Monster Hunter has always been an intimidating series to dive into. Although the community surrounding it is quite friendly and helpful, the games themselves often lack the kind of assistance that a newcomer requires to fully grasp what’s going on. Monster Hunter World makes strides in that direction, but going in with an idea of what to expect will make the entire experience much easier to deal with.
In the video above, we run through some beginner’s tips that will help you to get started, whether you’re a newcomer to the series or a lapsed played who’s forgotten some of the essentials. Although every weapon is viable, some are friendlier to those just getting acquainted with the series. And something like pre-hunt preparation, while not the sexiest-sounding activity in the world, is essential to excelling at the game. We also have a text-based Monster Hunter World beginner’s guide that will walk you through all the key information you should have before playing, as well as a guide on how to capture monsters.
As noted above, World does a better job of welcoming in new players than past titles, but that’s not its only improvement. It also features much larger and more beautiful environments, thanks to being built for current-gen consoles and PC (the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X experience is particularly nice). There are also smaller quality-of-life improvements that are extremely welcome, such as the addition of scoutflies, which make the process of locating and tracking your target much easier.
Monster Hunter World is a game with a simple premise: explore the world, fight huge monsters, then turn them into your own weapons and armor. And as the first Monster Hunter in many, many years on a home console that isn’t the Wii U, Monster Hunter World has the potential to draw in even more players than any game in the series before. Whether this will be your first game in the series or you’re a returning veteran, we’ll cover Monster Hunter with in-depth guides and reviews throughout the coming weeks to help you take down the game’s biggest beasts and craft the best-looking gear.
In this roundup feature, you’ll find links out to all our most-relevant Monster Hunter content as it goes live, so check back for updates and Monster Hunter tips!
The final public beta has ended for Monster Hunter World, but its full release on Xbox One and PS4 is imminent. Set to launch on January 26, Monster Hunter World marks the end of the franchise’s long hiatus from home consoles. The latest entry in the series is also coming to PC, but Capcom hasn’t set a firm date for that launch yet. According to the game’s producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto, the delay is because “rather than have it taking up resources during the console development and not being able to have our full attention on it. We want to get console out the door, and then we’re going to take some extra time and try and get the PC version as good as possible.” The PC date is currently set for sometime this fall.
For PS4 and Xbox One users, Monster Hunter World will have an important day one patch that adds online multiplayer, event quests, chat, and other online features. In addition, the patch will fix some bugs and add series-favorite Poogies to the game. Additional space required for the patch will be approximately 815 MB.
Review
Our full Monster Hunter World review is now online, in which we awarded the game an 8/10. “Ever since the title was first announced last year, it was clear that Capcom was gunning for something grander than Monster Hunter Generations. It has succeeded, and this is likely the biggest and best that the franchise has ever been. It’s not just the comparative depth of the narrative; it also boasts almost seamless integration between combat systems that were previously incomprehensible for amateurs. The Monster Hunter formula has definitely honed its claws, and all the above factors play their part in making Monster Hunter World a meaningful evolution for the series at large.”
Digital Deluxe Edition ($70/￡57.99/$115 AUD) — includes a Samurai Set skin, three gestures, two sticker sets, and an additional face paint and hair style option. The PS4 version of the Digital Deluxe Edition also comes with 14 weapon-themed PSN avatars. All of these items will be available to purchase separately once the game launches.
Collector’s Edition ($150/$300 AUD) — includes a physical copy of the game, a voucher for the customization items included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, a hardcover art book, a monster statue, and a code for a digital soundtrack, all housed in a collector’s box.
Monster Hunter World PS4 Pro ($450/£380/$660 AUD) — The special “Rathalos” edition of the console will also come with a red controller, pre-order bonuses, a physical copy of the game, and a special PS4 dynamic theme.
As part of Nintendo’s latest financial results, the company revealed its best-selling Switch titles to date. As you may have guessed, Super Mario Odyssey is the Switch game with the most units sold so far, though a number of other games have also done well.
