This review is split into two parts; the first reviewing the base game, and the second reviewing Iceborne. It's a long one, so best get those reading glasses out!

Monster Hunter: World took an interesting but very good direction in the Monster Hunter series, with many quality of life changes over past games; new and oftentimes scary monsters (except you Dodogama, you're a sweetheart), expansive locales, and updated movesets for all weapons. The story is okay, nothing special - but this is a Monster Hunter game, we're here to hunt monsters!

Overall, the game felt a lot easier to pick up over prior instalments: the gameplay and weapons felt more fluid and polished. A "Slinger" is a new tool available for hunters to use, and whilst fairly niche in World, in Iceborne you'll come to see this new toy to be quite amazing. The addition of turf wars, endemic life to capture and show off in your room, and the open locales that don't require loading screens between areas really sold home the bustling and dog-eat-dog fight for survival of these magnificent creatures. No other Monster Hunter game has ever achieved a game world that feels so... alive.

All of these factors make World a good addition to the series, and a definite step in the right direction going forward. Plus, those graphics look amazing. Go look up "MHGU" and see that game's graphics. That came out in 2017. So... yeah.

Yet, while World was a good game, it did lack a lot of the character and uniqueness of past games. The distinct visual blandness of weapons via the "base" and "material" system Capcom went for when designing weapons has lead to most weapons looking pretty much the same. Sadly, performance-wise, these weapons suffer too. In past games, there was so much variety between weapons in a category, and as much as there were 'best' weapons for certain jobs like applying element damage; you could get away with basically any weapon and have fun at the same time.

World suffered pretty badly from this as most of the time there is only one or two go-to monsters to farm for materials to make their set of weapons that work well, and every other weapon lacks almost all value in comparison. Combined with a disappointing number of monsters, and a quick-to-get-to endgame - it was a bit of a let down. Furthermore, the new content Capcom put out for the game at the time were crossover quests that weren't exactly... mind-blowing. The Final Fantasy crossover was the best by far thanks to the difficulty and "raid-like" feeling to the quests, but unfortunately gave an armour set so good that it once again went back to World's issue of only needing one monster to farm for and you are all set.

In short summary, World suffered from a lack of variety and fun that previous games had, but damn did it set for an amazing foundation going forward. Which leads me onto...

I'll say this now, PLEASE get Iceborne. If you so much as somewhat enjoy MHW enough to get to the end of the base game, Iceborne is a whole new ball game and boy is it a good one. I mean, this more than DOUBLES the content World offers. Some companies would've sold Iceborne as an individual title in the series it's that expansive!

Iceborne takes place after the events of World have transpired, and brings an entirely new difficulty (Master Rank, which for you veterans out there is World's equivalent of G-Rank) along with a slew of new content: new monsters, new weapons, weapon movesets, entirely new locales and storyline (which you'll be happy to know is much better than the base game's) and above all - the Clutch Claw.

The Clutch Claw adds much more depth to hunting monsters, combined with the updated movesets each weapon has with Iceborne - hunting monsters has never felt more fun! And I mean it.

So just what is so great about these additions?
The Clutch Claw allows you to, well... claw onto a monster. From here, you can initiate a weapon attack (which comes in light and heavy forms depending on what weapon you have picked) and this can force slinger ammo to drop from the monster (light weapons), and/or weaken the spot you attacked (light and heavy weapons - but the light weapons require 2 weapon attacks to weaken). A Weakened monster part takes extra damage, and works with some skills too - like Weakness Exploit; at level 3 it provides a 30% bonus affinity to parts weak to your weapon type, but an extra 50% bonus affinity instead if that part is weakened. Pretty neat, huh?

As an added bonus, you can also "Flinch Shot" - utilising your slinger ammo to shoot into the monster at point-blank range. Doing so on their head will cause them to (so long as they aren't agitated) fly forward and hopefully into a rather solid object. If they do collide with anything, be it a wall - or even other monsters - they take a nice chunk of damage and topple, leading you to do whatever you'd like for a solid 7 or so seconds.

The Claw Attack whilst clawed on the monster can weaken parts, but its main use is on the head, where it will literally yeet the monsters head a good 90-120 degrees in the direction you swiped them in. Useful if there is no solid object to send poor Clifford the Big Red Odogaron into in front of him. As an example, of course. Feel free to swap Clifford for any other monster like My Little Pony: Friendship is Useless or even the famous rapper Lil' Shagras which you saw and proceeded to slaughter all the way back in those first few hours of gameplay.

