This is Capcom's third Monster Hunter for the PSP now, the sixth overall, and by now most everyone out there has probably made up their minds. Either you like it or you don't. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite doesn't change anything in any way that's likely to change anybody's opinion.
The Pros
- Strong art direction
- Excellent 3D modeling
- Tons of new game content
The Cons
- Lots of long load times
- Clumsy combat
- Solo play is still thin and tedious compared to co-op
This is Capcom’s third Monster Hunter for the PSP now, the sixth overall, and by now most everyone out there has probably made up their minds. Either you like it or you don’t. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite doesn’t change anything in any way that’s likely to change anybody’s opinion.
In Japan they can’t get enough of these games – Monster Hunter is the PSP’s top seller in its home country – but that’s Japan. The Japanese also still love Dynasty Warriors and fermented soybeans. Chalk it up as one of the many mysteries of the inscrutable east. Over here, Monster Hunter has its ups and downs. If you love the ups and don’t mind the downs, this is definitely a heck of a lot more Monster Hunter, with a vast array of new places to go, new mythic beasts to slaughter, and new bits of equipment to craft out of their harvested innards. If you didn’t like any of the last five games, though, there’s not much here that’s liable to convince you otherwise.
In The Hunt
Monster Hunter was conceived as a cooperative 3D action game, like Phantasy Star Online, for a party of up to four players. Players form teams of warriors, venture out into a primitive world, and hack, slash, trick, or trap all sorts of giant monsters. Killing monsters nets the cash and raw materials required to buy or build better equipment, which makes it easier to kill bigger monsters, and so on.
“Cooperative” is the key word up there. Despite whatever efforts Capcom has put forward over the years, this is not very much fun as a single-player game. A solo hunter can’t tackle the more challenging quests, can’t use the more complex tactics that make the co-op game interesting, and tends to be hampered in some of the most basic possible ways during combat. The camera controls, for instance, are very hard to use on the PSP. In the single-player mode, without other players to watch your back, you’ll spend most of your time during battles just trying to point the camera at what you want to hit.
Generally speaking, there are layers of tedium in between starting up the game and getting to the fun part (going out and killing monsters). The menu interface is dense and unfriendly, even if you’re already familiar with the series. If you’re not, look forward to spending a long time in the complex training mode learning all of the different basics. Also, expect to spend a lot of time sitting through load screens, which interrupt at every turn.
Be Prepared
It’s possible to alleviate most of the load times by giving up 578 megabytes of Memory Stick space. Granting the game faster access to most of its important content cuts down the time spent waiting in between bits of the game world by a good 60-70 percent or so. If your Memory Stick’s capacity isn’t measured in gigabytes, though, tough luck.
The big disappointment about Monster Hunter, though, is that when it works, it works really well. With a four-player party that knows what it’s doing, where each member carries out their part of the plan just right, there’s a great sense of accomplishment to pulling off a difficult hunt. It’s not as user-friendly as Phantasy Star Online, but there’s a lot more to the game for dedicated players to master, and the variety of loot available is insane. Freedom Unite also adds the chance to train a funny little AI-controlled sidekick character, a “Frelyne,” which can handle some of the more tedious tasks of gathering up items during a hunt.
Capcom’s art direction and 3D modeling are as beautiful as ever. Monster Hunter as a series has exactly the right look and feel to it. It looks like the kind of unspoiled, primitive landscape where folks would have to go out and carve up giant monsters to gather the necessities of survival. The small outposts of civilization that serve as a jumping-off point for quests have a thrown-together, jerry-rigged style – you can see which pieces came from, say, the ribs of a giant wyvern, or the tusks of a massive snow ape.
