Monster Hunter Generations first came out in 2015 in Japan as Monster Hunter X with the promise of delivering a breath of fresh air to a series that was already at the peak of its niche on the 3DS. Both critics and fans alike regarded the game as a financial success since its launch in the East, as it achieved over half of the projected sales for the first trimester in just two days. By December, around two months after launch, the game had already surpassed its sales projections by more than 500,000 units. Suffice to say; it was a resounding success even before it came overseas.

Meanwhile, those of us on the other side of the world had to conform to watching gameplay videos and other updates in anticipation of purchasing our copies when it came overseas. Fortunately, Capcom didn’t make us wait that long; the game launched as Monster Hunter Generations in The Americas and Europe in July of the following year. I immediately hopped on Amazon, purchased my copy, and waited patiently as the freight forwarder brought me the game back to the country where I was living at the time. Luckily, at first impression, I immediately felt that the game was well worth waiting for.

At a glance, I can say that Monster Hunter Generations is, as the title of this article suggests, a worthy successor to its previous iteration, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Of course, the game itself was already vastly different than the last entry. Among its main defining features was the arrival of hunting styles which, when combined with the existing 14 weapons, made for an entirely different hunting experience than in previous games. With this system, Capcom proved that fresh gameplay is not necessarily brought about by adding more weapons.

However, in an ironic turn of events, Monster Hunter Generations also featured a brand new weapon type, which was called the Prowler Mode. This mode allowed your hunter to stay behind while you take control of a Palico — one of your feline companions — and deliver the hurt to your quarry. This new weapon type bumped the total to 15 weapons in this game.

Despite remaining virtually the same in many aspects, the new hunting styles, as well as the Prowler Mode, made Monster Hunter Generations feel like a completely different game in a series that is already known for providing steep learning curves and high skills ceilings where all but the most committed can master their weapon and survive the deadliest encounters.

With that being said, let’s take a look at what makes this game so great, and why you, as either a veteran of the series or a newcomer to the games, would potentially enjoy Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.

What’s New?

If you’re an avid Monster Hunter fan, then you know that this isn’t the first time this game has been released. As I mentioned above, Monster Hunter Generations came out in 2015. However, as is customary for games in this series, the game was relaunched in Japan a few years later in March 2017 as Monster Hunter XX for the 3DS. This game featured, among other things, some new hunting styles, several new monsters, and a new category of quests — the infamous G-Rank —, which presented players with the deadliest challenges of the game, to date.

In other words, Monster Hunter XX/Generations Ultimate was to Monster Hunter X/Generations what Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate was to Monster Hunter 4. It was the same base game, with some small, yet significant, gameplay features added, which I’ll address shortly.

However, what makes Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate so interesting, at least when compared to other iterations, is that Capcom never decided to port the 3DS version to the West. Instead, they went all out and decided to port a Switch version of the game that featured all the things I mentioned above, as well as myriad visual improvements. In this sense, this game became the first mainline Monster Hunter game (excluding Monster Hunter World, which is arguably a spinoff) to be in a home console since Monster Hunter Tri back on the Wii, and you can trust me when I say that the game looks better than ever.

The Good

If you’ve played Monster Hunter Generations on the 3DS, then you’re already acquainted with most of what this game has to offer. However, for those that are not familiar with the series, or for those that started with World, and want to experience the best the franchise has to offer, then please read on.

As was expected, Generations Ultimate brought a plethora of changes to the original game. However, other additions, such as the new hunting styles and Palico type, were not. Traditionally, Capcom usually releases a revised version of their Monster Hunter games about a year after their original launch, which adds several new quests, new monsters, and an entire new difficulty tier for hunters both veteran and newcomer alike to challenge.

