"what if pokemon and monster hunter had a baby" is the closest one-sentence description i can give of this game and boy does it deliver. it monhuns as well as monhun games (and dodges some of their pitfalls) and it pokemons... better than most pokemon games imho.

the combat is really simple, it's rock-paper-scissors but with a couple skill options thrown in to make it just interesting enough as to not be too boring, but feels less limited than pokemon's 4-skill setup. the monsters each have their patterns as in other monhun games, but on a turn-based format (which i'm very grateful for, it's nice to have time to think). that said, the difficulty isn't trivial and some of the late-game bosses require you to think pretty carefully about what you're doing even if you're working with all level 99 monsties.

the story is... okay? it's not bad but it's a game for kids so it's understandably a story for kids. i was never that invested but the characters are cute and there's a handful that are going to stick with me after this (i'm looking at you number 6), so that's plenty for me.

the graphics are really nice, i love the stylization they decided to go for and everything is so nice and bright, it's really lovely. that said, this is pushing the 3ds as hard as it will go (and then some), and it really shows, because some areas have a lot of noticeable lag and framerate drops, which is a bit of a shame.

i already have over 200 hours on a single save in this game and i'm probably going to get at least another hundred trying to 100% it and once i'm done... i might actually start another file, dang.

Got about 3/5 of the way through and felt like I'd had enough during the grindier parts.

It has a lot of charm, and does some stuff really well. Narratively, it's on par or slightly above most pokemon games and it does a pretty good job of delivering an alternative to MH that is more welcoming for people who wouldnt otherwise like them or couldn't play that sort of thing.

I did eventually get tired of the mechanic and since the monsters featured only had a small handful of ones I really wanted to collect(and did easily), plus the narrative not being altogether that interesting to be absolutely compelling, I decided to put it down. It did increase difficulty, but not in a way that was fun. It's a lot of guesswork going into rock paper scissoring your way through the combat to then get to another scene. rinse and repeat. And since the scenes were a little flat, albeit stronger than some others and without a ton of real motivation to collect monsters, that's what made me drop it.

The central battle idea is an ever-shifting version of pokemon types, with some strengths and advantages brought over from MH along with turn-to-turn advantages you get by trying to trounce the enemy's attacks. This held my interest a lot longer than if it had been a simpler JRPG style battle system.

It's interesting enough I might eventually play MHS2 but it'd be pretty disappointing if there weren't some major improvements to the story or some increased hook to it.

Better than New Generation, not better than 3rd Strike. The parry mechanic wasn't perfected in this version, which makes 3rd Strike the superior game. Good introduction to newer characters that weren't in New Generation such as Hugo, and a cool showcase to display Alex and Hugo in a rivalry.

The sound and the stages are always a great feature. The overall presentation is great, but 3rd Strike still takes it to a higher level.

Enjoyment: 5.5/8
Replayability: 0.5/1
Graphics: 0.5/0.5
Sound: 0.5/0.5
Total: 7/10

While this game plays just about as fun as the previous 3, it absolutely does not understand scenario design in the same way as the PS1 classics. Long stretches of no combat engagements while running back and forth to simply unlock doors, boss fights being absolute jokes (like the electric thing swimming in the pool) and the story setup being a poor attempt at paying off where the end of 2 left off. Also, besides getting mogged by some unfortunate stun lock combos, this game is probably the easiest so far. Ammo was in ridiculous supply as well as recovery items. I just thank god that I managed not to get softlocked on my playthrough

This was excellent! All it basically consists of is scoring high in different exercises to get your certification. Not really much else to it but it's damn fun.

You start with flying a light plane which was difficult to me but a good challenge. Then they have you skydive which had some fun with free falling through rings and landing just right. Then there's a FUCKING JETPACK section which rules and I aced every time holy shit it felt so good. There's also hang gliding which I'm dogshit at and I hated it. It also has some bonus mini type things like a high dive into a pool and flying over water in bird wings.

The game ends with most of your different instructors kidnapped by the EVIL Syndicate and you pilot a goddamn helicopter over their base which is heavily fortified with AA guns and you shoot them up with rockets. Game goes to mellow rookie training exercises to HOLY FUCK EVERYONE IS DEAD UNLESS WE SEND YOU THE ROOKIE INTO A CHANCE COMBAT SCENARIO. It's wild.

After all that you do everything again but with WIND and other intense weather conditions and the variables of the training are more demanding. Once you do that you get ANOTHER FUCKING HELICOPTER MISSION?? It's basically the same but you're saving one guy and they don't even change the ending scene. Then credits roll and you are the best pilot in [country].

Real fun and challenging. Short and sweet too. I think it took me two three hour sittings? and I sucked at half the training exercises. Still a great time and something everyone should try just to experience NINTENDO HISTORY so yeah do that.

Unlike more recent entries in the Megami Tensei mega-franchise that use the occult as largely aesthetic backdrops--a sort of calling card that "This Is An MT Game" that serves little other purpose--you can almost believe Shin Megami Tensei is cursed. There is still a sense of danger to this one thirty years later, a sense that it was developed by people genuinely deeply immersed in the spiritual and occult.

And that makes sense! The creators of SMT all but certainly grew up within Japan's occult boom of the 70s which also happened to experience a second life around the time of the game's release. Shows on spirit photography, magazines about urban legends and UFOs, the reemergence of yokai as pop culture staples...it wasn't exactly a challenge to be swallowed up by it all.

Which is what it feels like playing this game--being swallowed up. From moment one it is obtuse and strange; you press start and immediately know: something is wrong. The moon hangs over the world map; obscure net boards share occult programs; serial murders lock the streets down with no answers and dreams seem to seep into reality. It presents a Tokyo of ley lines and crimes, where this monumental metropolis we have constructed is a suffocating, diseased machine we choose to rot in. Playing SMT is, I imagine, what it feels like to genuinely believe in conspiracies and spirits.

And then the twist happens. I won't say what it is on the off-chance you haven't been spoiled, but it is a stunningly bold move that hasn't lost a single ounce of its power and which completely flips the entire game on its head. Suddenly history and politics and reality come crashing headfirst into the spiritual and the skin is peeled off. It is no longer a seedy world of mysteries. It is a nightmare made real. It is, for my money, one of THE great moments in games.

Sure, as the series has gone on the gameplay of this original has been bested, as have the graphics and the music and even the story. But there's nothing else out there quite like this, a masterpiece of video game feeling.