Super Mario Odyssey’s sales total 9 million units worldwide, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (7.3 million) coming in second. Next on the list is Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with 6.7 million units sold, followed by Splatoon 2, which has sold 4.9 million units so far. Two more Nintendo-published titles–Arms and Xenoblade Chronicles 2–have each hit the million sales milestone, with 1.6 and 1.06 million sales respectively. Two further third-party games have hit the same million sales milestone, but we don’t what those games are or precisely how many units they’ve shipped. Note these figures are correct as of December 31, 2017.
Anthem, the new IP from BioWare, will not be released in 2018 as previously planned. Instead, the Destiny-esque action game will launch in early 2019, EA confirmed today during its quarterly earnings call with investors. For its part, the company claims this is not a delay.
Prior to the call, it shared this with the Wall Street Journal, confirming a recent report from Kotaku that said Anthem had been delayed. Speaking with the WSJ, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen stated this was not actually a delay. However, that appears to be untrue, given the company had previously cited a 2018 release for the game, which is headed to PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
EA didn’t go into great deal about the reasoning behind the delay. Kotaku’s report suggested it was due at least in part to issues with development, though the statement to the WSJ attributes it instead to a desire to release the game during a less crowded period. EA only briefly addressed the subject during this afternoon’s conference call with investors, and it was presented as if this were not a delay. We’ll report back with anything it has to say during the Q&A portion of the call. Its actual earnings report made no mention of the news.
Capcom has released details on its financial performance for the nine month spanning April 1 to December 31, 2017. It reported lower sales than the same period in 2016, but improved profits thanks to its digital content business.
Sales for the nine months were reported as $439 million, which is an 11% decrease when compared to the same timeframe in 2016, during which sales were cited as $492 million. Profits, meanwhile, were $65 million in 2017, which is a 38% increase over 2016’s $47 million.
Monster Hunter Frontier Z, an online game available in Japan, celebrated its 10th anniversary and was said to have given a “solid performance.” In terms of mobile titles Monster Hunter Explore was called out as a key performer, as Capcom conducts “business reforms including alliance strategies.”
In its fourth quarter, which ends March 31, 2018, Capcom says it plans an “aggressive sales campaign with the release of its flagship title, Monster Hunter World.“ Capcom has shipped 5 million units of Monster Hunter World to retailers, marking a new record for the series. Although we haven’t received sales numbers for the game, early signs are promising.
The critical reception for the game has also been positive. In GameSpot’s Monster Hunter World review Ginny Woo awarded it an 8/10, saying it is “the biggest and best that the franchise has ever been.”
“It’s not just the comparative depth of the narrative,” she continued, “It also boasts almost seamless integration between combat systems that were previously incomprehensible for amateurs. The Monster Hunter formula has definitely honed its claws, and all the above factors play their part in making Monster Hunter World a meaningful evolution for the series at large.
Bungie has concluded its server maintenance routine, and Destiny 2 servers are back online. The first Iron Banner event of Season 2, which began in early December with Curse of Osiris’s release, is now live for a limited time, and a major new update has been released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Here’s exactly what it does.
As Bungie detailed previously, update 1.1.2 introduces Masterwork armor. This is a rare quality that all Legendary armor can take on, and it operates similarly to the Masterwork weapons system added in December. Essentially, Legendary armor can drop as (or be upgraded to) a Masterwork version, which provides you with an additional stat bonus that can be re-rolled. Each piece of Masterwork armor also offers a 3% damage resistance bonus while your Super is active; this effect stacks, offering a maximum of 15% if all five of your armor pieces are Masterworks. These items can be obtained through all of the normal means, though Trials of the Nine and Raid activities are more likely to drop them. Dismantling them provides you with materials that can then be used to upgrade a Legendary item into a Masterwork.
