First a bit about the game: Monster Hunter is a unique game that I have trouble giving a genre to but the best I can say is a tactical action role playing game.
I say tactical because you have to think before you act, just rushing in and attacking will no get you anywhere because the monsters in the game are a hell of a lot stronger than you are. You have a variety of approaches ranging from traps to flash bombs to other distractions before you beat on the monster but it really comes down to avoiding attacks, learning a monsters moves and finding the right time to attack. That and when you use items you are left open so you must choose the right time to use them or you could be hurt worse than you were before you healed.
The action part comes from the fast paced action of this game, I said you have to think before you strike but there is not a lot of time to think when a monster is charging at you. Quick reflexes and on the spot thinking get you through the hunt.
And of course that controversial genre when it comes to video games RPG: The RPG elements in this game come from the stats and the choices. You have a huge choice of weaponry, armours and approaches to hunting monsters (I'll get in to all that later) not exactly the best game to fit the RPG genre especially with it's lack of a story but you take what you can get.
A bit of background and why you probably have not heard of it: Monster Hunter is a huge hit in Japan but not in North America. The reasons why it isn't so hot in North America might be because of the fact nobody knew about it due to lack of advertising on CAPCOM's part.
Okay now with that over let's move on to gameplay shall we?
The gameplay consists of hunting monsters to rank up and get better equipment to fight stronger monsters. Yup that's about it, but that's also what makes the game so damn fun: The feeling of improvement. You rank up and get new armour and weaponry just to rank up some more and even though you have to grind a bit it never feels like a grind, why? Because no hunt is ever the same.
Now for a core part in Monster Hunter: The weapons
You don't buy weapons in Monster Hunter you make them with materials you have gathered in your hunts. Weapons have a sharpness which effects how much damage they deal and what types of monster hides they can break through. The weapons consist of:
(Special thanks to the Monster Hunter wiki for the descriptions of the weapons)
Sword and Shield: Sword and Shield hunters focus on using a wide variety of elemental swords to inflict quick considerable damage.
The Sword and Shield weapon class is the most basic of all weapon types that hunters utilize in the Monster Hunter franchise. Also known as SnS, this weapon type exploits the natural speed and agility of the light-weight sword in conjunction with a small shield. A hunter is able to run and perform a rolling dodge with this weapon unsheathed, and is able to suppress certain types of attacks within the shield's meagerly-sized hitbox with a block.
While staying this impressively mobile, the typical SnS only has a limited damage potential; indeed, some of the lowest attack power in the game makes its home in the SnS category. To compensate, many of the weapons in this category are imbued with powerful elemental properties or status ailment inflictions. Sadly in this game they kind of lack enough attack power to be any good. Don't use them.
Dual Swords: Dual Swords, also called DS are a very high speed class of weapon, while not having large raw damage numbers, the speed compensates, giving a large damage output over time. Having a wide variety of elements, under their sleeve that is second only to the variety you would get from Sword and Shield weapons, and giving hunters top speed mobility makes this weapon a classic favourite of many hunters.
Dual blades have an undeniable charm. While using them you'll find that you can chain attacks, allowing heavy damage over several attacks. They also have a wider variety of attack routines and motions than any other weapon in the MH universe.
Great Sword: The Great Sword is a weapon capable of dealing massive damage at the price of slow movement. A weapon which has its own deep of use and it requires certain amount of training to be able to master it and fully use it, the Great Sword is not just any big pointy stick. It can also block with the R button, serving as a shield with slightly better protection than the Sword and Shield, as well as a fast-draw shielding ability. This shielding ability comes with a downfall, however, as each time you shield an attack the sword will lose sharpness.
Lance: My personal favorite, lances are long weapons that can strike from a distance. The lance is always accompanied by a large shield which generally grants a powerful defense against most attacks. Although slow and difficult to travel with, the weapon's damage output can be impressive. Lances have different moves, such as the up stab, forward stab, and charging attack.
Along with the Sword and Shield, lances are one of the only weapons that can attack and block at the same time. Lances also have a great piercing ability usually able to pierce monster hides that other weapons can not.
