The review
Player 2Ava
Ava. He played it, scored it and went back to hunting. His words are in quotes; the rest is me.
- Couch dad played on
- PS5
- His status
- Played
Prologue
"I'm an MH fan since the first one came out, so I'm biased." Couch dad opens with a confession and doesn't apologize for it. He loved the ones before this too, and Monster Hunter: World got the same 9. So this is a fan's 9, and he says so first. I respect a man who declares his bias before the review starts. Most people save it for the comments.
Gameplay9
"You don't come for the story, you come for the HUNT," and the hunt, in his words, "is awesome, alright." Track it, chase it, break its parts, carve what's left, then do it all again with a bigger weapon. He's a Great Sword main: one enormous swing, total commitment, no take-backs. Between us, the Long Sword is the more elegant weapon. He doesn't need to know. Gameplay, 9.
Story4
A 4, and I won't fight him on this one. The plot is mostly a reason to point you at the next monster. The cutscenes are another matter: he calls them some of the most epic moments in the game, "but only when it's a monster you're about to hunt." Every introduction plays like a nature documentary that ends with you hitting the star with a sword. Granblue Fantasy: Relink got the same 4 from him and still walked off with an 8.
Impact9
A 9, which on his scale is peak spectacle, level with Elden Ring. The monster entrances do most of the work: the weather turns, the music swells, and something the size of a building decides you're in its way.
Depth7
He gave it a 7, and this is where I get to be smug, because Depth is the best idea in the game. It's an ecosystem that doesn't care about you. Monsters fight over territory, the land shifts with the weather, and you're one more predator passing through. I'd go a point higher. He handed me the page, so the veto is his.
Cast5
A 5, his most neutral number, and fair. Nobody in his notes gets a name: not a character, not a voice. In Monster Hunter the real cast is the monsters, and his one complaint is that there weren't enough of them at launch.
Value8
Worth full price, with a footnote. He started on the launch roster and wished it had launched "with way more monsters," adding "the seasonal monster unlock thing didn't work for me." That was then: free title updates have kept adding monsters, so anyone starting today gets a bigger zoo. HowLongToBeat puts the main hunt around 18 hours and a completionist run past a hundred. An 8.
Epilogue
A 9 that admits its bias up front, which is more than most reviews do. If you already have a main, you've bought this. Couch dad's is the Great Sword, and the Long Sword crowd can, in his words, get rekt. I'll be over here with the Long Sword ;)
