APEX PREDATOR

Several new mechanics that enhance the hunting experience

It’s been a genuine pleasure over the years watching Monster Huntergo from a niche favourite to wild success in Japan, making inroads in the West, before smashing through and becoming a global hit. That’s perhaps over-simplifying the arc for Capcom’s beast-basher par excellence, but the series now has a huge fanbase and the kind of resource behind it that has resulted in years of better and better games, as well as a distinct split.

There’s the take on the series, which has the fundamentals but is a seriously big-budget endeavour – a visual and aural spectacle with gorgeous, flowing animations and jaw-dropping monsters is the other branch, following in the footsteps of games like and hewing closer to the series’ portable heritage: smaller, more contained maps rather than larger more open-world style exploration. , of course, originally designed as a Nintendo Switch exclusive and, though this PC release is a good port with everything. Nor can it compete on things like textures or the stunning bespoke animations for monsters fighting each other. Thing is, though, is the better game.