This is my first time Monster Hunting, and I don’t know what to expect. Little do I know that having played Soul Sacrifice and Toukiden for the PS Vita, I've played games that wouldn't have existed without Monster Hunter. It's almost a good thing that I've played the clones first, though, because as with any media when you finally experience the true trend-setting property, you understand why it is. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is an absolutely incredible game, simply one of the finest games for the 3DS.
In it you play a custom character that joins a guild of monster hunters, travelling from town to town in a caravan and taking care of any giant monster problems the locals have. It turns out that this world has tons of those, so there’s plenty of work for you - literally hundreds of hours of it if you so choose. The story is fun and light and the dialogue is snappy as well, but it's really just to get you to the meat of the game- all those monsters.
While the world is populated with plenty of little creatures that wish you harm, each monster is a boss battle in itself and offers different challenges, different strategies for taking them down. When injured they run off to their lair to heal, and the hunt to take them down before they can recoup is that much more thrilling because of it. You'll try to figure out where they flew away or burrowed off too, hitting them with a paintball to track their path if you're smart.
It's hard to describe just how thrilling each and every mission in this game is, how satisfying it is to finally take down that beast and watch your hunter raise his or her fist in the air in triumph. That’s a kill you’ve earned, by jolly, and it feels like it.
It’s easy to get hooked, and playing through older titles in order to see the differences soon shows that this installment is easily the best introduction to the series. Other Monster Hunter games were not nearly as newbie friendly, stretching out a tutorial over many tedious hours and offering crippling difficulty right off the bat. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate eases you in with entertaining missions right from the start, teaching you the game organically. The tutorials for every weapon (there are 14!) are optional, allowing you to test them out at your leisure, and many of the non-hunting missions allow you to learn as you play, whether it’s by gathering various flora and fauna from the lands or harvesting various pelts or bones from creatures.
This game is the first in the series to really use verticality, and the ability to climb up and down to different levels now also offers you the ability to attack enemies from above, and even mount them if you hit them just right. This starts up an incredibly fun little mini-game where you stab away at the beast while trying to hold on tight as it bucks and writhes to get you off its back. One rock monster I found was impervious to all of my attacks on the ground, and it wasn’t until I realized it wasn’t armored on his back did I realize the method to take it down.
But, a note. This game was played on a standard 3DS, not one of those newfangled New 3DSes, and so my already-glowing thoughts might actually be less glowing than they could be. With the New™ 3DS you have much more control over the camera thanks to the C-stick, something that’s always useful in a third person melee fighter. You always have to keep an eye on the world, and the many dangers it contains.
Old™ 3DS owners will find it fine to control the camera using the completely customizable bottom touch screen, but tapping on the touch screen to move the camera around is hardly the best way to do things. Fortunately it’s fairly easy to lock onto the monster you’re currently hunting and keep it in your signs by centering the camera with the L trigger.
Even this little bit of frustration can’t stop how utterly addicting this game is. You’ll have sunk 20 hours into it before even realizing it, and when you do, you’ve only seen a tiny bit of what the game has to offer.
The weapon lineup for the Monster Hunter series already included an impressive array of melee and ranged weapons, everything from a Sword and Shield combo for beginners to a Heavy Bowgun that does great damage but makes you slow to maneuver, but vets to the series will find two new weapons added to the roster.
The Charge Blade is a bit of a hybrid weapon. Pull it out and it controls much like the Sword and Shield. It’s fast and lets you defend against enemy attacks, but the difference is that as you hit your enemy your sword will begin to retain a charge. You can “bank” that charge into your blade and then, usually when it’s full, decide to transform your weapon. You take your sword and smash it into the shield and create an enormous axe out of both of them combined, which is powerful (yet slow) enough as is, but now can discharge that energy you stored up with incredibly brutal attacks.
It’s fast become my favorite weapon thanks to the variety it adds, and how damn powerful those axe attacks are when you charge it up.
The other new weapon is the Insect Glaive, which is similar to the Long Sword, but it allows the hunter to jump with it at any time, using it like a pole vaulter. You get a little companion in the form of the "kinsect", a little bug that can be directed to attack enemies, even specific body parts. It’s fun to use but much, much trickier.
The other biggest addition to the game? Online multplayer. There's a Gathering Hall you can enter between missions that lets you set up an online game or join someone else's, and it's very easy to jump into a challenge. It's fun and easy and you can chat using the stylus and an on-screen keyboard and while it's not ideal, it works, and will add dozens of hours to your experience. As if you needed more.
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this. Once in a while when I get into a beloved series that I have somehow missed (I'm looking at you, Pokemon) I emerge a little stumped from the experience, but the appeal of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is obvious. You’ll soon find yourself completely obsessed with hunting down new monsters for materials to construct new armor and weapons, combining items in a mad form of alchemy to find new and improved ways of killing monsters,, even outfitting your little cat companion with new duds. It’s very, very easy to get sucked into this game and you can’t even write about it for long without feeling that urge, that longing, to get back into the game and see who else you can go on a hunt with, and what massive monster you will face next.
An early, easy contender for game of the year.
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Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate was reviewed from a retail copy provided by Capcom. It's now available in stores or via the Nintendo eShop, and you should own it.
