Monster Hunter: World, the latest title in the successful series of Capcom, expands with Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, massive expansion of the game.
Iceborne continues the happenings of World by adding new monsters, new dangers and new mysteries to unravel, creating the Ultimate Monster Hunter.
A new beginning
Iceborne introduces the grade G, here called Master degree.
Grade G is the next level to High Grade and brings with it much more aggressive and unpredictable monsters. There are many monsters added in the expansion, including old glories like him Zinogre or Tigerx and new acquaintances, such as the cover Elder Dragon, the Velkhana.
The expansion picks up the story from the conclusion of World.
After unraveling the mystery of the crossing of the elderly and the enigmatic Xeno'Jiiva, a new danger threatens the Fifth Fleet. A strange one singing is attracting the Legiana towards a new continent unknown for now: the Brinose expanses.
Once in the Frosty Wastes, the hunter and his assistant must investigate the mysteries of the Velkhana and Ancient Omnipresent, an Elder Dragon capable of causing earthquakes and to modify the same ecosystem.
La history of Iceborne, albeit side dish and useful for the sole pretext of hunting stronger monsters, is well structured it's interesting. The cutscene kinematics are spectacular e detailed, whether it's a battle between monsters or a cutscene focusing on one of the game's many characters.
Most of the story will take place in the Brinose expanses and Seliana, a village born on the new continent.
The Briny Expanses are particularly curated graphically. The effect of the INFO is extremely realistic, and backdrops of the various areas of the map are full of life and details.
I Penguins on the floating chunks of ice, the natural baths inhabited by small macaques or le Legiana perched at the highest points of the mountains add vitality and realism to the game, characterizing the various areas.
The game has dubbing e subtitles in most major languages and dubbing in the "Monster Hunter tongue“, The classic sounds emitted by NPCs, which will surely be appreciated by lovers of the series.
New monsters and gameplay changes
Iceborne adds well 27 monsters to the original World roster, with more monsters coming up with Free DLC.
Most of the monsters in the expansion are welcome returns from the old Monster Hunters.
The new monsters in the set are relatively few, and most are Subspecies e Variants, suitable for a story centered on changes in the ecosystem.
But the most important new feature of the expansion is the Grapple Claw, which offers new possibilities of approach to hunting and opens up new avenues for additional combos of weapons.
Each of the 14 weapons in the game has the ability to carry out new moves, and some also use i Pods of the sling, adding side effects to attack.
The Claw Grapple allows arpionarsi to the monster and weaken it, make him change direction hitting him with the slingshot e launch towards some obstacles or traps thanks to Flinch Shot.
However monsters can use the Grapple for harm the hunters. Getting hit while harpooned the monster will give you the double the damage normal, often fatal to dangerous Master Rank monsters.
The Claw Grapple and new moves create a dynamism in combat never seen before in a chapter of Monster Hunter, and allows the player to take advantage of their own knowledge the game environment to lure monsters under traps or to crash them into the wall.
Like any self-respecting G chapter, Iceborne introduces many weaponry e armature of the monsters of the Master Degree, with new skills e new combinations to make the most of them. Some weapons are improvable e hybridisable, by adding parts of other monsters you can get different and stronger stats.
The return of the essence of the series
Despite all the new gameplay Iceborne looks a lot more like the old Monster Hunter compared to its predecessor.
The general atmosphere of the game, the return of cutscene e functions nice like those of Seliana boiler and the numerous citations to the old chapters, make Iceborne a real MH, detaching himself from World which on several occasions gave the impression of not belong to the series but to be a stand-alone game.
Le citations to the old chapters they really are everywhere, observable from the first minutes of the game, with our hunter who greets the aircraft of the third fleet to indicate the position to erect Seliana, or the village chef whistling the spit music barbeque, or the function for furnish their accommodation, taken directly from the third generation.
The characters, all of them well characterized to be a game that makes gameplay its strong point, they do continuous references to places and monsters of old chapters.
Quotes can also be found in the same missions of the master rank, like the "monster catcher" of the arena Brachydios, reference to MH4U, or Barioth named White knight in honor of the music of the Tundra.
All these little details, combined with the various returns of the monsters, are a real one Capcom celebration for her series, combining everything that made her famous and appreciated in one of the best DLC in history of video games, a DLC bigger than the initial game e destined to expand yet.
A great end game with the Guiding Lands
Iceborne's end game is incredibly varied, unlike that of the base game, all focused on tempered for decorations.
After the game story ends, access to Guide Lands, an area that unites various biomes, with all monsters huntable in mode free roaming.
The biomes of the Guiding Lands have gods levels, and increasing them will increase the strength of monsters addressable. Each monster and its tempered variant has unique drops, and each drop has a particular use in the game, allowing the player one great variety in farming.
The Guiding Lands also contain unpublished monsters that cannot be dealt with normally throughout history.
Artistic side
Artistically, Iceborne is almost flawless. The texture of monsters and areas are excellent and design monsters are well cared for and integrate perfectly into the environment that hosts them.
Il character design it is always very characteristic and perfectly conveys the character of the character. Iceborne characters are the same as in World, appropriately modified in clothing to adapt to the frozen continent.
The only new npc is the Seliana chef, a very sweet granny Felyne.
The new soundtracks introduced in the game are among the best of the series, for both quality of the music that for consistency with the monster it represents.
The only big flaw is the weapon design. Few weapons have original designs, most of them takes up the bone and iron bases with some pieces of the monster, not motivating the player to farm to collect them.
Technical side
On the technical side, Iceborne does not differ too much from World. The framerate was stabilized, especially on early PlayStation models, and the texture e the audio have suffered notable improvements. THE uploads, however, they remain extremely long for a minimal amount of information to load compared to other games.
Conclusion
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is without a doubt the best Monster Hunter ever created, although it still has its small flaws. The expansion takes a good part of World's problems and eliminates them, leaving a almost perfect product and that will surely be remembered as one of the best DLCs.
Suitable for both veterans of the series, which they will be happy to see more tough monsters and resistant as in the old G rank that ai novices who had their first approach with World, even if with certain monsters they could find some difficulties.
The component multiplayer it is also present in this chapter, with the possibility of hunting in 4. The life of monsters will climb with the number of players present on mission.
Iceborne is there perfect closure for World, a revolutionary title that totally changed a series, leaving it intact spirit that distinguishes it and makes her loved all over the world.