A Relic of the Barbarous Spirit
Unfortunately, slogging through to the advanced stages of the game is a painful, draining journey. Once again, the single-player mode simply isn’t very much fun. The clumsy camera and hand-to-hand combat controls, the constant loading, and all the fiddling around with different interface menus make a steep learning curve just that much steeper. Meanwhile, if you don’t have any friends to play with once you’ve mastered the game, there isn’t really much of a reward for all that effort. Veteran monster hunters, then, should enjoy diving in to this new adventure. For them, Freedom Unite offers loads of new content (and Capcom plans to offer even more for download later.) They’re probably not going to see very many new players joining their ranks, though.
Comments
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Col_Scott
This game deserves more then it got. It's what, one out of four games you would play in a PSP for more then 2 days before beating or getting bored with? I understand that the Multiplayer could have used and online feature other then local but it's a huge hit in Japan so thats just a mistake in translation
Darzaire
This review is absolute garbage!
"Lots of long load times" - Sure, if you don't install. Almost everyone I've ever met with a PSP has a card at least a gig in size, with plenty of room for the install. After the install, the load times are a fraction of a second, barely mattering at all. And, they're not TOO numerous: once you find a wyvern, you shouldn't need to go anywhere for a while.
"Clumsy combat" - Sure, if you suck. Every weapon's controls are perfectly fine. All the actions are spread across only three buttons: square, circle, and R. Learning how and when to use each one is part of the game. It's a learning experience, which DOESN'T have horrible controls.
Maybe it isn't referring to the controls and weapons. That doesn't make much sense either. Facing off with a wyvern is perfectly fine, and very fun. The fights make you think as you fight; you can't just run in and mash buttons. You have to actually read the opponent's movements and react fast, then punish if you can. Again, maybe whichever Xplay person who played this game just sucks too much to handle that.
"Solo play is thin and tedious compared to co-op" - Firstly, this game was made for co-op. So then of course it's going to better. However, that doesn't mean solo play is bad. It's more of a challenge, which requires you to always be watching yourself. You need to be smarter to play solo than you can with a group. You need to be able to realize what's about to happen, and react. It's not more thin than co-op; in fact, it has MORE depth to it, because you can't just attack until the wyvern attacks you, then run away until it goes for someone else. As for "tedious", it's the exact same "tediousness" (if you want to call it that) as co-op! You get the same number of carves and rewards regardless of whether you're in a group or not. In fact, it would be less tedious because you're not able to just sit and attack, but actually are fighting.
"A solo hunter can t tackle the more challenging quests, can t use the more complex tactics that make the co-op game interesting, and tends to be hampered in some of the most basic possible ways during combat." - A solo hunter can certainly take on everything in the entire game. Numerous people have done the hardest missions without taking a single hit. It just takes more skill, which, again, the reviewer obviously lacked. Co-op doesn't really have more complex tactics. In fact, tactics in solo hunting would be more complex, since you have to do everything yourself. As for being hampered in the "most basic possible ways", you only gave one reason.
"The camera controls, for instance, are very hard to use on the PSP. In the single-player mode, without other players to watch your back, you ll spend most of your time during battles just trying to point the camera at what you want to hit." - This is completely ridiculous. I know many people who have played this game, and not one of them have had any trouble with the camera. It might be an issue if you use your thumb for everything, maybe. You can still move the analog and reach the d-pad if your hands aren't the size of a 9-year-old's, and maybe even then so. Just curve your index/middle up across the arrows and you'll be fine. If you absolutely, for whatever reason, can't use the "claw", then you still have L.
"The menu interface is dense and unfriendly, even if you re already familiar with the series. If you re not, look forward to spending a long time in the complex training mode learning all of the different basics." - The interface is done wonderfully. Health and stamina are across the top coming from your time remaining and your weapon's sharpness/clip is just under those. Your inventory is at the bottom right and the map is just above that (you can also zoom it in, to better keep track of a monster that's hard to track (such as wyverns that take flight, or the ceanataur/hermitaur which like to go underground). You can also navigate your inventory and combine items while still remaining mobile. Everything is out of the way, allowing you to see everything in front of you just fine. The interface does not hamper the player in any way.
