When a game sells 690,000 copies and also lowers Japan’s national producvity on release day. You would think it would get more coverage in the west. Monster Hunter is slowly building a fan base in the west as the series progresses but it will probley never reach the size of the japanese audience.
So what excatly is Monster Hunter? Monster Hunter is a 3rd person action RPG for Playstation 2, Playstation portable and Nintendo Wii (later this year). Today’s review will focus on Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (Monster Hunter Portable 2nd in Japan).
The game-play is based around hunting monsters (big surprise!) and gathering style quests. You start out by hunting small velociraptors then moving onto velociraptors bosses then bigger wyvern style bosses and finally elder dragon bosses. You also get to battle other weird and wonderful creatures such as giant gorillas and giant hermit crabs.
To progress in MHF2 you need to make new armour and weapons from the monsters you kill or capture(Capturing being the better option). You also need to gather items from the environment and the towns local farm (which you can upgrade). The solo game is pretty lengthy with my own game now at around 42 hours (400 hour saves are at end game) I’m only doing 3 star Elder quests, which is seen as only the start of the game. The build up to each new conquest takes a bit longer than the last as you prepare items for the battle to come while also building new weapons and armour to guarantee your victory.
I’m told the best experince in the game is doing the HR (multiplayer missions) quests with three other hunters. I don’t know anyone else who has a PSP so I guess I’ll have to use Xlink Kai to get online and team up with some other eager hunters or I might wait and seen if Monster Hunter: Unite has online play options (Characters can be exported to newer versions of MH games).
Monster Hunter Freedom 2 is quiet a challening game to get use to, but I’m really enjoying the thrill of taking down monsters after long epic fights. The hardest thing is probley learning how to fight and turn the camera. The camera is a thing most people have trouble with as you have to turn it yourself. But once you have that down the game is a lot easier.
This game is really only for people who want to stick with the game and learn it, I found myself having some trouble when first starting out and could see a lot of people giving up because of the steep learning curve. So casual gamers be warned, this game will make you cry.
I’m giving Monster Hunter Freedom 2: 9.5 / 10
For being utterly engaging and fun.
Monster Hunter Freedom 2 Guide
