‘Monster Hunter Generations’ Review: More Retooled & Refined Hunting Tools

Game: Monster Hunter Generations
Consoles: 3DS
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom

Monster Hunter Generations arrives with another chain that links together Capcom’s most celebrated action-RPG series. The audience that has always stuck close to the latest mobile entries have another sequel to throw hundreds of hours into. This entry isn’t just content with being more of the same, thankfully. The gameplay that has stood the test of time has been freshened up due to a number of system adjustments and changes to the battle system. Monster Hunter Generations gives the 3DS another top-notch creature hunt that newcomers and longtime fans will gravitate towards.

Like before, you’ll produce your own hunter and outfit him/her in all pieces of custom gear. Once you step out in the dangerous wilderness, you’ll be tasked with completing a large number of tutorial missions that prepare you for the real missions at hand. After completing missions and gathering the necessary goods needed to craft new gear/items several times, you’ll get used to such an engaging gameplay loop. When you do arm yourself, you’ll notice a bunch of cool adjustments to the battle system. The addition of Hunting Styles and Arts are a blessing. Sticking certain Hunting Styles to your hunter allows them to stick to a particular style of offense/defense. It’s possible to build up a hunter who focuses more on aerial attacks, for instance. The coolest abilities available in the game are the Hunting Arts, which are flashy super moves that will always save you in the heat of battle. These two new mechanics (plus having the ability to use your kitty companions) do a great job of freshening up the battle system.

Starting off with miniature and medium-sized monster hunts are easy enough. The game really ramps up when you gather together a trustworthy party and battle against a behemoth, such as the Glavenus or Great Maccao. What worked before definitely still works here. Working efficiently to take down a creature with a solid team effort, properly healing your allies, watching for telltale signs of a powerful monster attack and finally besting said monster still feels amazing. These battles continue to be a fun romp that pays off when you use a defeated monster’s tools to craft more of your own weapons/defensive gear. The newest monsters you’ll face off with fit right in with the legacy creatures we’ve defeated plenty of times before.

Monster Hunter Generations not only features the factors that makes its predecessors great, but it still has a few nagging issues. While it’s great to see that gathering items is a much simpler affair, wading through so many menus to perform simple tasks is a chore. The menu system needs to be simplified in future entries at this point. It takes a bit too long to go digging through several sub-menu’s just to equip new gear or craft new items. The Monster Hunter series has never tied itself to a grand storyline, but it’d be nice to have some sort of plotline to follow in yet another entry. Having more of a reason (such as helping build up the village you reside in) to perform yet another tedious fetch quest would have been great here.

Bottom Line

Monster Hunter Generations manages to keep the nice streak going for Capcom’s successful action RPG series. Taking down menacing monsters with a party of like-minded hunters is even more fun now that Hunting Styles/Arts make your characters even more fun to utilize. Having the option to simply hold down a button to gather resources and even use a feline ally in battle does a good job of making everything feel more improved. The menu system still needs some tweaking in order to make it easier to manage, plus there needs to be some sort of better plotline that makes completing the more tedious missions feel worth it. For those of who have stuck with the franchise for so long, Monster Hunter Generations will continue to keep you in the fold.

Score: 8.5/10

Pros:

• Taking down massive beasts in this game is still as fun as ever
• The unique Hunting Styles and Hunter Arts makes your hunter even more customizable than before
• Small tweaks (such as holding down one button to gather resources) makes things easier to handle

Cons:

• Swimming through so many menus to perform simple tasks is annoying
• There’s still no important plot details to attach yourself to