Reviews// Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate

Somewhat unique is Monster Hunter’s complete lack of typical RPG staples such as levelling up or character classes. Instead your character’s abilities are determined entirely by the equipment, hence the focus on gathering crafting materials to create new gear and upgrade it to higher levels of power. Your stats can be tweaked further by accessorising your armour, but each piece of armour has a limited number of accessory slots so it’s up to you on how to make the best use of them.

There are plenty of armour pieces available to choose from and you can freely mix and match them until you look like anything from a typical knight in shining armour to a flamboyant Power Rangers villain. The lack of levelling up means your health and stamina pools won’t get any larger as you get further into the game. Instead, when things start to get tough you’ll be forced to rely more on your item gathering and cooking skills to survive in the wild, which definitely gives the game a nice unique flavour.

The underwater sections make for a nice change of pace, and the controls are handled reasonably well, although again you’re forced to constantly adjust the camera as you swim. It’s very easy to get disorientated when you’re trying to change direction while simultaneously fighting a giant sea monster, but I’ll let that slide just because it’s so cool to fight a giant sea monster.

It’s not like you need to really worry about inevitably being eaten or drowned, either. Death is a bit of a slap on the wrist in Monster Hunter. Falling in battle will simply cause you to respawn at the nearest battle camp, minus a bit of cash and some of your items. During active quests it’s slightly more serious as dying three times is an automatic fail, but failed quests can be reattempted straight away anyway.

Where the combat does really shine is in the wide range of fighting styles available to the player, but even this isn’t perfect. Some of the heavier weapons have such slow attack animations that by the time I actually finished an attack even the most docile of creatures had wandered away from me. And ranged weapons, especially the slower but more powerful crossbows, are almost impossible to aim in the middle of a fight without going into a first-person mode which leaves you pretty vulnerable to attacks from other directions.

Fortunately there’s nothing tying you down to any particular weapon style early on, and after I got bored of slowly missing enemies with my massive gunlance I soon swapped to the much faster double blade style and went to town. In a rare instance of convenience, Monster Hunter does provide you with a beginner weapon of each type right from the start of the game. Being able to take each weapon type out for a spin without having to spend valuable cash or materials is very helpful, and there’s still a lot to choose from even once you eliminate the weapons that flat-out suck. It’s definitely a good idea to try out as many styles as you can in the early stages of the game to find out what works for you. It can save you the pain of investing materials into crafting and upgrading weapons that might end up wasted.

This weapons issue brings us handily to multiplayer, as it’s obvious that having a team of like-minded fellow hunters watching your back would make heavier or ranged weapons far more viable. Which raises a slight problem, in that while the big console Monster Hunter games let you team up with friends across the Internet, this one is restricted to linking up with other nearby players.

Which I imagine will make it a lot more difficult to put a party together than it should be. Fortunately, a little way into the game you recruit an AI controlled helper who’ll follow you into battle and help gather up nearby materials. It’s a pretty far cry from having another player on hand, but at least it’s something.

The more I played the more I was reminded of Phantasy Star Online. Combos based on steady timing? Hordes of enemies? Constant hunting for loot? Vaguely MMOish but with a focus on four-man teams? Constantly revisiting the same areas with things shuffled around depending on the activated quest? That’s a lot of ticks in a lot of boxes. And like any right-thinking gamer, I loved Phantasy Star Online. And while I didn’t fall in love with Monster Hunter straight away, I have to admit that it has slowly sunk its claws into me.

Monster Hunter takes a long time to get rolling, but once it does it’s easy to see how the series has managed to hook so many fans. By the same token, anyone looking for anything resembling instant gratification will no doubt be put off by the amount of grinding that this massive time sink of a game requires. It’s almost pointless to play Monster Hunter casually, if you want to take a crack at it you have to go all in or you won’t even begin to scratch the surface of the endless hunting, looting and crafting cycle.

The limited multiplayer options are likely to be a real drawback to the game’s longevity. It’s worth pointing out that a fully online Wii U port is due out at the same time with the ability to transfer save data back and forth between the console and handheld ports, letting overly dedicated fans play on the Wii U at home and then transfer their character to the 3DS to continue playing on the move.

No doubt Capcom would love it if people bought both versions for this reason, and I’m sure plenty of hardcore Monster Hunter fans plan on doing just that. Hey, it’s their money. But while the Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the 3DS might be a solid game in its own right, if I had the option I think I’d sooner just pick up the Wii U version.

Pros
+ Looks great.
+ Lots to do.
+ Addictive.
+ Dinosaurs!

Cons
- Slow to get started.
- Can get repetitive.
- Cumbersome inventory.
- Limited multiplayer.

SPOnG score: 8/10