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Capcom has positioned Monster Hunter Generations as a celebration of the franchise's decade-plus of popular releases, but that doesn't mean it won't be introducing anything new. In particular, Generations has two major new systems that add a ton of depth to the combat.
First off is the "style" system. Now in addition to choosing between one of 14 completely different weapon types, players will also be able to set one of four combat styles for their hunter. Want the game to feel more or less like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate? Go with the guild style. Or if you're looking for something more agile, you can pick the aerial style, which lets you bounce off monsters or even other players and slam down from the air with your weapon.
Your style choice also impacts the second new system: hunter arts. Depending on which style you go with, you get to equip between one and three hunter arts, which are basically super moves that charge up throughout the course of the fight. There are general hunter arts that can be equipped with any weapon — such as an extra dodge move to get out of scary situations or a deployable area-of-effect healing machine — as well as arts specific to each weapon type.
Both of these additions build on the classic Monster Hunter gameplay formula in really smart ways, adding a ton more customization to the game. You can check out multiple styles and hunter arts in the video above, where we take down two monsters. First, there's Nargacuga, a returning beast originally featured in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. After that, we go after Astalos, a new dragon creature and one of the four major monsters in Monster Hunter Generations.
Monster Hunter Generations will be released in North America for the Nintendo 3DS this summer.