Drops related to the Raid have also changed in a number of ways. By completing a corresponding activity in a given week, you’ll be able to purchase a rotating selection of armor or weapons from Benedict 99-40. Raid encounters are now guaranteed to drop a piece of armor or a weapon, and completing a Prestige Raid encounter before doing the normal version will get you rewards from both the Prestige and normal versions. A new Exotic Ghost exclusive to Leviathan can now be found during Raid activities’ final encounter. Finally, as pictured below, Raid armor all now have unique mods with new perks that only work when on the Leviathan. These can be rotated in and out by spending a Raid Token, and even existing Raid armor will have a spot to equip these mods.
This patch kicks off the Iron Banner event, which features new gear to earn. Other notable changes include a reduction in the amount of XP needed to receive an Illuminated Engram; it now takes 120,000, rather than 160,000. Both the Gleaming Boon of the Crucible and Vanguard have seen their Bright Dust prices slashed. And several individual items have seen balance fixes or changes; Prometheus Lens, for instance, which was a major problem in Crucible after its release and was later nerfed, has seen its damage increased. Additionally, its Flame Refraction perk no longer pulls ammo from your reserves; instead, it generates fresh ammo to use.
There are a ton of other tweaks made in this update too, and the patch notes are quite long. You can see them in full on Bungie’s website.
The name of the game in Monster Hunter is, obviously, hunting monsters. But whether you’re assigned to hunt down a particular creature or you happen upon one during an Expedition, you don’t necessarily have to kill it. Capturing monsters is often the best way to go, and in some cases it’s a mandatory aspect of a given quest. Monster Hunter World makes strides in welcoming in new players, but the process still might be unclear. Here’s exactly how to do it.
First, it’s important to note that not all monsters can be captured. Smaller monsters can’t be, though minor wildlife–ants, birds and rabbit-like creatures, and so on–can be easily snagged with the Capture Net (and some can then be freed in your living quarters). It’s the creatures known as Large Monsters that you’ll be able to properly capture, and doing so requires a few items.
In the video above, we run through the exact process. Essentially it boils down to a few steps: wear the monster’s health way down without killing it, deploy a trap (such as the Shock Trap or Pitfall Trap), and then tranquilize the monster after it gets stuck in the trap. The process of tranquilizing can be done with Tranq Bombs or Tranq ammo from ranged weapons; the effects from these last a short time, so it’s possible to capture a monster by trapping it after it’s been tranquilized.
If you enroll in a quest where you goal is to explicitly capture a monster, the item box will provide the necessary items for free, though you may want to come equipped with extras. However you do it, capturing a monster can net you more monster parts than killing it. It’s a more involved process, but the rewards can be worth the effort.
Monster Hunter has always been an intimidating series to dive into. Although the community surrounding it is quite friendly and helpful, the games themselves often lack the kind of assistance that a newcomer requires to fully grasp what’s going on. Monster Hunter World makes strides in that direction, but going in with an idea of what to expect will make the entire experience much easier to deal with.
In the video above, we run through some beginner’s tips that will help you to get started, whether you’re a newcomer to the series or a lapsed played who’s forgotten some of the essentials. Although every weapon is viable, some are friendlier to those just getting acquainted with the series. And something like pre-hunt preparation, while not the sexiest-sounding activity in the world, is essential to excelling at the game. We also have a text-based Monster Hunter World beginner’s guide that will walk you through all the key information you should have before playing, as well as a guide on how to capture monsters.
As noted above, World does a better job of welcoming in new players than past titles, but that’s not its only improvement. It also features much larger and more beautiful environments, thanks to being built for current-gen consoles and PC (the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X experience is particularly nice). There are also smaller quality-of-life improvements that are extremely welcome, such as the addition of scoutflies, which make the process of locating and tracking your target much easier.
Following last week’s first look at Captain Marvel star Brie Larson on the set of the upcoming Marvel movie, we now have some behind-the-scenes footage. As those initial images revealed, Larson is not wearing the character’s distinctive traditional red, blue, and gold costume, but is instead clad in a green ensemble.