Oh and if that all wasn't enough? Utilising the moves above you can make a monster enter its agitated status quicker - which is useful if you have the skill, aptly named "Agitator" - which provides bonuses when a monster is enraged. I wasn't kidding when I said the Clutch Claw added a lot of depth.

Every single weapon got their movesets updated, so I won't go over all of them - but as a bonus, every single weapon can use their slinger/clutch claw when unsheathed! That's a massive quality of life change over World. Though as a Sword and Shield main I have to say it was a little bit sad seeing one of our few unique aspects no longer a unique aspect. At least we can gulp down rations with a sword in our hands. We're still cool right? Capcom please bring back oils.

So far I've only really talked about the hunting gameplay aspect of Iceborne, but honestly, I feel that's all that I really need to go into detail to. Iceborne has added so, SO much more to World, that quite frankly I'd suggest you go out and experience it for yourself. Heck, Iceborne added some more unique looking weapons too! Though for the sake of your happiness, don't search up a comparison between Brachydios Dual Blades from Iceborne and older games. Oh, and rather disappointingly, Iceborne still suffers the "farm one monster to get all the weapons and armour you need" debacle :/

The greatest part about Iceborne by far, however - is Capcom's continued support of their AAA title. In just a few days of posting this review, Title Update 4 is to release, bringing even more content (including a fan-favourite elder dragon!) and it's completely free! The past 3 title updates have been too, and it looks like Capcom are wanting to spend quite a bit more time on World before their next big instalment. Kudos to them for treating their game and the fans right.

To summarise? Iceborne is the breath of fresh air World needed to truly let it stand out as a major instalment in the Monster Hunter series, and it's even more exciting to wonder what a future Monster Hunter game will look like. As a fan of the series who first played it as Monster Hunter Freedom on the PSP, it's truly incredible to know just how far this series has come. And honestly, I can't recommend it enough.

Only if you're okay with grinding though.

Okay with... a lot of grinding.

