Review of video game Monster Hunter: World by Chandler Wang

 Monster Hunter: World is a game where you (surprise surprise) hunt monsters, utilizing your weapon of choice to cut down giant beasts, gaining access to more quests, more monsters, and better gear throughout the game. The game is a newer one, and from Capcom, a big studio, and the quality of the game is indicative of both. Even the food in Monster Hunter is incredible - the cutscenes where your character chows down before an expedition are positively mouthwatering, and the game knows it. The camera will spend extra long on the perfectly grilled slab of meat, fresh out of the oven, before your character wolfs it down. Monster Hunter has great graphics and fun gameplay that make stalking monsters across deserts, swamps, and forests an exciting adventure. From the time the first raptor emerges from the brush to the moment you face off against a massive, blazing dragon with explosive scales, Monster Hunter offers a fun, immersive experience. The monsters you face have unique and interesting designs, both in their visuals and in how they fight. Each monster will have some unique pattern or signature move, and it will be up to you to take advantage of it. Whether it's a charge that leaves the monster dazed for a moment or a weak spot on its stomach, each monster has its own unique abilities and habits that you can play around to best defeat them. You can use your weapon of choice to slay the beasts of Monster Hunter - a massive, slow but devastating sword, a pair of lightning-quick daggers, an axe-shield fusion weapon, a ranged rifle, and more. Each weapon has its own unique playstyle, and many are quite hard to learn. The daggers allow you to tear through monsters, but lack defensive capabilities, while the fusion axe-shield allows you to stand your ground even against massive charges, headbutts, and tail swipes. Of course, before fighting the monsters you have to find them, and Monster Hunter has a simple but rewarding tracking system for you to ferret out the locations of your targets. The game seems rather limited - find monster, kill monster, yet somehow I was never bored. Beating monsters, even the same ones, continued to feel rewarding. The game's quality also showed in its gameplay, and each weapon feels incredibly satisfying. The impact of a greatsword, the slam as a monster barrels straight into your shield, and the slicing of the daggers makes landing your hits and blocks in combat very fun and satisfying. The variety in both weapons and enemies also added flavor to the game as I progressed through the story. Despite its simple premise, Monster Hunter: World is a very fun game that feels great and doesn't get old easily. 8.5/10.