Hammer: The Hammer weapon class is a fairly common weapon type among players. Staunch and resilient, the hammer is perhaps the first representative weapon-of-choice to dictate pure, unadulterated damage directly to the target. In this field, the typical weapon's attributes allow a hunter to run openly with the weapon drawn, perform short-range, almost "bunting" and swing attacks with their initial attack buttons, and the ability to charge up different types of swings while moving.
As the hammer class has immense damage potential, and indeed, some of the outright highest raw damage in the game, the weapon boasts no defensive capabilities aside from the standard rolling dodge maneuver. A sense of timing is needed to master the weapon's true damaging traits: releasing charged swings while timing and aiming diligently against the foe's movements. No easy task. Further, hammers have a decent variance of elemental attributes, and are useful for racking up elemental damage. You cannot cut a tail with a hammer, but it is easy to break heads and other body parts.
Typically of moderate sharpness, the hammer is able to supplant high damage through its shoulder-button charged moves. These include a single swift swing, a one-two "golf swing," and, depending on if the hunter is moving or not, a whirling attack or a heavy bash onto the ground.
Light Bowgun: The Light Bowgun is a bowgun that allows you to move at normal running speed. You can unsheathe it faster than the heavy bowgun due to the clear weight difference. Due to its compact size, it doesn't come with as much firepower than its larger counterpart but most hunters prefer light bowguns because of the movement and reloading speed. Most light bowguns are easily made and mastered.
The light bowgun has the advantage of being easy to handle and doesn't restrict the movement of the user during combat. However, bowguns are limited by the type of bullets they can equip, so it's best to suit the bowgun that utilizes the kind of bullet that would deliver the most damage on your opponent.
Heavy Bowgun: The Heavy Bowgun is a powerful weapon, but may take some getting used to, due to its slow nature. Its main role in the gunner class is to provide players with support fire that delivers high damage and range, though at a fairly reduced movement speed and usually reload rate.
The Heavy Bowgun sports as much as twice the firepower of a Light Bowgun, and most weapons in this category have the ability to fire powerful bullets The basic strategy you would take with the Heavy Bowgun is a sort of hit and run playstyle (when facing boss monsters). The best thing to do is to roll away from a monster's attack and shoot at it while they attack, or during the brief lag times after they do a move. Sometimes you would have to sacrifice the time you could take to attack a few times to reload, which is another weakness of the Heavy Bowgun.
Perhaps those were too in depth but they are pretty much the main part of the game.
Now with weapons out of the way I can get in to armours and I will keep this short and sweet:
Armours are divided in to two classes:
Blademaster and Gunner with blademaster having very high defence but a bit lacking in the elemental defence and can only be equipped if you are using a melee weapon (With the exception of helmets which can be equipped by anyone)
Gunner armour has low defence but high elemental defence and can only be equipped by gunners (Again with helments being the exception)
All armours look different and have different strengths and weakensses but what really makes them unique are the abilities. Having a full set of a armour type can give you boosts to your health, attack or many other things. trying out which armour is best for you is very fun and has great rewards when you find the one you like best.
The online servers have gone down so there is not much point in me reviewing this part but by golly I'm doing it anyway.
Hunting is best done with friends and the online play was were this game really shined, with four hunters you can defeat a monster with much more ease and greater rewards. Online play also featured harder missions called High rank missions (Or + missions by the community) where more strategy was needed as the stronger monsters would wipe you out much faster should you make a mistake.
I almost forgot about graphics
The Graphics in Monster Hunter are beautiful with fleshed out environments and very detailed monsters, on your first mission you are treated to a very nice scene of its beautiful landscape and it gives the game an artistic feel.
In summary this is a magnificent game that may have aged as the newer games came out but still should not be overlooked as the start of a great and unique series that I have yet to see another game pull off. Definitely worth a buy if you do not have a PSP to get the newer games but wish to see what it is like.
I would love some creative criticism or ways I can improve my reviews for the future thanks!
Q?
