Tweet
Monster Hunter has never enjoyed much western success - and we're the losers. Of all Capcom's modern series, this co-operative action-RPG is one of the deepest, funniest and most rewarding. It lacks the nostalgia and immediacy of Street Fighter 4 or the big-budget production values of Resident Evil, but has something at its core that I find more fulfilling. Call it camaraderie, the rush of a team sport played well - with a sideline in snazzy uniforms.Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is available for both 3DS and Wii U; the two versions have the same content and you can play local co-op and share a save between them (eventually - see sidebar below). It's the definitive version of 2009's Monster Hunter Tri, the third entry in the series proper, each numbered Monster Hunter being a game that Capcom refines over the course of years and multiple entries. So the foundation is an old game, but one of exceptional durability and quality - though the first few hours do Ultimate no favours at all.
The opening quests are no good, really, too basic for experienced players and too bamboozling for new ones. They're designed to teach the basics slowly; from gathering to fishing and hunting small fry, it's a cascade of little factoids, menus and seemingly unrelated activities in which Monster Hunter's tightly-wound logic is far from immediately clear. This is a game in which you earn success, and in these early stages the earning is hard and the rewards are far from obvious.
Read more…
More...