System: Swap
Launch date: June 14, 2024
Developer: Capcom
Writer: Capcom
Monster Hunter Tales was simply one among my favourite titles on the system. The franchise lent itself surprisingly effectively to the monster taming style, with a stable (albeit considerably cliche) story behind it, an accessible rock-paper-scissors type of fight, and a gene system that added an sudden quantity of depth. However it was one thing of a sleeper hit, and almost certainly didn’t expertise the franchise till the sequel, Monster Hunter Tales 2: Wings of Smash, arrived on the Swap almost 4 years later. Now, simply in time for the franchise’s anniversary, Capcom has lastly introduced the unique to the Swap. However is it too little, too late?
The Swap launch of Monster Hunter Tales is a largely unaltered remaster of the 3DS authentic, with the few added tweaks made to its gameplay extra in the way in which of changes to make it playable on Nintendo’s present technology system. As a result of absence of a second display screen, the UI that appeared in fight has been shifted to the left hand facet of the display screen, making it barely smaller, but it surely stands out clearly even on the hand-held display screen. Something that concerned tapping the display screen is now accomplished by hammering away at buttons, which can disappoint some who may need been hoping that Capcom would make the most of the Swap’s contact display screen to recreate these mechanics, however it’s nonetheless completely useful and doesn’t detract from the gameplay expertise.
The one UI difficulty I had with the sport was the minimap within the right-hand nook of the display screen, which has two completely different ranges of magnification, and sadly the second isn’t actually massive sufficient to really feel like a big improve over the primary one. The choice to view a full-screen map, or zoom out farther, would have been fairly useful, and made exploring the extra empty-feeling maps a bit extra participating. That is very true of later areas, the place the terrain is barely extra sophisticated, and easily following the target markers doesn’t actually provide you with any thought of what lies in your path to get there.
Visually the sport has been given a dramatic overhaul, and though it isn’t fairly on par with Wings of Smash, the anime type of the sport helps to easy out the rougher edges and make it really feel extra like a component of the presentation than the results of age. There’s a good stage of element and shade on the character and Monstie fashions specifically that makes them come out on display screen. You’ll be watching the identical animations so much, so it’s lucky that the animations and particular results of strikes are dynamic, and far crisper than they have been on the 3DS. Some textures within the surroundings are fairly low decision when considered up shut (I observed this with climbable vines specifically) and there are the occasional delays in animations on the map, with a barely odd pause between gathering from the again of your Monstie and the notification pop-up of the merchandise you obtained being the one you’re more likely to discover probably the most, however the recreation holds a comparatively secure framerate all through.
Nevertheless, probably the most notable component of this remaster is that every one story scenes are actually totally voiced, each cutscenes (which have additionally been given the anticipated visible overhaul on the uncommon events they aren’t rendered utilizing in-game visuals) and static dialogue. I can’t overstate simply how a lot this fully transforms the expertise, and the standard of the voice appearing is well on par with any of the larger finances RPGs I’ve performed lately. The English dub is great, with traces delivered with enthusiasm (maybe a bit an excessive amount of in Navirou’s case, though this fully in-character for him because the annoying sidekick and stand-in for the protagonist, who stays unvoiced) from each character, with a pleasant vary of accents and character sorts that makes every one among them really feel bursting with distinctive character. For these averse to English dubs Capcom has additionally included Japanese voice appearing, permitting you to expertise the story nevertheless you select. When mixed with the visuals, Monster Hunter Tales typically appears like an interactive anime, which completely enhances the tone of the story.
Sadly Capcom didn’t decide to include any of the quality-of-life options added to the gameplay in Monster Hunter Tales 2: Wings of Smash, and though the 2 titles have the identical underlying mechanics and Tales has held up extremely effectively over the eight years because it was first launch, the absence of among the enhancements to the system that have been added within the sequel could make it really feel fairly dated at instances should you’ve performed the sequel and that is your first expertise with the unique. The flexibility to maneuver Genes to completely different slots through the Ceremony of Channeling is maybe the largest absent function, making the method of constructing your crew of Monsties a extra luck-dependent course of than it was within the sequel. Should you plan on participating in any respect with the postgame, the place the issue spikes considerably, it is a system you’ll have to spend so much of time with, and this added stage of RNG in getting the gene in the best slot, on prime of discovering it within the first place, makes the method really feel unnecessarily tedious by comparability. Nevertheless, regardless of these limitations there’s truly a better stage of flexibility right here as a result of you may change the component of your Monstie via gene manipulation, a function that was truly eliminated within the sequel: if you would like a water component Rathalos, for instance, the sport makes it doable, and this permits for some very fascinating crew compositions.
The addition of put up recreation content material that was beforehand solely obtainable within the Japanese launch of the sport additionally offers gamers who skilled the sport on 3DS the primary time round one thing new to have interaction with, and makes up barely for the removing of the Legend of Zelda DLC. Though the removing of that is comprehensible with the sport now on a number of completely different platforms, it’s unlucky that it couldn’t be added to the Swap launch.
The Verdict
Monster Hunter Tales has held up extremely effectively over time, and even should you’ve performed the sport earlier than it’s price experiencing once more on the Swap for the voice appearing alone, which provides a completely new dynamic to the story and makes it far more entertaining. It’s unlucky that extra wasn’t accomplished to the gameplay to carry it as much as par with the sequel, but it surely’s exhausting to seek out fault with the work that was accomplished to carry this title to Swap, and it stays an enthralling and extremely accessible spinoff that must be in your radar.
Monster Hunter Tales copy supplied by the writer for the needs of this evaluation.
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