This review is split into two parts; the first reviewing the base game, and the second reviewing Iceborne. It's a long one, so best get those reading glasses out! [h1]Part 1: Monster Hunter: World (Base Game)[/h1] [b]Monster Hunter: World[/b] took an interesting but very good direction in the Monster Hunter series, with many quality of life changes over past games; new and oftentimes scary monsters (except you Dodogama, you're a sweetheart), expansive locales, and updated movesets for all weapons. The story is okay, nothing special - but this is a Monster Hunter game, we're here to hunt monsters! Overall, the game felt a lot easier to pick up over prior instalments: the gameplay and weapons felt more fluid and polished. A "Slinger" is a new tool available for hunters to use, and whilst fairly niche in World, in Iceborne you'll come to see this new toy to be quite amazing. The addition of turf wars, endemic life to capture and show off in your room, and the open locales that don't require loading screens between areas really sold home the bustling and dog-eat-dog fight for survival of these magnificent creatures. No other Monster Hunter game has ever achieved a game world that feels so... [i]alive[/i]. All of these factors make World a good addition to the series, and a definite step in the right direction going forward. Plus, those graphics look amazing. Go look up "MHGU" and see that game's graphics. That came out in 2017. So... yeah. Yet, while World was a [i]good[/i] game, it did lack a lot of the character and uniqueness of past games. The distinct visual blandness of weapons via the "base" and "material" system Capcom went for when designing weapons has lead to most weapons looking pretty much the same. Sadly, performance-wise, these weapons suffer too. In past games, there was so much variety between weapons in a category, and as much as there were 'best' weapons for certain jobs like applying element damage; you could get away with basically any weapon and have fun at the same time. World suffered pretty badly from this as most of the time there is only one or two go-to monsters to farm for materials to make their set of weapons that work well, and every other weapon lacks almost all value in comparison. Combined with a disappointing number of monsters, and a quick-to-get-to endgame - it was a bit of a let down. Furthermore, the new content Capcom put out for the game at the time were crossover quests that weren't exactly... mind-blowing. The Final Fantasy crossover was the best by far thanks to the difficulty and "raid-like" feeling to the quests, but unfortunately gave an armour set so good that it once again went back to World's issue of only needing one monster to farm for and you are all set. In short summary, World suffered from a lack of variety and fun that previous games had, but damn did it set for an amazing foundation going forward. Which leads me onto... [h1]Part 2: Iceborne[/h1] I'll say this now, PLEASE get Iceborne. If you so much as [i]somewhat[/i] enjoy MHW enough to get to the end of the base game, Iceborne is a whole new ball game and boy is it a good one. I mean, this more than DOUBLES the content World offers. Some companies would've sold Iceborne as an individual title in the series it's that expansive! [b]Iceborne[/b] takes place after the events of World have transpired, and brings an entirely new difficulty (Master Rank, which for you veterans out there is World's equivalent of G-Rank) along with a slew of new content: new monsters, new weapons, weapon movesets, entirely new locales and storyline (which you'll be happy to know is much better than the base game's) and above all - the [b]Clutch Claw[/b]. The Clutch Claw adds much more depth to hunting monsters, combined with the updated movesets each weapon has with Iceborne - hunting monsters has never felt more fun! And I mean it. [b]So just what is so great about these additions?[/b] The Clutch Claw allows you to, well... [i]claw[/i] onto a monster. From here, you can initiate a weapon attack (which comes in light and heavy forms depending on what weapon you have picked) and this can force slinger ammo to drop from the monster (light weapons), and/or weaken the spot you attacked (light and heavy weapons - but the light weapons require 2 weapon attacks to weaken). A Weakened monster part takes extra damage, and works with some skills too - like Weakness Exploit; at level 3 it provides a 30% bonus affinity to parts weak to your weapon type, but an extra 50% bonus affinity instead if that part is weakened. Pretty neat, huh? As an added bonus, you can also "Flinch Shot" - utilising your slinger ammo to shoot into the monster at point-blank range. Doing so on their head will cause them to (so long as they aren't agitated) fly forward and hopefully into a rather solid object. If they do collide with anything, be it a wall - or even other monsters - they take a nice chunk of damage and topple, leading you to do whatever you'd like for a solid 7 or so seconds. The Claw Attack whilst clawed on the monster can weaken parts, but its main use is on the head, where it will literally yeet the monsters head a good 90-120 degrees in the direction you swiped them in. Useful if there is no solid object to send poor Clifford the Big Red Odogaron into in front of him. As an example, of course. Feel free to swap Clifford for any other monster like My Little Pony: Friendship is Useless or even the famous rapper Lil' Shagras which you saw and proceeded to slaughter all the way back in those first few hours of gameplay. Oh and if that all wasn't enough? Utilising the moves above you can make a monster enter its agitated status quicker - which is useful if you have the skill, aptly named "Agitator" - which provides bonuses when a monster is enraged. I wasn't kidding when I said the Clutch Claw added a lot of depth. Every single weapon got their movesets updated, so I won't go over all of them - but as a bonus, every single weapon can use their slinger/clutch claw when unsheathed! That's a massive quality of life change over World. Though as a Sword and Shield main I have to say it was a little bit sad seeing one of our few unique aspects no longer a unique aspect. At least we can gulp down rations with a sword in our hands. We're still cool right? [b][i]Capcom please bring back oils[/i][/b]. So far I've only really talked about the hunting gameplay aspect of Iceborne, but honestly, I feel that's all that I really need to go into detail to. Iceborne has added so, SO much more to World, that quite frankly I'd suggest you go out and experience it for yourself. Heck, Iceborne added some more unique looking weapons too! Though for the sake of your happiness, don't search up a comparison between Brachydios Dual Blades from Iceborne and older games. [b]Oh, and rather disappointingly[/b], Iceborne still suffers the "farm one monster to get all the weapons and armour you need" debacle :/ [b]The greatest part about Iceborne by far[/b], however - is Capcom's continued support of their AAA title. In just a few days of posting this review, Title Update 4 is to release, bringing even more content (including a fan-favourite elder dragon!) and it's completely free! The past 3 title updates have been too, and it looks like Capcom are wanting to spend quite a bit more time on World before their next big instalment. Kudos to them for treating their game and the fans right. To summarise? Iceborne is the breath of fresh air World needed to [i]truly[/i] let it stand out as a major instalment in the Monster Hunter series, and it's even more exciting to wonder what a future Monster Hunter game will look like. As a fan of the series who first played it as Monster Hunter Freedom on the PSP, it's truly incredible to know just how far this series has come. And honestly, I can't recommend it enough. Only if you're okay with grinding though. [i]Okay with... [b]a lot[/b] of grinding[/i].