Digital Foundry have gone hands on with Monster Hunter Rise which is released Friday and have come away suitably impressed.
The latest game in the long-running franchise is the first on the Nintendo Switch to use Capcom’s RE Engine and Digital Foundry says the “compromises are clear, but the results are impressive.” When played docked the game’s resolution is 1344×756 and handheld is 960×540. Thankfully Capcom has locked the frame rate to 30fps.
Monster Hunter Rise analysis
“The overall level of detail remains lower than Monster Hunter World, of course, and you’ll certainly note the ‘flat textured surface’ look in many areas due to limited foliage coverage, but it works overall. The much smaller village area is certainly one of the highlights with gorgeous use of distant scenery to lend what is a simple gameplay hub a beautiful aesthetic.
And that’s delivered despite limited use of the RE Engine’s full feature set. That being said, ‘limited’ doesn’t mean that features aren’t used at all. For example, bokeh depth of field is likely too computationally expensive for gameplay but does appear in engine-driven cutscenes.
Image quality is acceptable but rather than different than your average modern-day release as its completely ignores temporal anti-aliasing in favour of a sharper but noisier look. In docked mode, pixel count suggests a fixed resolution of 1344×756 with edges producing a regular sample count of 21 out of 30 pixels.
Due to the nature of the image, it’s easier to count than your typical modern game release. Portable mode drops this to 960×540 which is ever so slightly below the native resolution of the PS Vita screen. Regardless, it’s a nice-looking game – nothing mind blowing by today’s standards but it’s well-crafted for the target platform, and of course, that’s the point.”
“All told, I feel Capcom has done a commendable job in building this latest Monster Hunter instalment. The RE Engine scales well and the developers have struck the right balance with the technology in ensuring you get a good-looking game without tanking performance on the Tegra X1 processor.
The right cuts were made and the game still looks great overall, even though certain sections can look a little plain at times. It seems that Capcom isn’t done with the game yet, and the mooted arrival of a PC version next year may yet see more of the RE Engine’s features deployed for a richer looking, smoother game. But in the here and now at least, Monster Hunter Rise is a recommended Switch purchase.”
