Monster Hunter Generations review – fantastic beast hunt hits new heights
Capcom's brilliant Nintendo DS series about hunting fearsome creatures just got even better - but it still might not be for everyone
Among the different ways to make video games at the very top end is iteration, and one of the masters has always been Capcom. The original Monster Hunter was released on PS2 in 2004 and since then it has become a phenomenally successful series in Japan, mostly on handheld platforms, with more modest sales globally. Each of the Monster Hunters adds to its predecessor with new locations, monsters and weapons, plus hundreds of more subtle changes, but the template remains familiar.
Put so baldly, iteration might seem at best formulaic and at worst exploitative - money for old rope. But interactivity flips the table. Making iterative games requires one non-negotiable quality. The core game has to be absolutely brilliant.
Monster Hunter has always ticked this box, but Generations shows the series at a crossroads. Video games is a highly-competitive field - a brilliant design in 2004 doesn't necessarily stay that way in 2016. Generations is the most radical change to Monster Hunter's core game Capcom has dared to make, a move towards a much more action-oriented and flexible system, but one that still exists within the classic frame. This makes Generations a fabulously complex proposition - but, as ever, Monster Hunter's worst enemy is itself.
I'll level with you. I love Monster Hunter games, and over years of recommending it to people some have tried and returned disappointed. "Not for me." I suspect this is because Monster Hunter's opening tutorials cover the very basics, but weapon-specific tutorials and move lists have to be sought-out by the player. Such a filing system is a necessary evil, because there's so much to Monster Hunter's various gear and systems that you couldn't conceivably frontload it, but it does mean new players can be overwhelmed by detail or - even worse - misunderstand critical mechanics.