"The big disappointment about Monster Hunter, though, is that when it works, it works really well." - That's basically saying "I hate cookies because they taste good." This statement doesn't even make sense!
"...to train a funny little AI-controlled sidekick character, a Frelyne, which can handle some of the more tedious tasks of gathering up items during a hunt." - Firstly, it's called a "felyne." Secondly, it can also help you fight in ways such as paralyzing the opponent or putting them to sleep, or giving you buffs.
"Unfortunately, slogging through to the advanced stages of the game is a painful, draining journey." - The game is about fighting monsters. Right from the start, that's what you do. Near the "end" of the game, that's still what you do. It's always fun.
This game is LONG, but fun the whole way.
Nexuswolf
Made an account just to say I agree with the guy above me, and this:
The reviewer has proven to us that he hardly played the game. The menu systems are rather intuitive, especially when your dealing with a complex game on a handheld console, heck, it's as good as most games out there, so hardly anything that the game should be slated for.
The combat controls are perfect, the attack buttons right next to each other, O and Triangle, easy to get at, the dodge just below them, X, and the use item button the furthest, Square, which you shouldn't be using unless you have breathing space. If you mean the fact that mashing the attack buttons doesn't mean you automatically win, them go play tekken on easy, each weapon has it's own patterns, each providing different styles of play and their own Pros and Cons. If your on about the dodge button not working exactly when you press it, this is just because you got greedy and attacked too much. You can't dodge an attack if your half-way through an attack yourself, any good game should teach you that >.>
The Camera Controls, although not instantly useful, any person that's played the game for a bit will learn to either use the L button effectively or use the technique dubbed "the claw", simple enough, and gives you perfect movement and camera control at the same time, it doesn't take away from any controls, you can still preform any action you can before while moving the camera at the same time, something that even console games can't do when you have to use the Right Thumb Stick...
I think that's enough to show the how uninformed the review is, my advise to the reviewer is to spend more time playing the game, especially when it's a game that you can't complete after just 2 days playing like Gears of War 2 or the like. Monster Hunter is a long lasting and challenging game, for people that are actually prepared to plan and think.
This is a game that can easily last you longer then any other game on the PSP, in both content and enjoyment.
TheAlienPredator
I love monster hunter so much! The games have always been fun. But I agree with some what the review says. (Although I dissagree with a bunch of the other stuff the review said) But the camera had given me some problems when I am pushed into a corner. It's an easy fix but when it happene's, it isn't cool. The fact that the controls are a bit odd don't really help. After a while my index finger get's tired of moving the camera. But that isn't the game's fault, I just wish that the PSP had another analog stick. And the last thing I had a problem with was that ther wasn't any multiplayer. I was so excited when I heard that online multiplayer was going to be included in this verson but so dissapointed when Capcom canned the idea for the US verson only. That was not cool at all.
I love the game though. The graphics are pretty amazing for the PSP and the quest's keep you going. Trying to make a weapon or armor piece can be fun and I am never left dissapointed. I had no problem with the loading time as it lasted about one second even on the PSP 1000.
All in all, the score I would give it would be a 3.5 out of 5. The game plays well but it could do so much better.
kidcrazzy
if you down loud the data install it loud a lot faster and i love monster hunter i have over 100 playing and it is still fun no dissen on mhfu
hewho0wns
Ugh.. X-play, you usually have good reviews. But this? Absolutely TERRIBLE. I experience none of the problems you (the reviewer) have with this game. And I am already playing MH3 and I'll tell you something... you people who are too lazy to bend your index finger won't be able to bitch about the camera any longer. Sure the occasional camera problem will happen when you are in a corner or in tight spots but in my experience 95% of games have that problem. The single player gameplay is about: guess what? Killing monsters! If you think it's slow and you have to drag through it then stop playing the damn game, it obviously isn't for you. You should know better X-play! I am ashamed.
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