Capcom’s newest entry in the Monster Hunter franchise,
Monster Hunter 4, is only just coming out in Japan. Those of us unfortunate
enough to be located elsewhere, however, do get an entry in the franchise, and
what an entry it is.
One important thing to note about Monster Hunter, as a
series, is that it is not easy. The game requires a significant investment of
time in order to develop your skill and armory. The idea is to take quests at
the reception desk, go out, kill the monster, and use the materials that you
carve from its body and receive as quest rewards to forge newer, stronger
weapons and armor. Most quests give you 50 minutes to search for (and destroy)
your prey, which will often be multiple times the size of your body.
The game combines action with pattern recognition. It’s not
a matter of just swinging your sword, because each of the twelve available
weapons work in very different ways. The sword and shield, for example, is
fast, but a bit weak in physical power, while something like the greatsword can
use its charge attack to deal single devastating hits to a monster, but it’s
incredibly slow. Some weapons can block, some can stun, some can shoot from a
distance. My recommendation would be to pick the weapon you like best and focus
on getting better with it. This is something the game intends for you to do, as
you start out with one of every weapon. My personal favorite is the switchaxe.
The game is very strategic as well. You only have so many
spots in your inventory, and individual items have limits to how many of each
item can be in a stack. You can only carry ten potions with you at a time, for
example. But if you bring too many items with you on a hunt, then that will
leave you no room to carve the monster and gain your precious, precious
resources. Eating at the bar before a hunt will also grant you certain bonuses,
the armor that you choose will grant certain resistances and skills that will
help out during the hunt, and even your extras, Cha-Cha and Kayamba, have
dances, abilities and masks that can be switched around for certain boosts mid
combat.
The variety of monsters is also excellent. Each monster
moves and attacks in a different way, and every time you go out to hunt
something new, you have to learn the monster’s movements and cries in order to
best defeat it. It gets very difficult, especially in the higher level quests
when you’re fighting monsters that can generally out-speed your weapons, but as
I said before, the game demands your time and attention. The payoff, however,
is worth the investment.
In addition to the tight, addicting gameplay, the graphics
are excellent. From overlooking the sea atop a mountain cliff to staring
intently at the cat that cleans your room, the game looks amazing. The
soundtrack is also excellent, which is good, because you’ll be hearing a lot of
the same songs very often. The songs that play during the hunts do their part
to pump you up (or intimidate you, in certain cases), and when you notice the
music, it’s because they want you to.
Gameplay, graphics, sound… That’s all well and good. But the
real bread and butter of the Monster Hunter games is the multiplayer.
Singleplayer is fun and works well, but it's really rewarding when you and your
friends take down a monster together. There are two places to take
quests. Moga village is the singleplayer campaign, which is great, but Tanzia
Port is where the multiplayer magic happens (you can also go there for
singleplayer action). The 3DS version can’t go online (on its own), but it
supports local wireless multiplayer with up to three other people. And in case you’re just playing with two
people, the game lets you each take one of your sidekick shakalakas to the hunt,
which would give you four “players”. The multiplayer can get hectic at times,
but there’s little else I can think of that is as satisfying as felling a
monster the size of the village with a friend.
I could sing this game’s praises endlessly, but
unfortunately, no game is without its flaws. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate has a very long tutorial
period, and while it is arguably necessary given the level of depth of the
game, it is a process nonetheless. You’ll be required to pick mushrooms and
harpoon some fish (not as fun as it sounds) before you have access to the
quests where you’re allowed to hunt the bigger monsters.
The game also turns into a bit of a grind once you begin
building specific things. The better weapons and armor require better, rarer
pieces of monsters, and more often than not I find myself killing one monster
over and over again, trying to get a single drop with a measly 3% chance of
being a quest reward after I break the monster’s tail twice and mine it.
Certain resources also require a lot of gathering early game, and you will
almost certainly find yourself going on the “harvest tour” gathering quests to
catch a Carpenterbug more often than you’d care to.
Underwater fighting is also a bit of a pain unless you buy
the circle pad pro
. If you don’t mind dropping an extra $20 on a peripheral for
the second control stick, then you can ignore this complaint. The best way to
get by this is to lock onto the monster you’re hunting and use it to guide you,
or double tap the L button to get the camera to reposition behind you (if
you’re not locked onto a monster, it only needs one tap, but you’re probably
going to be locked onto a monster). However, you can also use the customizable
touchscreen to add a D-pad to the screen to control your camera, or just use
the d-pad under the control stick. None of which work as well as the circle
pad, which may be worth it, depending on how much time you spend on the game.
Despite the slow start and really high learning curve,
Monster Hunter as a franchise will reward you endlessly if you are willing to invest some time into it. Each new weapon makes it feel like a new game, and each new monster
is a new challenge. This may not be the five minute hack and slash you’ve been
looking for, but don’t let that stop you from jumping into a game that could very
well turn out to be your next favorite. Give it a try and join the fans yelling
across the oceans for the newest entry. You won’t regret it.
Interested? You can buy here it from Amazon if you'd like. It's also available on the eShop. By the way, if you're using this in conjunction with the Wii U version, the downloadable game makes it easier to swap save files.
Find Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on ebay
Released: 2013-03-19
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom Production Studio 1
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