Neslug Reviews: Monster Hunter Tri

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= Review = Monster Hunter Tri (AKA Monster Hunter 3) is a Wii installment in the Monster Hunter series which has enjoyed some immense success over in Japan. However, in the west, it never quite seemed to catch on. Why? Many Japanese gamers love long grindfests, own a PSP with a version of Monster Hunter and have developed an odd fondness for barrel bomb-carrying cats. And thankfully, as the first title in the series I could easily grab, I got to play and now review this game. I do own a PS2 but the original Monster Hunter never caught my eye in stores and I didn't own a PSP until months after this game launched. Anyway...

Story & Basics
The game's story is a rather simple one. In the offline mode, you are a hunter who comes to the aid of the population of Moga Village after they endure a violent earthquake. It's your goal to find out the cause behind this and quick before all of Deserted Island sinks under the sea. Okay, that doesn't sound overly complicated. But to accomplish this task you must gather resources, manage your items and slay beasts both large and small, each more difficult than the last. The learning curve might look steep at first but there is a lot to wrap your head around if you never played the previous entries in the series. However, with a little practice, you'll play like the pros. It is recommended to play at least some of the offline quests before heading online to meet up with fellow hunters to avoid completely embarrassing yourself for not knowing the basics.

Gameplay & Strategy
The game offers a unique flavour of real-time action and RPG mechanics in a single package. There are three game modes: offline, online and arena, each with their own characteristics. You have two controller choices, Wiimote + Nunchuck and the Classic Controller, of which I use the former. Likewise, there are two different (albeit similar) "battlesystems" in the form of land and underwater battles, some monsters requiring you to master both. You can take one weapon from a selection of 7 weapon types on Quests, which (with a few exceptions in online play) give you a rather generous time limit of 50 minutes to finish off the monster or accomplish another specified task.

One of the addicting features of Monster Hunter you won't find in most other action games is that it's fun to experiment and combine different pieces of armor and weapons to find just the right set to trump the creature you're having trouble with. The different monsters and equipment may have elemental attributes and weaknesses that should be noted when preparing for the hunts. For example, the noisy Qurupeco is best thwarted with Ice or Water elemental weapons and Gigginox eventually falls from the hits of your Fire weapon, though your weapon's raw power may sometimes make up for an element disadvantage. When using melee weapons such as Sword & Shield or Lance it's also important to pay attention to the Sharpness Gauge below your health bar. If it's running low you should cease fighting for a moment to sharpen your weapon so it won't just bounce right off its target. Conversely, if you're bowgunning it's common sense to reload once you've shelled out all your loaded ammo.

Then there are the armor skills, which can grant such beneficial effects as immunity to large monsters' roars, making your stamina gauge drain slower and further raising your Defense, just to name a few. These can then be mixed-and-matched to create interesting armor sets with varying strengths. Perhaps the most reliable way to get multiple skills activated at once is to wear a full set of the same armor, as each piece of armor contributes to the same skills. With the Rathian+ set in the full-body screenshot up there you can get the Fire Res+10, Health+50 and Earplugs skills. If there are any negative skills you want to get rid of you can try "gemming" them out by setting jewels into the slots in your armor (or weapon), this is done via a blacksmith like the basic equipment crafting and upgrading. However, not all armors and weapons have slots so you'll have to plan carefully if you intend to make best use of what you have. Once you're done with the set you're wearing you can register it at your item box for easy access should you ever decide to edit it or make more armor sets later (you should for convenience's sake).

What initially starts off as simple Sunday bug hunts eventually builds up into epic battles against gargantuan near-godly beasts that are best left to be attempted with multiple players; if you practice hard enough, though, you might be able to take any of them on alone but there's no additional reward to doing so. There's a nice awards system that helps you keep track of your overall progress in the game, both offline and online.

Offline Mode in short
The (simple) story and resource farming is what this mode is about. Speaking of farms, you have your very own one you can upgrade as well as a couple ships and an argosy at your disposal. Don't forget to venture out with your Shakalaka pal Cha-Cha and get a feel of the game if you're a first-time hunter.

- Gather more common materials

- Get familiar with the game

Online Mode in short
You are never alone on the streets of Loc Lac, a bustling trade city that also houses multiplayer Arena Quests and weekly special Event Quests. Up to 4 players can go on a quest together and as they say, the more the merrier (provided they're not tripping and upswinging you nonstop).

- Take down monsters with teamwork

- Communicate with fellow players and form new friendships

- Gather rarer materials

Arena Mode in short
Engage in battle either alone or with one friend via local multiplayer in splitscreen and tackle the monsters in the set time limits for the best rewards, using preset equipment. Items and money earned in this mode can be carried over to both offline and online modes.

- The local multiplayer mode of the game

- Along with the online arena challenges, the only way to get Coin items for special equipment crafting and item trades

Visual Look
This is easily one of the prettiest looking games on the Wii and is filled to the brim with eye candy. The textures are especially detailed and you'll be hard pressed to find repetition or tiling. You have 5 different locales to hunt and gather in and that's not counting the unique areas for some of the larger monsters in the game. The first one you'll encounter, Deserted Island, has spacious-yet-easy-to-memorize mapping and beautiful greenery. It's also convenient for featuring plenty of both land and underwater areas. If you look around you may see a herd of Aptonoth moving about peacefully before being scared off by the invading Great Jaggi. The creatures are all smoothly animated and cleverly designed from head to claw. All of the different armors have a different flavour ranging from the sturdy Uragaan Armor and the dark Alatreon Armor to the silly Jaggi Mask. The Wii cannot output video in HD resolution like its two competitors, but that doesn't hurt this game as much as some others. It's still comparable with them.

Sound
Now this may be a mixed bag for some. There is no proper voice acting and characters instead greet you with a generic "Hey!" or something else entirely. The general sound effects are fitting for the onscreen action. While out in the field all you hear are environmental sounds unless you are fighting off a large monster. This helps set the mood between the dime a dozen Bnahabra encounters and the actually powerful Deviljho, and I think most would agree. There's not always a need to have a musical score playing in the background, as you can be spending so long out in the wilderness it would eventually only become irritating. But what music is there consists of well composed orchestrated tracks that fit the mood of the current environment nicely. Some monsters such as the Jhen Mohran and Ceadeus even have their wholly own theme tunes.

For a sample, here's the Volcano battle music.

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Closing Words & Score
This is a solid game and a highly recommended title for action game fans who have patience to some degree and don't mind the subtle RPG elements in the form of hunting multiples of the same monster to upgrade your equipment and messing with armor skills. Some monsters share several animations with each other which is a bit of a disappointment, but it only really starts to stand out when you've played the game for an extensive amount of time. This game proves the Wii is not just for minigame compilations and can actually provide a truly immersive world to explore. What may initially seem like just another game to pass a week or two with can have you playing for months and still make you come back for more. I now truly understand why it's so big in Japan.

In life, there are hunters. And then, there are Monster Hunters. Oh, and don't forget to check out Monster Hunter Portable 3rd on the PSP for hunting Deviljho and friends on the go...if you own said console. Now if you excuse me, I have an 800+ hour save file to go back to...

The Good: Neverending gameplay, fluid online team play

The Bad: Underwater battles can be frustrating at times

The Ugly: Ceadeus, rude online players, Desire Sensor

SCORE: 10 out of 10