Monster Hunter is an action RPG by Capcom. This is its fourth iteration and for a game that hasn’t changed its formula a whole lot in the last ten due its tried and true nature, its still a fantastic buy and well worth the attention. You pick between an assortment of classes, Sword and Shields-man, Gunner, Two Hand Blade Wielder–there are plenty of classes so that anyone can find something that they like. The class that you pick will determine the way that you that you go about battling monsters.

You battle monsters for money, for glory and to progress the story–but fighting monsters is highly satisfying due to the upgrade system and the combat.

In all Monster Hunter games, you defeat monsters and they drop items that you will use to upgrade your weapons. There are an obtuse amount of differing types of amour and weapons that can be upgraded by seamlessly and often. Nearly every time you down a boss, you will receive a piece of a monster that can be used to upgrade your utilities. This helps the player want to go out questing on side quests and makes the whole level grinding process a tad bit easier to swallow.

The Combat, especially in the boss sequences is dynamic, which is a fresh change from the normal beat-em-up formula. The bosses and enemies aren’t set up in a linear way. Monsters don’t hang out on walkways, they are in forests or in plains–away from the people. Bosses’ Dungeons aren’t 3 straight corridors and then a fight in a fixed room. The bosses are hidden in their levels and when you hurt them, they try to run away. A more dynamic approach to enemy and AI design helps to keep the game interesting.

Overall, the Monster Hunter Series is fantastic and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate follows the foundation laid by its predecessors from over the last 15 years. This game is a must have for 3Ds owners.