PREVIEW: Monster Hunter Tri

I’ve never played any game in the Monster Hunter series before. When I first heard the name Monster Hunter I thought of some lame Pokemon rip off. I was very wrong. These two franchises have nearly nothing in common but wacky Japanese culture.

I recently got the chance to play Monster Hunter Tri for Wii. Below I’m going to give my virgin impressions of the game. I know that if you’ve played your fair share of Monster Hunter you’ll probably eat my opinions for lunch. The point of this preview is not to inform Monster Hunter pros on what to expect, because you already know. This is to let newcomers to the series catch a glimpse into this interesting game. It’s the first of its kind on Wii and a non-Playstation format. Monster Hunter is all the rage for PSP in Japan.

If you’ve never played Monster Hunter before let me give you a quick crash course on what it is. I lifted the rest of this paragraph from Wikipedia. Monster Hunter places the player in the role of an up-and-coming hunter who must accomplish various quests to achieve glory. Armors, weapons, and other items are created from the remains of slain monsters by carving off their horns, scales and bones. Monster Hunter plays in a similar fashion to Phantasy Star Online allowing the player to team up with up to three other hunters online to take down stronger monsters. If you would like to read more about Monster Hunter head on over to Wikipedia.

The Monster Hunter Tri demo starts the player off with two missions choices. One that is, supposedly, easy, and another that’s a little harder. In my first play through I went for the easier mission hoping not to get my butt kicked. The easier mission gives the player 20 minutes to chase down and kill some sort of mid-sized t-rex type of dinosaur... I mean monster. Once the mission is picked the player must choose a hunter to use. Each hunter has their own weapons. All of the weapons in this game are massive. The different types of weapons include swords, spears, and even guns.

Ouchers

The player starts off their mission in what appears to be a camp. The first thing they’ll notice is a huge map with different numbered areas. On the map is also the targeted monster. It appears as a blue dinosaur shaped character and can move between the different areas of the map. Chasing down the monster was a little hard at first, but upon familiarizing myself with how to navigate the map it became much easier.

I used the Wii-mote to control my sword wielding character. Be advised you must use the nun-chuck to play. I hacked and hacked and was getting little accomplished. Using the Wii-mote to slash was irritating. I found it much easier just to press the A button. Camera control is done with the D-pad and is also frustrating. The camera can only be moved in predetermined angels. Moving the camera is usually more hassle than it’s worth. You should know that the game can be controlled with the classic control which allows for dual analogue camera control. I advise this method.

Monster Hunter Tri trailer

Movements happen slowly. The player runs slow and swings their powerful sword even slower. The way I picture it is like a real-time RPG. Many times in those type games players have different meters to determine the speed of a character. On screen the characters never appear to get faster but stat increases help boost how often the character lands an attack. In a typical Japanese RPG speed and power are nothing more than a number and statistics game. In Monster Hunter those stats are actually played out on screen. If a player has a slow weapon it swings slowly. That makes it hard to hit targets. This can be very frustrating especially for inexperienced players like me. To make it more difficult there was no lock-on button. The player just has to swing their weapon in the hope of hitting the intended target. Many times the player will miss. This then leads to the monster knocking them on their butts. I quickly learned to sheath and unsheathe my sword in order to move quicker.

Teh Pretty GRAPHX!!!!11!!

The graphics are pretty good. They aren’t the best I’ve seen on Wii (That’s held by Super Mario Galaxy) but they’re better than most games. It’s disappointing to see the game, or at least the demo, doesn’t play in true widescreen. There was about a half inch of black bars on either side of my screen. Loading screens are also a little intrusive. I ran into them every time I moved to a different area. They are quick, but they still break up the experience.

All that being said there is a lot of potential in Monster Hunter Tri. Many of the things mentioned above are things I’ll have to get used to. I’m excited to play the game online like it needs to be played. It’s obvious that there should be multiple players taking on these monsters. I think that would help with the steep learning curve. Don’t count this game out yet. Hopefully more play time will prove the game to be a real winner. I look forward to playing more on April 21st. Duh, I have it pre-ordered. You can play through the demo yourself by going to Gamestop and getting the demo disk yourself. I encourage you to do so... It free.

-Submitted for Your Approval, Ivey Rhodes