God Eater is a great series. It’s Bandai Namco’s answer to the Monster Hunter sensation, and it does a good job of taking the elements that make it so popular and inserting them into a swifter, anime-inspired action game. God Eater 3 has just launched, and it’s pretty good, but critics aren’t looking into it as fondly. It’s hard to complain about Monster Hunter World but God Eater 3 tackles some Monster Hunter‘s frustrations, and packages a similar gameplay loop in a package in a more interesting way. Because of this, you should put some serious thought into playing God Eater 3 instead of Monster Hunter World.
The first and most obvious benefit is the swiftness of missions. Even when hunting the larger beasts in God Eater 3, with a reasonably well-equipped party, you can be done in little over 10 minutes. That’s pretty a large chunk of time for a mission compared to a lot of games, but compared to battles in Monster Hunter World that are regularly 30 minutes long — and some that which have actually ran down the 50-minute limit — it is refreshing. Dipping in and out of different missions, seeing different areas and fighting different monsters. It just feels like you get more content for your time in God Eater 3, as new types of enemies and missions come thick and fast.
Killing monsters
It helps that combat in God Eater 3 feels much faster and more responsive than in Monster Hunter. While Monster Hunter is about picking your moments in order to unleash massive, devastating attacks on monsters, God Eater makes sure that most of your combat involves frenzied combos and attacks. You also get a large dash to evade monster attacks, which is incredible compared to World‘s slow and tiny dodge roll.
Monster Hunter forces you to take more time to absorb the attack patterns of monsters and learn what they hate in order to combat them effectively, which is great and incredibly rewarding. But not every player can take the time to learn the intricacies of so many monsters. If you want a more immediately satisfying fight, God Eater 3 might be for you instead.
The same goes for story, too. Monster Hunter tries to justify your slaughter with some nonsense about monsters disrupting the ecology of the locations your visit, but it’s not worth listening to. God Eater 3, meanwhile, is a post-apocalyptic world where you, a God Eater, can literally consume the powers of the invading Aragami which have wiped out most of humanity, and upon finding a young child that could help salvage mankind, hope is revived. God Eater 3 gives players the agency and loveable characters a lot of players need to stay invested in a long RPG story, while Monster Hunter doesn’t really try.
And then there’s the aesthetic. God Eater 3 has a strong anime look that its characters and enemy monsters have. Its distinct look is unique for the genre, though it’s also true that there are one or two characters that have taken the old anime trope of some incredible, and incredibly unrealistic, female proportions. At least Monster Hunter gives its human characters more reasonable anatomy.
Night out with the lads
Reasonable proportions, but somewhat flat designs. It definitely sets the scene, but when running around Monster Hunter‘s hub, enemy characters often blend into the backgrounds as you run past them. Important vendors and merchants can look just like NPCs, while God Eater‘s distinctive — and possibly divisive — character designs ensure they stand out on any background.
Monster Hunter World also added the SOS feature, which allows you to send out a summons for online players to assist you in your quest. It’s a great touch for players who often play solo, but could always use a helping hand online every now and then. God Eater 3 allows you to team up with strangers and friends too, but if you want to stay offline all the time, then you can take a unique cast of NPCs with you.
They’re not necessary, but taking NPCs out into battle will allow them to use a variety of skills and weapons to help you, many of which you can set before battle. It’s the full-fat multiplayer experience, even if you prefer playing alone. Monster Hunter‘s closest comparison is your Palico pal, but he’s not going to be dealing damage like your friends in God Eater will.
Is God Eater 3 a better game than Monster Hunter World? No, but it does a lot of things that players should take note of and not immediately dismiss because it isn’t part of the series they already know. God Eater could even help act as a gateway for players to get adjusted to big monster combat, before taking on Monster Hunter. It’s got a different look and feel while streamlining what people love about Capcom’s huge franchise. Monster Hunter World may have bigger monsters but that doesn’t always mean it’s a better one either.
