Actual game, came out last Thursday.
I only got a couple hours in, but my initial impressions are that:
1) It's faster, progress wise. You pretty much fight a large monster in your first mission. Not sure how I feel about this.
2) Voice acting is fine
3) Crafting is more streamlined. So, for example, it used to be that you needed a herb and a blue mushroom to make a potion. Now, you just need an herb and you can set it to automatically make it into a potion once you collect it. I miss the old system for some reason.
4) You have infinite whetstones! And you don't have to make pick axes or bug nets! What sort of witchcraft is this?
Despite all this, it is still very much a Monster Hunter game, and definitely one that would be great as an introduction to the series. We'll see if it is as good as Monster Hunter 4.