It's a 3DS port, so I'm not entirely sure what you were expecting.
I played a couple missions, the first one twice trying to figure out the controls, and then the Intermediate mission against the flying fuzzy walrus. Coming at this from someone who never got into the original series, but dumped a bunch of hours into Monster Hunter World, the shift back to the older style wasn't as hard as I expected. Its very clear where the improvements were in MHW beyond just visuals, as the gameplay feels way smoother and better designed.
Anyone that actually knows both series know if there are more combat attacks? Like in MHW, using the Long Sword, I can build up my meter, do slashes, get bonus damage up at three different levels, but then I can use a meter level to do an upward slash and then a strike down that does multiple hits. Is that not here in this game or is that what the Hunter Arts are and MHW just worked things like that into the moveset to simplify things? I might just be missing it, mostly because it's a demo that doesn't teach you anything, throwing you headfirst into three missions with pre-set gear and arts.