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If you've ever cheered because you've perfectly avoided an unfair, arena-covering attack in a Souls game, then you'll be jumping out of your seat when you skillfully sidestep the titanic lunge of some scaly titan, only to pivot on the spot and crack it right in its ugly, dumbfounded face. Every fight in MHG is a combination of these moments of joyous lucidity and riotous sequences of desperate hacking, running, diving, and flailing as you try and get the upper hand—fights in games are rarely so comedic or as exhilarating as they are here.The previously mentioned Arts and Styles in Generations push the combat beyond previous incarnations, allowing you to put a real personal stamp on your fighting. The character class you select at the beginning—Guild, Aerial, Striker, or Adept—comes with its own advantages and move set modifications. Guild is the all-round style, whereas Aerial puts the focus firmly on getting off the ground, increasing the chances of mounting monsters while assigning flashy combo finishers to the climax of brutal aerial slams.Article continues after the video belowStriker allows the equipping of up to three of the new Arts—unique moves that allow the player to do extravagant things such as hair-trigger dodges and cosmic weapon swings. Finally, Adept is all about waiting until the last second to react, allowing you to duck away from or even parry the mightiest of monster attacks. Never before have I been clotheslined by a berserk mountain ape while dashing toward them at sub-light speeds on a jet of fire from my Gunlance, but thanks to the Arts in MHG, I have. An unexpected bucket list entry comprehensively ticked off."Fights in games are rarely so comedic or as exhilarating as they are here."
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The spectacle carries through to online. Monster Hunter's crowning triumph is its near seamless four-player co-operative hunting, with the focus firmly on team play and camaraderie. With the Styles active, hunters hurtle across the screen, dashing and flying and exploding all over the place, as monsters caterwaul in the middle of the chaos. Fights reach huge crescendos where a downed foe winds up on the receiving end of attacks that shower the landscape with sparks and great swathes of light and blood.Even with all these tweaks to the hunters, the monsters of Monster Hunter are still the stars of the show, and there are 71 of them in Generations. Plenty of the 4U crowd returns, but there are some vicious new additions: the terrifying and awe inspiring Glavenus—a T-Rex with an almighty bladed tail—and the eerie Malfestio—a sapphire owl that can turn its head 180 degrees to catch you sneaking attacks in. The lineup has been pushed to its absolute bursting point.'Monster Hunter Generations,' launch trailerAnd there's something to be said for just how much is squeezed onto this minuscule cartridge (size wise, we're talking just a pinch over 1.5GB). At times, it's a veritable wonder, like the grandest of action games has been shrunk down through some illicit, arcane wizardry. Alongside its vast bestiary, the environments are filled with painstaking detail. At night, vast constellations sparkle and shimmer in the sky, while in the crater of a volcano the screen gets hazy with the suffused heat that gives the cooling magma its glossy sheen. The artistry and care bleeds through everywhere, right down to the twitchy dances that your Felyne Palico companions perform as you roast a juicy steak."Hunters hurtle across the screen, dashing and flying and exploding all over the place, as monsters caterwaul in the middle of the chaos."
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I've put well over 1,000 hours into the series since it first came to the 3DS with 2011's Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and I still find fighting a Rathian utterly riveting. In Generations, the Queen of the Sky twists and thrashes with unbridled vitality. The series's most iconic monster has never been so furious that you've stepped onto her turf, and it's a brilliant endorsement of how much Generations improves on its predecessors.A progress reset may be a hard sell for anyone so deep into a prior iteration, but Generations is a rare gift. It's a white whale that can never be slain, a personal challenge that is always out of grasp, an artifact of wonder that exudes passion and quality from every facet of its improbably small cart. Sincerely, there's never been a better time to sharpen your blades and join the hunt.Monster Hunter Generations is out now for the Nintendo 3DS. Find more information here.Follow Luke Shaw on Twitter.New, on The Creators Project: What a Wikipedia Video Game Can Teach Us About Politics