Monster Hunter remains king, but there's one thing it could learn from Wild Hearts

I think Wild Hearts is a terribly unbalanced game. I think some of the monsters you fight are too bland, and I think some of them are far, far too spicy. I think the gameplay loop is fattier and chewier than it is in genre rival Monster Hunter, and I think the vast majority of fights have more gristle in them than is totally necessary. The game does an atrocious job of educating you about what exactly is hidden away in the recesses of the experience, and the armour/upgrade ecosystem feels carelessly crammed in – with no care or consideration for the end result – and demands too much of you for what it offers in return.

And yet, I can’t stop playing it. It feels like eating a sausage; the game is packed with more mechanical viscera than a butcher’s worst bin-end banger, but it’s somehow inexplicably moorish and delicious. You could compare Monster Hunter to some haute cuisine masterclass; an expensive but reliable plate that’s been refined and seasoned to perfection. A specialty from the executive chefs at House d’Capcom, the sort of thing you go back for once a year to see what new batshit ideas the studio has cooked up to add to the formula.

Koei Tecmo and Omega Force (who you may recognise from ‘comfort food’ series, Dynasty Warriors) have gone the other direction with Wild Hearts. All filler, no killer – the empty carbs of the video game world. The interactive entertainment equivalent of ‘filling up on bread’. It’s mindless, but filling – the sort of thing you can lose hours to completely by accident. Like binge-watching a series you don’t even particularly like, but keep on the TV ‘because it’s on’.