Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Wii-U

Hoo boy, this game is amazing.

Let me just start out by saying, I had no idea what monster hunter was. I Thought "Monster Hunter" was the show "Monster Rancher" that aired in the 90's. When i was told they were different, i was a little bummed out and wasn't too sure about getting this game.

They both have the name monster in the title, and both games involve hunting monsters. 

Except one has monsters that'll rip your face off. 

But i put that aside and still decided to get the game (really too bad though, i wanted to make a steam bun monster and a giant eyeball too), and boy was i exceptionally pleased with the game. 

The graphics are stellar and the controls, after getting used to, are very well done. Personally i used my Wii-U pro controller and didn't bother with the Wii-pad because i don't want to have to look down and up and down when fighting things like this

Those things there, pretty much like giants.

As i said the controls take getting used to, If you, like me, are not a veteran monster hunter, you may accidentally use an item when trying to swing you sword or giant club.

This game is not so much a stat game but a skill one, granted you need armors and weapons to have exceptional stats to tackle bigger and scarier things, but if you have no idea how to avoid attacks, it ain't gonna do much.

A common thing i heard of this game prior to playing was, "You hunt monsters to craft better armor to hunt bigger monsters", and when hearing that, it sounds tedious, but it is not so. It makes up for that in the vast online world. It is so easy to jump in, fight and jump out. There's a voice option to chat, and if you're like me, a easy text option with the wii-pad (too bad its a maximum 30 chars). People seem to be generally friendly (granted the games been out for 3 days now) and there are tons of lobbies to play on. 

There are about 10 different weapon types (i may be wrong, going off of memory) and each weapon type has tons of different weapons dealing different types of status effects and even brute strength.

Now each weapon has it's own learning curve, for myself, a hunter newbie, i use the dual swords. They're fast reliable and deal ok damage. The farther down the weapon weights you go, the more damage and slower you swing, and believe me, if you can't aim properly with a slow weapon, all that damage will miss, because there is no lock-on.

This is something that has both pros an cons. The lack of a lock on. While there is an auto camera ajust to large monsters, it does not keep the camera "Locked on", The lack of this forces the player to actually require skill and know when to swing the weapon. When confronting a large monster, the one thing you don't want to do is miss, simply because that gives the monster an opening to tear you a new one. 

But each game has it's flaws. When you start hunting bigger things, in a group or alone, you will die. Not like Dark souls die, but pretty close. Whether you're in a group or alone, if you or your teammates die, the bounty of the hunt goes down by 1/3 each time. So if you die 3 times, it's game over; not only that but if your teammates die 2 times and you died once, It's game over. You get nothing from the hunt, you lose any materials you used in the hunt and you're sent back to town feeling a little self pity.

Least this is a gesture in the game...Show your comrades how much you're in pain

 The other thing is when you want to craft new armor, you'll most likely want to go after the whole set, and sets take time. You'll normally have to hunt the monster countless times to get all of it's resources it drops, and sometimes the drop rate of a specific item is no more than 12%. The better the equips, the harder it is to get the items. 

The biggest letdown i've faced so far, is the online multiplayer with 3ds to    wii-u. The game boasts 3DS multiplayer and how you can play with people on the wii-U with the 3DS, but in game there are 3 types of play. Solo, Multiplayer and online. So the keyword being used is Multiplayer. Yes you can play with people who own the wii-u version with the 3ds, but they gotta be sitting next to you, which is kinda disappointing.

"Wii U players are able to enjoy the hunt with Nintendo 3DS players via a local wireless connection."-IGN

I understand they weren't hiding that fact, but it couldn't have hurt to implement online for both.

Overall, this is an astounding game. If you take the time to learn how to fight properly, and are ok with no hand holding in combat, then i reccommend this game. It is hard, fun monster fighting, pretty nice cut-scenes and the online is well put together. 



...Hopefully more nintendo titles will have online as similar as this...







Really wanted this to be monster rancher

One of the best shows of the 90's....