THE GOOD:Nearly everything I have to say. The graphics are pretty descent, and do a good job of bringing the wyverns to life. Gameplay is good, mainly because you feel invincible after slaying a massive wyvern over 50 times your size. The sound is pretty good too, because you know you're in trouble when a load roar bursts throughout the area you're in. Finally for the generic goodness, it has wonderful replay value. I've been playing since 2003 and it's 2007 currently. I've been online and off with over 17 characters and still haven't gotten every last piece of equipment.
THE BAD:
Now for the bad, the graphics are good and pretty but that's about where it ends. It's the same japanese import-esque choppy graphics we all used to see on Cinematech at night. However they're still fairly good, better than most import translations. The gameplay can be frustrating at times too, as noted in my inability to obtain every piece of equipment. After four years playing on both offline and online modes, you begin to think you deserve more items than you get. Finally the controls take some time to get used to, almost enough for the average gamer to get fed up with. Also the beginning is quite slow, making you go through tedious learning missions before you ever see any real action.
SUMMARY:
Alright now that I've gotten the generic comments out of the way, on to the actual review. The game kind of tricks you when you go onto your first mission. You're treated to a small cinematic of this wonderful and beautiful landscape, streatching as far as the eye can see. Then when you try to go out there, you're stuck at the river's edge and can't even get your feet wet. However you still get to go to plenty of vibrant places, with graphics that are overdone in a good way. Forested areas look green and lush and have that grunge-esque feel of the dirt, soil, and tree you want it to have. While the volcano has the sullen and rocky coloring you'd expect with abundant lava flow with lively reds and yellows.
The graphics are by no means a comparison to Gears of War, but they will keep you entertained, much like the gameplay. It's truly great when you get the hang of the learning curve. You at first think what a shutty control scheme but then you realize it couldn't be better. Getting to kill gigantic creatures that could otherwise kick your ass ten ways till Tuesday is a great part of it. Nothing is better than proving your superiority to a creature that knocks over slightly less massive beings just for food, can shoot 25,000 degree balls of fire from it's mouth, and roars so loud your head nearly pops. However anyone that has the idea this is hack and slash will die several times and call it a day.
You need to implement strategy, as this isn't simple hacking and slashing. That will get you killed over and over unless you implement some thought into what you do. Just go up to a Rathalos and keep whacking and you'll be blasted, cut open, and rammed into until you fall unconcious and are dragged away to base camp. However if you use Flashbombs to blind him, cut him a little then trap him in a pitfall trap then hack some more before setting off a bundle of explosives, then you will acheive victory! Sadly most are turned off by the learning quests and lack of action until fairly late in the game, as you kill small beasts and raptor-esque beigns until you're badass enough to handle large prey. However it's well paced, certinly not rushing you into anything you can't handle.
The wyverns may have similar moves, but each has their own use and even variation of it. Add that to the several unique moves each has and you just need to learn to adapt to your foe and you can win for sure. The replay value is wonderfully long, yet only when you go online to do so. You're missing about half the game and the equipment when you only play offline. However the same reason that the replay is so longlasting is also it's greatest downfall. You could kill a certain monster that is the o nly source for a certain items hundreds of times and still not get enough of what you need. You have to kill a monster and carve off pieces and parts of the monster, each with it's own chance to be obtained. Eventually after you can kill everything in the game without even thinking you begin to wonder why you have to base everything on chance to get just a few items. It begins to get ridiculous and leads to the games greatest turnoff, not flaw.
That being the item gathering. Sometimes you have to go through a mission over and over, mining in a distant area contrary to the quest goal just to obtain some ore for a weapon. Even if it teaches you to multi-task and helps you obtain multiple things in one run, it's too tedious for the casual gamer to get into. I personally don't mind killing a few Rathalos while mining for Dragonite Ore and Firestone but not many other will, and that's what caused it to be such a flop in the US save for the fanbase.
It's a damn good game, and I recommend it to anyone with a PS2 or get the sequels if you only have a PSP but you have to realize it will mostly appeal only to those with a love for Japan's gaming culture. Most Americans would rather be playing Halo 3 or God of War 2, but if you're a fan of the series you'll love it. It's the first game in the series, and it's a good start for it. Still plenty of new players coming back to play it and see the roots of this wonderful series. Since this game, numerous sequels have been made and each one expands on the good points and fixes the bad. This is a great game with only a few flaws, and has little popularity due to barely any commercials or other marketing, worth twice the price any day.
A 4.5/5 for me.
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