A New Challenger Appears!!
I have been a faraway fan of the Monster Hunter series for quite a while, with my first foray into the world being the latest release in Rise. And while I quickly fell in love with its gameplay loop I still had some issues with the game, the controls being one of the biggest things. The other was while the combat felt good it never really felt great to me, and that’s just due to me preferring a faster combat feel and most of the weapons are oversized. So, when Koei/Tecmo showed they were entering the arena of monster hunting games, I took notice because I usually love the combat in their games. I am so happy to say that I found a monster hunter game that has everything I was looking for.
In Wild Hearts players are quickly thrown into a tutorial after creating their characters; an extremely lush jungle area that is littered with resources and smaller creatures to tame or kill for parts lay before them. Set in a land based on feudal Japan where giant beasts known as Kemono roam the land, players will soon learn that they possess an ability known as ‘kakuri’ which is the art of building traps and gadgets for which to use to take down kemono. The monsters or kemono in this game are impressive to say the least. As I said I only played the latest version of MH so in comparison these are larger and are more impressively designed based on what I have seen in Rise. They range from classic Pokemon takes on a frost wolf who is difficult as all get out to put down, to a rodent creature with a flower behind its ear and many others. Each of the creatures have two forms, the initial state or ‘calm’ as the game refers to it and then their agitated state where they become one with nature. The Wildtusk for instance will grow longer tusks that will become searing with fire, while his body becomes more overgrown with moss and he erupts earthy tentacles under your feet. It’s all rather impressive to say the least.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
The largest difference between Wild Hearts and Monster Hunter is the almost ‘Fortnite’ like ability to construct objects known as ‘Karakuri” to assist in taking down the kemono. Players will also use these to build their camps and set up their bases while out in the field. These include various items to improve food such as drying racks and fermenting barrels and even a giant wheel to ride around the map in but be warned it is extremely fragile. These devices require Karakuri thread to construct which will be highlighted around players when using ‘hunter vision’. Building Karakuri is mapped to the LB on Xbox and with the press of a face button players can build a giant hammer. In order to build some of the more advanced Karakuri, players will get flashes of inspiration during hunts, like for a spike trap during the dreadwolf hunt or a bulwark for the frosttusk. These devices and knowing how and when to build them are the key to success in Wild Hearts. Just paying attention to each kemono will give clues to players on which karakuri will help them to avoid and punish an attack.
Speaking of attacking, Wild Hearts has a nice array of weapons for hunters to take down their prey. Everything from a kitana sword to a bladed umbrella is available to use, the umbrella is a cool weapon and the only one that has a parry ability. In order to be successful mastering, the parry is key and ya boi is not good so I use the chain and hook. With this weapon players can damage enemies with their basic face button attacks but when they press the RT they will drive the hook deep into the kemono allowing them to sail around the beast and pull themselves in for spin attacks to deal massive damage. It takes a bit of practice especially when using it to guard against attacks, but once I got it down it was such a satisfying feeling to be soaring through the air and attacking like the samurai in the old movies I watched as a kid. But again, just like in MH there is surely a weapon for everyone’s taste, there is even a bow and a hand cannon.
The narrative is just kind of there, it’s not bad at all and certainly longer than MH: Rise was but while its framed and even delivered like a AAA story driven game it falls flat due to an overreliance on exposition. Everything is overly explained that I will admit I skipped more than a few side scenes because I am here to hunt monsters and free you people, not be told the DNA makeup and how we can best mix it or a plant or something. There are some neat things that players learn about some of the characters that players will meet around the town of Minato; the base of operation. Natsume who is the first person we meet is a young woman who is handles the blacksmith duties, she is eternally optimistic. And then there is the stoic Ujishige, an aging samurai haunted by a kemono from his past and a costly mistake and so many more. For me learning more about the cast was more interesting than the overall narrative of Wild Hearts, but again that’s because I was just here to take down kemono.
While I have immensely enjoyed my time with Wild Hearts it is not without its problems. For starters, there are some QoL changes that I would love to see implemented, the biggest of which is a wish list when planning out armor sets. As it stands the only way players can have the information readily available is if they write it down or can remember it; and I don’t know about y’all but I’m an old man and I have enough to remember as it is and don’t have room to add if I need to hunt a King Tusk or a Lavaback for this part. (I will say that this was brought up a lot by myself and other folks at the review event and the developers are going to investigate it.) The other biggie is there needs to be some way to mount a creature or give me a mount to summon and ride because in Wild Hearts the kemono runs away ALL THE TIME. While it happens in MH maybe twice it is not uncommon in Wild Hearts to have to chase a creature down three or four times before I could finally finish it. And while players can use the Karakuri to craft various ziplines and gliders to help with mobility it’s still a bit much to run around for most of a fight.
All the running aside, I didn’t experience a lot of issues on the Series X. Wild Hearts ran well in framerate and resolution mode with the later offering that sweet 120fps that I wish was now standard in all games. Sadly, Wild Hearts only supports three player co-op instead of the traditional four player but the biggest compliment I can pay to Wild Hearts is that it has taken that addictive gameplay loop from Monster Hunter and cut out so much of the bloated controls and systems that for me it feels like the superior hunting game. (I SAID FOR ME, I know how y’all are….) The controls are simple, there aren’t a bunch of sub menus and things, and everything just works well. I would like to see some improvements to AI and things in the future but with an aggressive post launch plan that includes more monsters (kemono) and story beats, Omega Force is firmly behind Wild Hearts and that can only mean good things for the monster hunting market at large.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
