THE GOOD:Above average graphics
Great combat
Nice selection of enemies
Online is a blast
Offline is pretty good
THE BAD:
Offline takes a while to pick up speed
No headset support
Sometimes camera can be a pain
Minigames aren't so imaginative
SUMMARY:
I have read many "Pro"-reviews, and I'm here to set the record straight. Many of them say that this game is unimaginative, and hasn't even scratched the surface of its potential. Well, you can plug up your ears with cotton and read this. One guy even said, and I quote, "...this game takes place in Prehistoric ages and you play as a miscellaneous cave person." Pfft, we all know that the Neanderthals had guns. It's so obvious.
When I first saw my friend playing this game, he was in the middle of a forest, collecting mushrooms. Boring, yes I agree. I got rather bored of him running around and picking mushrooms. One person can only take so much fungus picking. I was losing intrest. He had told me that the game was good, I was beginning to doubt him. I almost fell asleep.
But then he started to head back to camp and finish the current mission he was on. He was on his way back, when I saw a shadow on the ground and the flapping of leathery wings, among a crowd of herbivores, nothing special. He's jogging along, and bam! A giant bird-like creature with neck frills. I started to gain some interest. Then I noticed him whip out a sword. I don't know why I didn't notice the huge weapon at first. The creature super-squawked at him, rendering the character immobile for a few seconds. I was sitting there leaning on the edge of the couch watching intently as the bird thing ran at him like a raging drunk, spewing fire all the way.
I was hooked ever since I saw him take down the Kut-Ku.
The game is sort of slow in the beginning, you basically start out with gathering quests. Oh boy, you know how I like pick mushrooms and slaughter poor, defenseless deer, or Kelbi. You gather stuff, fish, meat, herbs, Kelbi horns (those are the deer, remember?), and various other objects. When you get done with all those boring tasks, time to kill stuff. Time to slay a Velociprey! (Think velociraptor, except blue and a more bird-like look)
I have to admit, at first the controls baffled me. The analog stick I normally used to rotate the camera and such was attack. So my camera button was turned into the button I kill with. And you can't really attack, move, and change the camera easily. The camera control is the D-pad. The move controls are on the left analog stick (and for you geniuses out there that haven't figured it out yet, the right analog stick is the kill stick). I've also heard complaints about missions being timed, do you really need 50 minutes to kill a Kut-Ku? If so, I consider a nice, refreshing game of Barbie Horse Adventures. That should be plenty easy enough for you Hunting-challenged.
I know that there are some Cloud wannabes out there, if you don't know who Cloud is, or you're thinking of a different Cloud, think the Cloud with a big sword. You get to fulfill your dream to tote around a sword that defies the laws of physics in this game. Fun, eh? Just whip that bad boy out and cleave something in half. But, you can also choose from other weapon classes. Want a freakishly large hammer? Monster Hunter's your game. Thinking, "Holy $#!%, I don't want to get up close with that behemoth!" Then your weapon of choice would be a gun. But then again you think that hammers, giant swords, and guns are all too robust and need something more streamlined, quicker, then look no further than the sword and shield or twin blades. Maybe a bit weaker, but they are as quick as a starving pig after bacon.
There's also a neat innovative idea in this game that I really hadn't thought of before. Whether it be low intelligence or not really having time to think, I hadn't thought of this before. Let's make stuff out of the enemy! Brilliant! Holding a grudge against that Rathalos (Think dragon, with tattoos, and something crammed up its asshole) that knocked you unconcious twice? You finally slain the bastard? Well then, make a coat out of him! Yes, in this game you can carve the dead beast, and create items with their remains. It's like you get to be that serial killer that made a coat out of the victims skins, but instead its a wyvren and it isn't against the law and isn't frowned upon by society. Well, some animal rights activists may protest, but then they would come to recognize their blunder when a Rathian (Female version of Rathalos) barbeques them, then eats them.
Ooh, my favorite part to discuss, online mode. This is probably my favorite online game, why? I have no idea, I think I might've smoked something before playing, but that's still questionable. But nonetheless, its more fun than killing a barrel full of monkeys. Er, wait, strike the word "killing". It's fun, let's leave it at that. Sure it doesn't support the headset, but then again, who needs a headset when you have your handy-dandy USB keyboard!? Nobody! The people online are... colorful to say the least. Of course communicating with people is almost impossible.
Most of the time, people are friendly and work together to break a poor Kut-Ku's leg by dropping it in a hole. But then, like any online game, there are the noobs that seem to seek you out. In this game, the people wielding the Great Sword (Think Cloud) will hit you into the air for hours on end. It doesn't hurt you, thank whatever holy beings there may be, but it is still annoying as an eternity in a place where fire and torture is rampant, in a word, Hell.
So, all in all, Monster Hunter is a superb game. Has everything you could want, violence, the female's character's butts showing (I keed, I keed), giant, bone-rending monsters, violence, and little, kleptomanic cats that steal your stuff. What more could you want? It loses points because offline takes a while to pick up speed, and it's sort of boring killing stuff on your own.
forums
