Ranking Summer 2017's Video Games From Worst To Best

12. Monster Hunter Stories

One of the most unexpected reworks of a phenomenal game franchise that man, the west really needs to embrace, Monster Hunter Stories takes the open-world hunter-gathering of standard entries and repackages it into a Studio Ghibli-meets Pokémon, turn-based affair.

Said combat utilises a Fire Emblem-style 'red>green>blue>red etc.' setup, letting you preemptively do more damage to foes once you learn their respective patterns. Team-ups with your increasingly large collection of Monsties mean you can take down bigger foes with ease once everything lines up, and that's without saying just how gorgeous everything looks in motion.

The only thing that lets Stories down a tad is how this turn-based mentality jars with the rush you'll feel when discovering all of Monster Hunter's various gameplay loops. You'll want to explore, battle foes and steal valuable eggs from their nests at a steady clip, but being returned to the same "wait your turn" setup every few minutes does get in the way in the long run.