Recent reviews by Kouichi

I recently started getting into MHRise after a long break from the MH series, and honestly I thought I'd hate it after playing World for so long. Honestly thought nothing could beat World in a lot of ways, but I was mistaken.

Given the time to play Rise properly, I understand why a lot of people say the combat system is the smoothest it's ever been. The addition of wirebugs, palamutes, wall running and more, it's been one hell of an upgrade from the previous title.

***WILL BE A LOT OF COMPARING TO OLDER MH TITLES SO BE WARNED***

PROs of Rise:

- Addition of Wirebugs: This is possibly the best thing they could have added to the combat system to make for more dynamic hunts. The feeling you get when being able to get out of an attack you couldn't before in previous titles is amazing. Moves tied in with Wirebugs look flashy as hell, and they just ain't for show. You have support wirebug skills, and attack wirebug skills and they all fulfil their purpose. Just being able to use them so freely during hunts is honestly a godsend.

- Combat: Linking back to the Wirebug point, the combat feels the best it's ever been since World releasing. When I first played World, I thought the combat couldn't get any better, but damn I was wrong. It feels less clunky and very enjoyable compared to World now.

- Variety of monsters: The one thing World lacked was interesting monster choices. Yes, I know World had PickleJo, Fatalis etc, but Rise definitely upped the amount of different monster variations we can fight against. Apex monsters make their return in a sense, but not in the same light as in MH4U (thank god). In the last couple of updates, we've had the Velkana and Amatsu make a return in Rise. Velkana not so hype, but for me who's never fought against Amatsu, is great experiencing it in the recent generation of MH. Gore Magala though? That's what won it for me.

-Armour sets: Wowiee, let me tell you. Some of the armour sets in this game are visually impressive. It's crazy that even low/high rank armour actually somewhat looks better than some of the Master Rank armour! I'm honestly impressed. I've always found it tough to choose a style for my character since the looks in previous games were so-so. I've had trouble deciding on appearance for this game because the options are endless. Good job on this one!

Sunbreak is basically a new game in itself: Just like in MHWorld, they added Iceborne a year later and that turned a game with OK content to a whole new game with so many exciting monsters to face against. They executed Sunbreak exactly the same way and oh my, it definitely gave me Iceborne vibes. Well played Capcom!

Risen enemies and anomaly quests: If you are new to MHR or never played, you may want to skip this section as spoilers. The addition of Risen Elder Dragons and Anomaly fights make for an interesting hunt overall. Risen ED are fun to fight against, they take on new forms during the hunt (after HP drops below a certain point) and attain new appearances and new moves. I have so far fought the Daora and Teostra. Both have been quite interesting fights and definitely challenging to a degree. Anomaly quests take place after MR 6* quests once you beat Malzeno. The monsters you fight become "afflicted" and are more aggressive and have a couple of new tricks up their sleeves. Makes for an intense fight with monsters you thought weren't that impressive or powerful to begin with.

CONS of Rise:

-Map design: Good games will always come with a couple of weaknesses preventing it from being the best. Map design is definitely one of these cons. There isn't much detail to some of the maps, looks kinda OK but nothing appealing to the eyes, just a generic map where you go and find some monsters lurking in like area 15 while you're at base camp.

-No new addition of a weapon type: This one is more a personal gripe for me, I've played MH in the much early days (going back to Freedom Unite). With each version or so, they add a new weapon type which spices up the gameplay a lot. The last time a MH game gave me that feeling of spicing things up was in MH4U with the Insect Glaive. That new addition was welcome and changed up the style of gameplay not just for me, but for anyone who played. I just wish in the next game they add a new weapon type. I'd like to see Tonfas in the next iteration of MH. If it's in MH Frontier 2, it can easily be in the West's MH games.

Monetisation revolving around Layered armour/weapon sets: Not a big fan of this at all, the fact they require you to purchase DLC that in this category is Layered armour is not entirely the greatest thing they've done. In previous titles this wasn't the main way to make profit for this game, but now it is apparently. I wish they didn't go this route, but if it works, it works.

Optimisation from Switch to PC: This I feel is a big issue, as sometimes my game works perfectly fine no problems, but other times it becomes really choppy and stops every couple seconds for a few frames which can really irritate someone massively. I hope in the future, they do not port MH games onto Nintendo devices and just port them to new Gen and Steam, it makes more sense and it would be easier for more people to gain access to current MH titles.

Conclusion:

Overall the game has been amazing to play with friends, not too much solo but being able to hunt with friends and watch you and them grow into a competent hunter is the best feeling ever. That's the same with every MH game tbh, but Rise just gave us so many different things to do, and new variants to hunt.

I give MHRise/Sunbreak a solid 8/10. Great new mechanics, new fights and so much to do. Just wish they added a new weapon type and optimised the game better for Console/PC.

Basically anime-souls but a tad easier with the AI accompanying you (which can be turned off).

Honestly a great and fun game.

Me and le partner playing through this together atm.

A great game indeed, I really enjoy how the game operates and the way it feels. For a 1 man team who made this game, it's really impressive. The only thing I'd change or improve about the game would be possibly:

1. New ghost interactions. The ones we have so far are good, but I'd like if the ghost would say "Yes, No" etc.

2. More Jumpscares - I'd like to see new jump scares for example: The ghost can appear in bathroom mirrors or anything similar just to get the mood going.

3. Maybe increase the movement speed in the future as the "Shift" feels too slow still.