The satisfaction of slaying your prey and reaping their spoils is unrivaled in the Monster Hunter series. The unique challenge that every enemy provides calls for a new strategy in every encounter, but the rewards are well worth the brawl that ensues.

A series that’s quickly growing in popularity since its Westernization from Japan, the Monster Hunter franchise takes a simple concept and turns it into a game with complex mechanics and almost infinite replay value.

The core gameplay involves taking on missions to slay a wide assortment of dangerous creatures and using their materials to create powerful new weapons, armor, and gear to hunt even larger more dangerous monsters. The gear you can create is a matter of preference with options to spare. Whether you want to use dual blades for quick strikes and high mobility, lance/gunlance for shielding/artillery abilities, greatsword for slow, incredibly powerful strikes, or the 10+ other weapon categories is up to you.

While it may seem monotonous, more recent games like Monster Hunter 4 provide 70+ unique monsters that require equally unique strategies in order to defeat them. Depending on the monster rank and type of monster fights can last on average of 5-50 minutes although time can often be shortened depending on the gear you take into battle. After encountering a monster in its designated area the battle begins and the monster will not lose sight of you until you are either dead or leave the area.

In order to defeat such deadly creatures, players have to evade a gauntlet of attacks from the targeted monster and find openings to attack with the weapon you have brought to battle. Some of the more difficult monsters like the Rajang, an ape like monster with the ability to supercharge its attacks with electricity, require intense concentration and a ready hand in order to evade its barrage of melee and ranged attacks.

One of the most important aspects of a series is its evolution and growth upon new releases and Monster Hunter is no exception. The transition of Monster Hunter 3 to Monster Hunter 4 added a whole new perspective to the game in the way of limited aerial abilities. Monster Hunter 4 added climbable environments and ledges that allow for powerful aerial attacks and the mounting of monsters, that is, grabbing onto their backs and damaging them until they fall over for a couple seconds. Another aspect of the series that has considerably improved is online multiplayer. While it’s always been prevalent in the series, the newer games add extra emphasis to playing with others in parties of 4 in order to take down the strongest monsters. This co-op gameplay allows for new strategies and the battling of monsters that prove much too difficult to take on alone such as the 1000+ foot long Dalamadur.

This summer promises the release of Monster Hunter Generations in the U.S. which is full of new gameplay mechanics and a much wider assortment of available monsters. Building off the improvements in Monster Hunter 4, Generations brings forth faster gameplay, special weapon abilities, vastly improved aerial combat, and much more.