Launched in 2004 on PlayStation 2, the Monster Hunter saga has since conquered millions of players around the world. And if Capcom's schedule is rather busy with the upcoming release of Monster Hunter World on PS4, Xbox One and PC, the Japanese publisher does not forget to prepare for the future with Monster Hunter Stories. Intended for a younger audience, this spin-off of the series will have benefited from significant media coverage with the joint release of the anime "Monster Hunter Stories RIDE ON" at the end of 2016. And to rejuvenate its audience, what better than to dip into the best recipes? Thus, the game swaps monster hunting for eyeing the side of breeding imaginary creatures. A well-known concept that will undoubtedly recall the classic of the genre, Pokémon. But if the game developed by the Marvelous studio borrows a lot from its elder, it nevertheless takes advantage of the rich heritage of Monster Hunter to offer us a very different adventure.
TAKE A RIDE
If monsters are considered dangerous creatures that only hunters can face, the inhabitants of the small village of Hakum have a very different view of things. Here, the hunters give way to the Riders, humans capable of befriending more or less dangerous monsters. Thus, it is in this small village in harmony with nature that we begin our adventure. It embodies a young boy or a young girl (your choice) old enough to perform the initiation rite of the Riders. After passing your test, you receive a Friendship Stone that allows you to tame wild beasts, also known as Monsties. Then follows a long journey to discover the rest of the continent and lift the veil on a mysterious phenomenon that contaminates certain monsters. In addition, you will also have to go in search of your best friend Ren who, after losing his parents during an attack by infected monsters, decided to go and eradicate them. Although the scenario turns out to be relatively classic, it remains rather pleasant to follow and the eco-friendly message of the title makes it particularly cute and interesting for children.
In order to go on an adventure in complete safety, the village chief will give you a Velociprey, a fast dinosaur that will do the trick during your first confrontations. Thereafter, you will of course be able to expand your collection of Monsties but to achieve this, you will have to collect eggs and not capture specimens. In fact, this does not change much since the task is much simpler, you just have to go to a nest of wild beasts. At the bottom of it you can find several eggs and you will have to choose the one that seems the most interesting to you. In order not to make a mistake in your choice, you can count on your felyne companion who will be able to tell you when an egg can be really important. The latter will also play a sidekick role throughout the story since it will allow you to obtain valuable clues on what you should do. If the egg hunt concept could have been really fun, the result is a little more disappointing. By being careful, it is possible not to encounter any monsters, which quickly makes the hunt generic. The feeling of tirelessly repeating the same operation is quickly felt and very often it will still be necessary to rely on chance to know which monster will emerge from the egg.
THE EASTER LAGOMBI
If you can count on markers to force certain monsters to reveal their lair to you, which will ensure the capture of a desired specimen, egg hunting takes on a whole new dimension when you unlock the Transmission ability. The latter allows you to merge the genes of two monsters so that one of them gets new powers and abilities. From then on the egg hunt becomes much more interesting and increasing the capacities of each Monstie to the maximum should take you quite a bit of time. If the exploration of the nests had been more thrilling, the formula could have been perfect. Unfortunately, only the most relentless will see the end of this long challenge while the less passionate should quickly ignore this point. Especially since the game remains quite simple and you can easily do without it for a large part of your adventure. However the youngest should find their account there as the face of certain Monsties makes us absolutely want to catch them.
As you go, you will be able to build a team of Monsties, each more powerful than the other, to face the many fights that await you. Like other games of the genre, Monster Hunter Stories relies on turn-based combat. Nevertheless, so often the monsters are the only combatants, here, your character will also take part in the confrontation. It is therefore as a duo that you will have to compose each attack phase. To do this, nothing could be simpler, since you just have to choose between three types of attack: strength, speed and technique. Like Chifoumi, each type of action has an advantage and weak point vis-à-vis the others. Thus, it will be necessary to choose its attack maliciously so as not to be countered by the enemy. Each monster has favorite attacks and after a few fights you can easily guess your opponent's next move, which will give you the advantage. Be careful though, some Monsties are smarter than others and are able to change the type of attack in the middle of a fight, just to make the duels a little more difficult.
CHIFOUMI TIME
To do more damage you can even combine your attacks with those of your partner, provided you target the same enemy and perform an attack of the same type. On the other hand, it will always be necessary to win the chifoumi to achieve this ultra powerful combo. Very quickly, the synergy between our character and his Monstie plays an important role and you will often have to change partners in order to be able to use combo attacks of the appropriate type. In addition, during battles, a friendship gauge is displayed in the center of the touch screen. Once filled, the latter will allow you to ride your Monstie to obtain more power. You can then use a special attack that can be improved by winning duels against the opponent. To top it off, you can count on elemental attacks to inflict more damage. Thus, for example, a cold-type monster will be more sensitive to fire attacks. Despite everything, if the fights offer a certain strategic dimension, the Chifoumi-style duels take up a little too much space. Very quickly, we just try to perform combo attacks in order to increase our friendship gauge even faster and use our ultimate attack. Eventually the fights become more of a formality than anything else and you won't have too much trouble getting out of it.
In the event that the fights are too difficult for your team, you can also count on many items that will bring you various bonuses. To take advantage of it, you will have to make recipes using ingredients that you will have to pick up on the animals or through the different areas of the game. Fairly simple to learn, the crafting system will also allow you to concoct small dishes to increase the level of your monsters. Useful when you've just captured a Monstie, and don't feel like bashering the mob just to level it up. Of course, your hero will not have to go into battle without protections and you can also increase the level of the different weapons and armor to buy during your adventure. Once again the collection of materials is essential and if you want to make your life easier, going to the blacksmith is highly recommended. Crafting therefore plays an important role in your adventure, but unfortunately, harvesting ingredients is so simple that even the most lazy of players will be able to make most of the recipes in the game.
IT'S BEAUTIFUL, IT'S BIG, BUT IT'S EMPTY...
This disconcerting ease in finding ingredients comes mainly from the level-design of the game's areas. If the latter turn out to be quite large for a title developed on 3DS, they still remain terribly empty. Other than monsters and ingredients, you won't have much else to discover. So we end up wandering in the various regions of the game without really thinking. Fortunately, the possibility of riding on his Monsties can add a little freshness to a very gloomy trip. Out of combat, each monster has a special ability that can be used to find natural resources but also to access "hidden" places. Again, if the idea could have been really nice, the layout of the play areas makes finding these spots much too easy. In the end, you will mainly have to go back and forth to a village in order to integrate the Monstie with the appropriate ability into your team. To drive the point home a little more, the side quests are generic at will and will once again force you to go back and forth constantly.
What saddens the most in all this is that Monster Hunter Stories displays impressive graphics for the 3DS. The Cel-Sahding works wonders and it is with pleasure that we set off to explore the different regions of the game. younger. The perfect opportunity for them to discover more about Monster Hunter's bestiary while having fun. The stereoscopic 3D is really successful and brings a real plus to the title which makes us regret the emptiness of the game areas even more. Despite its cuteness, Monster Hunter Stories fails to make exploration interesting and older children should quickly complete the main story. The youngest will still find their account thanks to colorful graphics but also well-written dialogues. The little touch of humor brought by our felyne friend makes the adventure much more pleasant and the ecological message transmitted throughout the game makes Monster Hunter Stories a perfect RPG for the youngest.