New Monsters

For Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, 14 returning monsters joined the roster of large monsters, among which we can find Barioth, Diablos, Congalala, Fatalis, Raging Brachydios, and Nerscylla, among others. None of these monsters were new to the series. However, they were not in the original Monster Hunter Generations. One of the fan favorites, Nerscylla, is a breath of fresh air for many, as there are hardly any arachnid foes in the game. Furthermore, the new flagship monster of this version is the Valstrax, a mysterious Elder Dragon that is as gorgeous in design as it is tough to beat.

Excluding Monster Hunter World, these games have always been about traversing (relatively) flat areas in search for the target, and then skillfully felling the beast, completing the hunt. In this regard, Generations Ultimate is stellar as it allows you to face off against the most extensive roster of monsters in a single game, to date. Granted, some of these tasks are exclusive to the multiplayer hub, which houses some of the most challenging content in the game, for which the game strongly recommends assembling a party of 4 hunters. Nevertheless, when it comes to these games, more is always better.

New Hunting Styles and SP Mode

Hunting styles are a concept unique to Monster Hunter Generations. These combat techniques add an extra challenge of skill to the already-too-high skill ceiling of the game by changing up how each weapon performs with each style. Instead of only mastering 14 weapons (not including the Prowler Mode), players would now have to learn four different fighting styles per weapon, some of which radically changed how they performed in combat. In this sense, Capcom managed to completely refresh the gameplay in Monster Hunter Generations, and without even having to add more weapons.

In addition to Hunting Styles, each weapon now had several hunting arts that the players could use in battle. For example, Charge Blade users could unleash their Limit Break skill to temporarily increase the number of charge phials that their weapon could carry. On the other hand, Sword and Shield users could equip Shoryugeki, a skill that, after landing a regular slice, would propel them into the air, shield-first, to unleash a devastating uppercut on the monster. There are many other weapons skills to choose from, which I won’t go into detail here. The point is, these Hunter Arts are a great addition an already great game, which rewards the players for performing well in combat as the charge time for each skill relies heavily upon landing hits, evading, or other similar actions.

The four main hunting styles added in the game were Guild, Striker, Adept, and Aerial. The first two styles featured minor variations upon the base moves, with Guild Style being the one which most closely resembles the base gameplay most players are used to. Striker Style emphasizes the use of hunter arts, as these skills recharge faster with this style. Adept Style focuses on dodging and counterattacking, as it allows users to perform a unique dodge when timed correctly with the monster’s attack, followed by a crushing counter blow. Last but not least, Aerial Style usually comes with the most restrictions regarding original gameplay mechanics, but it makes up for this with a whole new jump dodge to replace the original roll, which allowed users to propel themselves in the air and attack from above easily.

In Generations Ultimate, however, two new hunting styles were added: Valor and Alchemy Styles. The former consists of using flashy sheathe moves to increase the valor gauge. Once you manage to charge the valor gauge completely, your hunter enters valor mode, which unlocks several powerful new moves. The latter, on the other hand, is an interesting style that revolves around an alchemy barrel that the hunter can shake to create different items and effects during battle. I really can’t do Alchemy Style justice in this article, as it would require a space of its own to explain its mechanics. All I can say is that it’s a handy style that allows you to buff your party and yourself, and everyone will love you if you master it.

Last but not least, we have the new SP Mode, which is a powered-up state that hunters can enter when using SP-enhanced arts. This state gives some useful benefits to hunters based on their current style, including faster item use for Guild Style, auto-charging of hunter arts for Striker Style, faster charging of valor gauge for Valor Style, and so on. To enter SP mode, you have to assign “SP Arts” from the arts menu. These arts are essentially the same as their base forms, though they take longer to charge up. When used in combat, your will trigger SP mode for your party and yourself. Furthermore, subsequent uses of SP arts increase the level of SP mode, which unlocks more bonuses, up to a fourth stage, which grants everyone a 1.05x increase to break damage, increasing the rate at which monster parts will be breaking, as well as how often they will stagger when attacked.

