Monster Hunter World: Iceborne: The Kotaku Review



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2018 Monster Hunter: World was a successful update of the long series of animal killings. Fully functioning ecosystems and updated fights created an experience where every battle was a unique challenge, even after hundreds of hours. WorldLast expansion, Iceborne, is huge. Building a solid framework, it brings dozens of new monsters and increases the difficulty for a deeply rewarding adventure.

Iceborne is fixed after WorldLong main season. The Guild and Hunter's Research Commission, after crossing the seas to the New World and confronting unimaginable enemies, discovers a new mystery. Massive groups of flying creatures fled to the adventure, led by a legendary dragon nicknamed Velkhana. Following these creatures and their mysterious leader leads to the discovery of a frosted island teeming with undocumented wild animals. Meanwhile, new monsters roam in familiar forests and mysterious subspecies of old creatures emerge from the shadows. It is up to the player, as a skilled murderer, to venture into nature and deal with these new and terrible wonders.

The extension is accessible only after completing the main game story. As a result, the difficulty increases with the result of some of the best fights in the series. These fights, which take place on a new level of meetings "Master Rank", reinvent fan favorite monsters alongside entirely new fights. As in the rest of the series, the murderous course, stupid and stupid, is ambitious and sometimes frustrating.

The first thing Iceborne has been testing me. His first creature, the strange Beotodus, is a kind of creepy wyvern that slips into thick snow like a shark could roam the ocean. I have paid more than 300 hours in Monster Hunter: Worldand I immediately saw what Iceborne was doing. Beotodus shares a body shape and animations with Jyuratodus. This meant that Beotodus was moving like something I knew, he could also form an ice-cold protective coating on his body – something that a Jyuratodus or a different creature called Barroth can do with sufficient amounts of mud. It was an intensive course, a battle intelligently designed to make me aware of the coming and going of Monster Hunter fighting as his ferocity increased acted as a warning that things would not be so simple this time.

That's, of course, the point. Iceborne is not designed for a comfortable and casual game. It is specially designed to push players to their limits. Again and again, it eliminates more ferocious monsters, creatures that move faster than anything that has been seen before and whose strikes can lead to debilitating status conditions. The mistakes are expensive: the monsters hit harder, your old armor will not save you here and the environments themselves are harsher. Although it is possible to speed up the first missions, there is bound to be a moment when a new enemy poses a serious obstacle. When this happens, you are faced with a choice: give up or beat your fist against that wall until you finally break out in a glorious victory.

The first time is when IceborneThe Master Rank quests really clicked for me. I was asked to kill or capture a Tigerx, a kind of mixture between a tiger, a dragon and a velociraptor. The first time I fought him, I could not believe how fast he was moving. A single leap, even the farthest distance, could fill the gap and hit me in the ass. This was immediately followed by claw shots and whip tails that were less the action of a dangerous creature and more closely related to a force of nature like a thunderbolt or a raze. -of-tide. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The Tigers used to charge on the battlefield what seemed like an eternity at a time, rushing into unleashed rushes that raised stones and on which no race or escape could save me. I quickly failed.

So began the battle to kill the previous monsters to get better armor. When I returned, I confronted the Tigrex with confidence, bringing me closer to him and corresponding to his aggressiveness. I let out furious snow showers with my double blades slapping his legs and webbed arms. I dodged the crazy features that sealed my destiny until the beast, thwarted by his zeal, flipped over and offered me an opening. I cut it again and again and I broke my face first. While raising a claw, my blade crashed there and broke bones. The Tigrex has fled deep into caves where a pack of girros – small lizards whose bites have the ability to induce paralysis – has invaded the Tigrex. While he was paralyzed, I again attacked and broke more and more fragments of his body until he regained control and took refuge in his nest, where I captured it with tranquilizer bombs.

The creation of these moments is Monster HunterThe greatest strength and, paradoxically, its greatest weakness. IceborneFights are not just 10-minute trips; they are 30 to 40 minutes of intense adaptation. A failure – which occurs after being knocked out by a monster three times – is devastating. This failure is sometimes due to lack of proper equipment and supplies. It means going back several times to fight old enemies until you destroy them or capture them enough to collect the materials needed to create new armor. In other cases, it may mean expeditions to harvest honey to create better potions or insects for the tranquilizer bombs that capture monsters. This can completely stop the rhythm. From 17 to 18 hours of Iceborne I have played so far, many have been dedicated to the destruction of monsters until I have all the necessary to beat the new enemy who is waiting for me. It was tiring. Still, it's always good to win.

