Game Reviews

Thoughts on Multiplayer and Matchmaking More streamlined matchmaking equals a less meaningful social experience. Matchmaking allows for a much higher number of unique inputs, but many games that use it lack any meaningful social aspect, since there’s no actual teamwork required. There’s no real strategy, just general patterns to follow. There are no real shared stakes. Show up and hit Triangle to win. Playing alone together. Multiplayer solitaire. Maybe these aren’t the goals of matchmaking systems, but matching only for the sake of increasing the variability, and therefore the opportunity for a unique experience may not necessarily increase the quality of those experiences....

Monster Hunter World removes a lot of the tedium of previous titles in the genre Capcom did a wonderful job addressing complaints about gameplay elements from previous installments that didn’t add value to the experience. This host of improvements makes the gameplay much more seamless and lowers the barrier to entry for new players. No more tedious utility item management You no longer have to keep track of, and use up inventory spaces on, whetstones, pickaxes, or bugnets....