"Monster Hunter: World" Review

Since its inception, the "Monster Hunter" series has been a raging success in Japan and an oddball, insular curiosity in the U.S. The intense crowd of American devotees would overlook countless annoyances and bizarre roadblocks in order to indulge their obsession. If you didn't get the "Monster Hunter" reward loop, it seemed all but impossible to break into the club.

"Monster Hunter: World," the franchise's debut on current-gen home consoles, works hard to lower the barrier to entry. Its appeal is still on the insular side, but the Capcom dev team took impressive strides to make the game accessible to a wider audience.

It helps that this is the largest, most lavish, best-looking and expansive game in the series. Its menu systems are easy and intuitive to navigate, and the opening narrative acts as a welcome tutorial to indoctrinate you into the themes and techniques you will need to survive.

Once you're on your own, the game becomes what you make of it. Much of the joys of "Monster Hunter: World" comes in endless tinkering. Crafting, selecting weaponry and items and planning out your next grand expedition encompasses much of the time you will spend with the game. Squadding up with multiplayer friends, selecting majestic beasts to take down and engaging on safaris to seek and reap your spoils in the icing on the scaled, fire-breathing cake.

If you've never played a "Monster Hunter" game, you'll lose nothing by skipping the others and making this your first. If you're a long-suffering devotee of the franchise, this is the one that will indulge your passion to the highest degree.
Publisher provided review code.