Juan David Obando

Please stop comparing this with World alone, ffs. Anyways, I've been playing non-stop since it released yesterday. While the graphics are a bit rough upon closer inspection (although sometimes a bit too obvious too), it's something you simply forget about once you absorb the artistic style or while you're on a hunt. The combat is incredibly fun and much more versatile and dynamic thanks to the silkbind attacks and switch skills, the more engaging endemic life instead of "hit something and hope the monster falls for it" that World did and wyvern riding. The monsters look as beautiful as they always have, and a few that were brought from pre-World have never looked better. One of the kinks World failed to address completely and that turned off a few people from older MH games was how slow it was to navigate and gather, World simply fixing the randomness and the speed, but Rise perfectly addresses it with how fun it is to move with your wirebug. Maps have plenty of verticality without being obnoxious like a few spots on World did, and so it is easy to always have a route that you can pick resources up along with endemic helpers without spending too much time not fighting the monster. While I'm sad that the blights do not affect the player as hard as they did previously, and while I miss having to use cold and hot drinks, it's more of a small dent on such a precious addition to the franchise. I'm not disappointed in the slightest. Highly recommended for both veterans and new players.