Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP)

[  « Previous Page | 1 | 2  ]

The combat is enough to make you tear your hair out

Then there’s the astonishingly poorly-designed item/weapon use system. To use an item in the heat of battle you have to put your weapon away by pressing the square button, hold L, cycle left and right through your items with the square and circle button, then let go of L and press square to consume. Putting away your weapon requires an animation, as does consuming an item (like a health replenishing potion). When I wasn’t accidentally consuming potions instead of slicing thin air I was being repeatedly knocked down by rampaging monsters. Frustration isn’t strong enough a word.

My confidence shattered, I found myself wondering if I simply didn’t get Monster Hunter. I found myself apologetically telling my PSP: it’s not you, it’s me. There is an element of truth to this: Monster Hunter isn’t for everyone. It requires a degree of patience a lot of modern gamers simply won’t have. It’s massively in depth, and has more hours of gameplay buried within its virtual innards than perhaps any game on the PSP. And I can understand why it’s so addictive for some – it’s hard not to catch the MMO bug, one I had myself with World of Warcraft, from the game – the psychological motivation of ‘just one more quest’ is hard to resist when new and improved armour and weapons are just around the corner.

 Advertisement

When I got back to the office the rest of the team could see me toiling with the horns of this dilemma of a game. Seb and Chris, both massive Monster Hunter fans, attempted to explain the game to me. You should cancel attack animations with evading rolls, they advised. Combat is only half the game, they said. You need to cultivate items on the Pokke Farm, you need to grind the easy quests almost from the get go to harvest the items you need to improve your armour and weapons. You need to make traps and bombs to take down that wyvern. You don’t need to take that wyvern down at all – run away from it. All useful advice, advice I wish the game had given me before my first impression (I say first impression, but it was formulated some 12 hours in) led me to despair.

This is the problem Monster Hunter Freedom Unite faces. Many people will find the difficulty curve so steep that they’ll stop playing before it gets good. This isn’t the fault of the player – if a game isn’t accessible enough that’s the fault of the developer. Even Monster Hunter veterans may find themselves unsatisfied. Freedom Unite is simply too similar to the previous Monster Hunter game – 2007’s Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Seb was astonished to find it almost identical in fact. Bar a new Felyne Fighter system that acts as an AI partner when out on quests, the option to install the game (essential, really – without it loading times are abhorrent), new equipment, monsters and quests, it’s pretty much the same game. Yes you can import your character over, but many hardcore fans will reckon the game more of an expansion than a true sequel.

The game's so much more fun when played with others - if only online play had been included.

Much of my criticism of the game would be negated if you were able to play it online - the game supports four-player grouping via the PSP’s local wireless ad hoc mode. This omission is unforgivable – Monster Hunter’s clearly designed to be played multiplayer, as it is so fanatically across Japan. Our wireless games in the office proved a much more enjoyable affair – coordinating attacks and employing strategy was fun, and the combat was less frustrating because its deficiencies are less pronounced when you've got mates to help you out. Online play would have given Monster Hunter a chance in the west – the odds of finding other players to play with in the UK are, frankly, remote. Without it it’s destined to remain a niche title. It’s a real shame, as is the title in general. The graphics are great and the core concept is wonderful, so the fact that Capcom hasn’t tweaked the Monster Hunter PSP experience to accommodate newcomers is all the more disappointing. Why hasn’t the combat been improved? Why isn’t it more accessible? Why isn’t the difficulty curve smoother? Online guides and real-life Gathering Hall meets in London are great, but nothing compares to actually making the game better.

And yet, there's something strangely compelling about Monster Hunter. Like most good MMOs it preys on those bothered about 'keeping up with the Joneses'. Like most good MMOs it takes time to get going. Like most MMOs there's a great deal of grinding. And, like most good MMOs, there's tons to it, most of which you won't discover until you're 50 years old and collapsing under the weight of your own dressing gown-induced sweat.

I’ve tried to keep this review as personal as possible, because I know Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will go down like cheesecake with fans of the series. It’s one of those classic ‘if you like X then you’ll like this’ games, but I can only call it how I see it. I can only tell you that the game isn’t for me, but it might be for you. If it is, it’s probably the best value PSP game ever released. If it isn’t, then it’s a slow, mind-numbing exercise in masochism.

[  « Previous Page | 1 | 2  ]