-op play is the best kind of play. But other times I feel like this can drag down the story. Halo 5 is a good example of co-op being forced down gamers' throats to the detriment of the game. Like Halo 5, Monster Hunter: World's co-op is online only. That's a shame because I really love co-op if it's split-screen local co-op. Also, the online matchmaking is kind of terrible in the game and that's not even counting the problems it's been having on Xbox One. Sure, you can still play Monster Hunter: World by yourself, but that's not really how it was designed.

4. It's not much for story.

Okay, there's a story in Monster Hunter: World. There's a bunch of lore to uncover. But this is not the point of the game. If you enjoy story-driven games or story-heavy RPGs, you may not be interested in this game. Again, that doesn't mean it's a bad game or that it doesn't have a worthwhile story to tell, it's just not anything to write home about either. Some really great games don't have much in the way of story (see Dark Souls above, for instance, which is one of my very favorite games) but if you're into games with a major focus on narrative, you might be better off steering clear of Monster Hunter: World.

Monster Hunter For Pc Download

5. There's not much gameplay beyond this.

I like games that introduce clever puzzles, interesting platforming, or incredible level design. Monster Hunter: World is basically a game about following your little green scoutflies to the next footprint or skid mark (heh) which basically constitutes tracking, and then fighting a monster before harvesting it for crafting materials. Then you go back to the base and upgrade stuff and stock up on items and go out again to fight another monster. There's a big open-world to explore, and it's quite lovely to look at, but there aren't really interesting levels. There aren't really any puzzles beyond figuring out your quarry, and there isn't much in the way of actual level design. Again, this isn't a criticism of the game itself. It does what it sets out to do quite well. It's just a reason that some gamers may find it kind of flat and boring.

Monster Hunter: World is still a fun game, even if it's not my cup of tea.

I do like many things about the game.

I love the base city, Astera. It's a sprawling, ramshackle metropolis built out of the hulls of ships. It's quite possibly one of the coolest non-combat hubs I've seen in a game. I also really love how dino fights can have unexpected twists. A monster might get tangled up in vines or you might find a new monster suddenly attacking the one you were just fighting. This can make fights feel very dynamic, which is cool. I also enjoy climbing on top of a monster and riding it while attacking, or enlisting other monsters in the hunt.

Meanwhile, there's no denying the game looks and sounds beautiful. Perhaps more than anything, it's a great way to blow off steam. Yes, the systems are complicated, but it's still much more accessible than previous games and it's easy to hop in and play for half an hour and then hop back out. Sometimes it's tricky to fairly critique a game that just isn't your cup of tea. But I can definitely see why people love this game, even if it's not for me. And hey, even if you think it might not be for you, I've heard from plenty of people that they tried it and ended up loving it. So who knows?

Monster Hunter: World is a very good game that deserves the praise it's gotten. It's just not for everybody, and it's important to realize that before jumping in based on review scores and word of mouth alone. If you enjoy the game, fine. If it's not for you, that's fine too. There's more than enough games coming out in 2018. There will undoubtedly be something for everyone.

Further Reading:

Monster Hunter 3 Tri Guide

• 'Forza Horizon' Studio Reportedly Developing New Open-World 'Fable' Game For Xbox One