As in that Monster Hunter-wannabe's early moments, ACE begins by placing you in the boots of a fresh-faced recruit who has joined a seasoned band of mercenaries to help protect their village from beasts hell-bent on turning humanity into an all-you-can-eat buffet. As you customize your character, chat up a few village non-player characters, and accept your first creature-carving quest, the unmistakable sense that you've done this all before only strengthens.
Like the original, ACE encourages you to equip a blade that makes Cloud Strife's signature sword look like a butter knife before setting out to loot, level, and lay waste to baddies that would like to break you like peanut brittle. The core "action RPG meets Monster Hunter" formula remains intact, but significant additions--such as new class-specific abilities and the option to hire AI mercenaries--make it a much better game. ACE further separates itself from the beast-battling pack by forgoing strategy-focused fighting in favor of fast, fluid, arcade-flavored combat. Thanks to intuitive mechanics and responsive controls, even unseasoned slayers can easily string together impressive combos, juggle enemies in the air, and generally unleash the sort of battlefield-scarring hell usually reserved for dedicated action game protagonists like Kratos and Dante.