Spotlight #14- Monster Hunter 3
At the time that I'm writing this review, I would have not seen any new movies out in theaters or any of real note that came out on Blu-Ray. So, to pass the time, I'll start going through my old gaming library. To start, I suppose I'll have to go with my favorite game of all time. It was my introduction to the Monster Hunter Franchise, but boy, did it leave an impression. From start to finish, all it did was impress and surprise me, and the last few quests only left me wanting more.
There isn't much of a story to Monster Hunter, seeing as it's more about the experience. The player takes on the role of a hunter-gatherer in a pseudo-feudal civilization tasked with protecting a sea-side village from an unknown threat. To do so, (s)he has to prove their worth by taking quests from a higher 'Hunter's Guild' and hunting monsters. The more you hunt, the more materials you can carve and, therefore, the more weapons and armor you can craft to hunt bigger and more dangerous monsters. It may sound tedious, and many may be put off by the 4-5-hour tutorial, but it's really worth it to finally hunt something as outlandish as a football-field-sized sand-whale.
Graphically speaking, the game looks better than most of the other games on the Wii. Players can run, fight, swim, and even dance through six incredibly detailed environments, carrying weapons and armor that just shout raw power. Even more impressive are the monster designs, all bizarre and exotic, but all animated with a surprising amount of fluidity. The frame rate only drops on occasion, when multiple large monsters and more than a couple dozen smaller ones are on screen at once, but those are rare occurrences. One could argue that the HUD gets a little complicated, but it needs to be, and it hardly distracts from the experience as it is.
Speaking of which, the game play here is some of the most immersive ever. Ever armor set and weapon comes with its own strengths and weaknesses- there isn't one that works best for every monster or quest. Often times, the choice won't be for the monster's attacks to determine, but for you to find out which works best to your needs. Even so, you'll be needing the average quest's time limit of 50 minutes to hunt these creatures. Every one is unique; not just in terms of species, but in terms of an individuals' habits. Depending on its size and stamina, it may rely on certain attacks more than others or possibly bail to a farther area earlier. No fight happens the same way twice, and that's half of the fun of this 100+ hour journey. Add some expertly-crafted music and one of the most triumphant-sounding themes ever written, and you've got a few experiences that are truly memorable.
That being said, this game isn't really everybody's cup of tea. As mentioned above, this game takes a long time to beat and focuses the player on completing many of the same quests over and over again to get to higher-tiered monsters. There's also a 'cuter' side of the game that surprised me on my first run-through in the form of the Felyne companions and your ally Cha-Cha, but those could easily be overlooked. The real challenge, though, came with the camera controls underwater. It runs and plays very well otherwise, but there were multiple instances where I had to scramble across the controller to look for a monster and almost got severely damaged from its attack before I could see it. These are all trials that can be overcome after twelve hours of good practice, but they can easily hinder a newcomer's experience with the game.
Even with these side-notes, Monster Hunter is something I'd recommend to anyone who takes video games seriously. It's mechanics may take a while to get used to, but you'll have more memorable hunts and challenges with them than almost any other game can boast. It's a great introduction to the series, and the older copies are worth adding to your Wii collection at the end of this gaming generation. If you are interested, though, Monster Hunter 3- Ultimate arrived on the Wii-U and 3DS in November of 2013, and we aren't far from getting Monster Hunter 4-Ultimate for the 3DS. If you want to do something fun and challenging with your friends or just by yourself, I'd look out for these, buy them, play them at home, and have so much more to talk about afterwards with your gaming group.
There isn't much of a story to Monster Hunter, seeing as it's more about the experience. The player takes on the role of a hunter-gatherer in a pseudo-feudal civilization tasked with protecting a sea-side village from an unknown threat. To do so, (s)he has to prove their worth by taking quests from a higher 'Hunter's Guild' and hunting monsters. The more you hunt, the more materials you can carve and, therefore, the more weapons and armor you can craft to hunt bigger and more dangerous monsters. It may sound tedious, and many may be put off by the 4-5-hour tutorial, but it's really worth it to finally hunt something as outlandish as a football-field-sized sand-whale.
Graphically speaking, the game looks better than most of the other games on the Wii. Players can run, fight, swim, and even dance through six incredibly detailed environments, carrying weapons and armor that just shout raw power. Even more impressive are the monster designs, all bizarre and exotic, but all animated with a surprising amount of fluidity. The frame rate only drops on occasion, when multiple large monsters and more than a couple dozen smaller ones are on screen at once, but those are rare occurrences. One could argue that the HUD gets a little complicated, but it needs to be, and it hardly distracts from the experience as it is.
Speaking of which, the game play here is some of the most immersive ever. Ever armor set and weapon comes with its own strengths and weaknesses- there isn't one that works best for every monster or quest. Often times, the choice won't be for the monster's attacks to determine, but for you to find out which works best to your needs. Even so, you'll be needing the average quest's time limit of 50 minutes to hunt these creatures. Every one is unique; not just in terms of species, but in terms of an individuals' habits. Depending on its size and stamina, it may rely on certain attacks more than others or possibly bail to a farther area earlier. No fight happens the same way twice, and that's half of the fun of this 100+ hour journey. Add some expertly-crafted music and one of the most triumphant-sounding themes ever written, and you've got a few experiences that are truly memorable.
That being said, this game isn't really everybody's cup of tea. As mentioned above, this game takes a long time to beat and focuses the player on completing many of the same quests over and over again to get to higher-tiered monsters. There's also a 'cuter' side of the game that surprised me on my first run-through in the form of the Felyne companions and your ally Cha-Cha, but those could easily be overlooked. The real challenge, though, came with the camera controls underwater. It runs and plays very well otherwise, but there were multiple instances where I had to scramble across the controller to look for a monster and almost got severely damaged from its attack before I could see it. These are all trials that can be overcome after twelve hours of good practice, but they can easily hinder a newcomer's experience with the game.
Even with these side-notes, Monster Hunter is something I'd recommend to anyone who takes video games seriously. It's mechanics may take a while to get used to, but you'll have more memorable hunts and challenges with them than almost any other game can boast. It's a great introduction to the series, and the older copies are worth adding to your Wii collection at the end of this gaming generation. If you are interested, though, Monster Hunter 3- Ultimate arrived on the Wii-U and 3DS in November of 2013, and we aren't far from getting Monster Hunter 4-Ultimate for the 3DS. If you want to do something fun and challenging with your friends or just by yourself, I'd look out for these, buy them, play them at home, and have so much more to talk about afterwards with your gaming group.
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