This new video shows Larson sharing the scene with Warcraft star Robert Kazinsky. His character appears to be pestering her, until she takes charge of the situation. Check it out below:
Captain Marvel hits screens in March 2019. The movie is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who collaborated on Ryan Gosling’s breakthrough Half Nelson and have directed episodes of hit TV shows The Affair and Billions. The cast also includes Ben Mendelsohn (Star Wars: Rogue One), Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), and DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It). Samuel L Jackson will also make a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the role of SHIELD boss Nick Fury.
A few details about the movie were revealed at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. It will be set in the 1990s, making it something of a prequel to the current MCU. We also know Captain Marvel will be facing off against a classic Marvel villain: Skrulls. In addition, Jackson hinted last year that he will look a little different in this movie. “You’ll see Nick Fury with another guy’s face, somebody that’s got two eyes, so that’s a whole big deal,” he told the AV Club. “You’ll see. It’s prior to the eye injury, [so] no eye patch.”
Ahead of her standalone movie, Larson will make her debut as Captain Marvel in this year’s Avengers: Infinity War, which hits theaters in May. Check the latest Avengers: Infinity War trailer out here.
Shadow of the Colossus first launched on PS2 in 2005, quickly becoming a critical darling and fan favorite. An HD remaster arrived for PS3 six years later and was similarly loved. So surely the PS4 remake would follow in the game’s own footsteps?
We enjoyed it in its pre-launch state and thought it felt better than ever on PS4. But with the remake’s release date now just days away, final verdicts have started to appear. Read on to see a selection of reviews, or check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic for a wider view on critical opinion.
Developer / Publisher: Sony Japan Studio, Team Ico, Bluepoint / Sony
Platforms: PS4
Release Date: February 6
Price: $40 / £30 / AU $55
GameSpot — 9/10
“Shadow of the Colossus is a tremendous journey, and one well worth taking and retaking. The visual overhaul is stunning, thoroughly enhancing every facet of Wander and Agro’s excellent adventure. Galloping through the tranquil world is always breathtaking; felling a monumental colossus is always humbling. Shadow of the Colossus is a beautiful reconstruction of an already exceptional title. It continues to be a modern classic and is an extraordinary game that everyone must experience.” — Edmond Tran [Full review]
IGN — 9.7/10
“The true definition of a classic, the gameplay and story of Shadow of the Colossus are every bit as great and emotional today as they were in 2005. This outstanding remaster skilfully enhances those qualities with improved controls, performance, and sheer graphical beauty. It remains one of the best PlayStation games ever made, and it’s wonderful that Sony has brought it back to the fore so a new generation of gamers can experience it without having to look past its aged facade.” — Marty Sliva [Full review]
GamesRadar+ — 4/5
“Despite a couple of minor quibbles, Shadow of the Colossus works on both its intended levels–as a returning nostalgia blast for those who remember it, and an enjoyable game for newcomers. The apparently disparate parts, those long journeys filled with solitude and massive boss battles, are tied together by a strong personality that develops and draws you in. It’s like poking around a house where someone died, looking at things you know are important but with no one left to ask why. It’s still a mysterious thing to play, that feels as thought provoking and artful as it did all those years ago on PS2.” — Leon Hurley [Full review]
Polygon — 9.5/10
“Sony’s big PlayStation exclusive of the season is this recreation of a PS2 classic. As wonderful a game as this is, the lesson mustn’t be that we need more games that look like this Colossus–rather, that we need games that feel like it: a decade later, pushing against what we expect from games, warts and all.” — Chris Plante [Full review]
The Telegraph — 5/5
“In 2005 Shadow of the Colossus was a masterpiece and that remains so in 2018. This is one of the greatest games ever made and is an accolade that shows no sign of being detached from its monumental presence.” — John Robertson [Full review]