To help with this, Iceborne offers a variety of new gadgets and ways to fight. Among these, the Clutch Claw, a short-range grappler that attaches you to a monster and catches you immediately on the body part you catch. Used properly, it is possible to jump on the flying wings and cut them into slices until they are nothing more than shreds. If you have ammunition for your thrower, you can cling to the enemy's head and shoot him directly, staggering into the walls and writhing in pain. With some weapons, you can add a claw stroke at the end of a combo. This launches you into an uppercut type attack that, with the right weapon, is perfect for breaking appendages. These movements blend well with a host of additional attacks added to each weapon. For example, long swords acquire a samurai-esque iaijustu skill; Gunguns can plant explosive mines on enemies. The clutch claw dramatically increases the pace of combat, which makes it easier to get closer to monsters, use these new attacks and inflict damaging damage. This ensures some equity between IceborneFerocious monsters and unlucky hunters. It works like a charm and breathes new life into WorldThe fight.

IceborneNew weapons, new encounters and new environments produce incomparable battles. It is undeniable that you manage to assert yourself truly in front of a monster. Once, I faced a Brachydios whose skin excreted a vase that would explode in a short time. He skirted the battlefield by destroying the ground with drool mines. Yet, while I was attacking his weird hands like boxer gloves and breaking up their platelets, his threat dwindled to become a simple indignant beast, easily captured and claimed. for research purposes.

IceborneIncreased attention to the story and the wide variety of incredibly animated monsters impresses the player just how majestic and breathtaking the natural world can be. His snow is worked with love, depressing the player who moves painfully. Each new monster offers new surprises to discover. The characters continually meditate on the glory of the New World and the glittering beauty of the new region, the snowy Hoarfrost Reach.

In all this, there is an undeniable tension. Each Monster Hunter is, at the base, a game of conquest and consumption. It is to affirm the value and power of man over the natural world. It's about walking in nominal "new worlds" where you unmask monsters until they become pathetic shadows, weak enough to be killed and cut off or captured for the benefit of # 39, a frontier society in full swing. And for this reason, IceborneThe platitudes of natural splendor are hollow. Yes, the world is beautiful and it is a miracle that we are born to see it. Now, if you do not mind, I need to kill at least three other Glavenus to complete my armor.

This tension is not enough to steal Iceborne or all of it Monster Hunter play of his enthusiasm. I would not have spent hundreds of hours of my life thrilled by his battles had it not been a fantastic match here. But like Iceborne It increases the value of the production and takes time to show the characters immersed in its truly magnificent world, it is worth noting how strange it is to feel strange when characters begin to claim the New World as their homeland. It is no longer just an expedition; it is explicitly colonization. It is the expansion towards new lands which, by a vague right, belong to the domain of man. But one Monster Hunter who is exploring this tension would not Monster Hunter, so Iceborne Wild-eyed nature lovers eventually feel half-cooked.

Again, Iceborne is a remarkable party. By bringing back a whole series of fans' favorite creatures (including two of my favorites: Glavenus and Nargacuga), it is clear that this extension is as much a sign of head for veterans of the series as for the fresh-faced hunters to cut themselves the teeth and become really elite hunters. For some fans, World was extremely limited and lacked variety. Iceborne seems laser focused on the treatment of these complaints. There is still a bit of repetition, and some additions are not inspired, just adding new elements to old creatures: an Anjanath spitting lightning here, a Paolumu that causes sleep. But from time to time, there is a real surprise. Fucking shit! Has this Coral Pukei-Pukei simply sucked water into its tail and pulled it like a jet of industrial strength water? Why yes, he did it.

The party lasts a lot longer than I imagined. Time and time again, I prepared for what seemed to be the final battle. Certainly, I would defeat the older dragons and become a hero again. Whenever I thought I had reached the end of my journey, Iceborne would pull the carpet from beneath me and offer a whole new level of monsters to fight. Well done, hunter, but we just learned that there is an acid-coated Glavenus and a kind of Armored Legiana against the frost, in the arms. Go ahead and then we may be ready to finish. IceborneScale can be frustrating – sometimes you just want to fight this damn dragon – but it's also really impressive.

There are so many things here, so many monsters to face, that even after almost 20 hours, I still have not met many of the creatures featured in Capcom's revelations. With enough time spent on armor refining and true combat focus, my 17-18 hours could easily extend to 25 or 30 hours. Not to mention the time that will take the high level fights, special events and games with friends. It's intimidating, but the players are worried that Iceborne maybe a simple sprint will be happy to know it's an intense climb.

Iceborne One of the most ambitious extensions I have ever played for a game is up to these ambitions. The snow-swept forests and ice caves of Hoarfrost Reach are breathtakingly beautiful, and IceborneThe vast catalog of products offers many challenges. Fans of the old school will find a triumphant return to the difficulty they love while those who started with World will face some of the best creatures in the franchise. Iceborne Speed ​​up the pace without changing the basic spirit of what made the series so great. And although its storytelling and truisms never reconcile with the main gameplay, the experience is always exciting. This can sometimes be a tedious job, but it's Monster Hunter. And more Monster Hunter is always welcome.

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