All of these additions are amazing, as they make Generations Ultimate feel like an entirely different game, while still managing to preserve the fluid combat and high skill ceiling the series is known for. If anything, it raised the skill ceiling even more as players need to learn two new styles, as well as a new Palico type, on top of the 14 existing weapons.

The Bad

As some people say: there can be no Yin without its Yang. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, however, could almost be the exception to this if it were not for a few minor flaws.

Monster Presentations

As I commented on my Monster Hunter World review, I’m not a hardcore veteran of the series. I started with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the 3DS, which positively blew my mind with its presentation. Every time you encountered a new monster, a cool cutscene played where your hunter would engage the beast, and they would trade some blows before the scene seamlessly transitioned into gameplay. This feature served to show you a bit about how the monster behaves, revealing potential weaknesses, or alerting you to any of his attacks.

In both Monster Hunter Ultimate and Ultimate Generations, however, this was no longer the case. Now, with each new monster you encounter, you only see them walking around for a few seconds before the scene pauses for a few seconds as the name of the monster appears in big white letters, and then fades to black as it transitions back to gameplay.

Now, most fans — myself included — don’t play Monster Hunter for the flashy intros nor the cinematic experience. Nevertheless, the absence of cool introductory cutscenes feels like a step down from the previous iteration. Even Monster Hunter World, which is arguably a weaker entry when it comes to variety and design decisions, completely nailed the monster introductions, which says a lot.

Pacing

In both Monster Hunter World, and 4 Ultimate, the game had a progression to it: You would arrive at a place, encounter a problem, solve it, and move on. As an anniversary title, however, Monster Hunter Generations kind of dumps everything on you at once, so there’s no sense of direction nor purpose to your actions. Sure, you’re a Hunter working with the Wycademy to gather samples and study monsters, as usual, but this time it feels like you’re doing it out of leisure, instead of an overarching plot that takes you to different places.

To further compound the issue, you unlock access to all the cities in the game after completing only a handful of quests, which you can freely travel to and from, and which open up a bunch of new assignments. In this sense, instead of a natural progression of events, you’re bombarded with a bunch of places at once, which can feel a bit overwhelming. Furthermore, to progress through the game, and earn access to more quests, you must complete several “hidden quests,” which are just regular quests that, when completed, advance the story. This aspect is great, in theory, but these hidden quests are a handful among many, many filler quests that, honestly, no one likes to do. Fishing and Transporter quests, I’m looking at you!

Story

This criticism is more of a nitpick than anything else since I think I am among the few players that give a hoot about the story in a Monster Hunter game. To my dismay, however, the plot in Generations Ultimate is back to the traditional formula where there is no story. What few events that happen here and there are just an excuse to get you to hunt more monsters. Even the Fated Four — the alleged flagship monsters of the game — have next to no plot significance, unlike the Gore Magala in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, which you followed throughout its whole transformation into the powerful Shagaru Magala.

The plot in Monster Hunter games, while usually very light on the drama and narrative, helps to give meaning to the player’s actions in a game that is all about the gameplay and less about the story. If you look at it from that point of view, then investing time on a compelling is counter-productive. Nevertheless, for players that are in the same boat as me, the story was the cherry on top of the tasty, delicious cake.

Recommended For

As a game released for the 10th anniversary of the series, Monster Hunter Generations and Generations Ultimate feel like a medley of different yet familiar monsters, zones, and challenges. This mix makes the title ideal for those wanting to experience the best that the franchise has to offer. Similarly, for those who are not yet familiar with any Monster Hunter games, Generations Ultimate is an ideal starting point as you’ll have access to most features that have been present in every other entry in the series.

Not Recommended For

As I said on my Monster Hunter World review, this series is not for those who don’t like the grind. This series’ endgame usually revolves around hunting the same monsters over and over again to make that set of armor or weapon you’ve been eyeing. In this sense, if repetitive games are not your thing (even though no two hunts are ever the same), then you might want to skip this entire series of games.

Written by Juan Lopez
Gamer, Freelance Writer living in Buenos Aires, Argentina.