Monster Hunter
What It Is: Capcom’s open world action-RPG series that started back in the PS2 days. Just like the title implies, your job is to hunt down monsters and capture or kill them. On the upside, you get to travel a lot and add to your frequent flyer miles.
Why You Should Play It: This series is basically the monster killing sidequests in The Witcher, just made into the core of the entire game. You start out in an area and can gather whatever materials you need to take out the big beast and get their remains to turn in for money or research. Unlike other action-RPGs, you don’t level up at all, you have to improve your character by getting better equipment. You’re free to switch between any weapons and armor you have to change your playing experience a good deal. You can play in a fully solo experience by yourself, or gather three friends together for epic monster killing that you’ll be talking about for weeks to come. The friends that slay monsters together stay together… or however that goes.
Which One You Should Play First: Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate Edition. It takes the best elements from each of the previous games and preserves the series’ core mechanics while giving more in depth and exciting options. Climbing is a welcome to gameplay and adds verticality to the combat, alongside new weapons and the addition of monster diseases. For anyone who wants a real challenge, G-rank missions will test your mettle, and even more so if you go with friends. If you like games like Borderlands or Destiny that give you more loot than you know what to do with, Ultimate Edition will satisfy your desire to hoard with plenty of rare resources that’ll let you construct new gear and add tons of replayability. Once you add in greater and more diverse sets of worlds and an excellent multiplayer element that encourages teamwork and cooperation, it’s easy to see why this series has stuck around for so long.
