Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. N64

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Zelda Rating: 9.0
Difference from Other Zelda's: First Zelda to take a really dark twist, Unique mask collection
Using the Console: No differnce from Ocarina

It's times like these i'm glad i'm not popular, yet, for if i we're i'd be hounded down because i didn't post anything for a week, and I claimed i would do "Zelda Week" and my excuse? I was playing video games and sleeping. Geeze. Oh and eating every now and then. But Lets continue on with ZELDA WEEK!

This game is a doozy, and i mean that in the best way. This game in particular has become quite a Cult hit inside of the Legend of Zelda fanbase, but outside of it, many don't care too much about it, I think. But as you can tell, my 9/10 says that i love this game and too would love a remake, but only time will tell. Now onto the review.

The biggest change from this game from the others is it focuses on Link only, no Zelda what-so-ever (And if you say that Zelda links awakening was his own adventure, that's true, but it was also (SPOLIERS) all just a dream. Also i haven't played that game <- main reason.

So link goes on a quest for his friend, Navi the fairy, and so he goes looking for the little guy in the forest, which forest? We can only assume it's the Lost forest, where if people wander in and get lost, they become monsters. Great place to start right?! So Link is soon attacked by a kid wearing the Majora Mask which holds diabolical immense power...

Those piercing eyes... Soulless piercing eyes...

The kid robs link, steals his horse and flees. So what does Link do? Chase after him of course, and soon he enters a room with no floor and just falls down and down and down... (the rabbit hole). 

Now this game has many theories, that Link is dead, that he died before the theft of his stuff or even afterwards, and i'm not here to discuss that, because i wanna wait and see when they bring it back, because a cameo of majora's mask in the newest Zelda game means they're doing something, hopefully.

So Link gets turned into a shrub person, and has to find his way back to normal. Thus the game really begins. 

He looks so sad, i mean he did get turned into a plant... 

When i played this game as a child, it was the single most horrifying experience i have ever had, my reason being that was because i was going into it with the thought that i was playing a Zelda game, it'll be like a fantasy, but then it throws horrifying things at you. When people say this is easily the darkest Zelda game created, it really is. The moon will kill everyone in the world in 3 days, people don't care because they have a festival to run, and at the ranch run by two sisters, the older one drugs the younger the night the moons supposed to crash to make it easier for her. The younger sister knows nothing about it.

The moon has a face, and is going to kill us all. Alrighty then.

Now everyone's whose played a zelda game knows that there's sidequests, and this game has them, has them everywhere, and i mean everywhere, some quests can't be completed till a certain time, and some quests are completable only at the same time as other quests. How is this possible you ask? For those who have never played the game before let me shed some light on the most unique and evil mechanic this game has. 

Time.

The power to control time, in the hands of a small 12 year old boy. Why not.

So the moons going to crush the world in three days huh, not enough time, so what do you do? Reverse that shit. After the first 3 days you gain access to reverse time whenever you see fit, and why i say this is evil and unique, the only way to save your game is through reversing time. And let me tell you, reversing time does exactly that, reverses it. Did you make a great boding relationship with an npc and almost finish their sidequest but ran outta time. TOO BAD. Did you have to go out with family in the middle of a dungeon and had to save, TOO BAD all that work is gone. 

Though, once you "Complete and finish" a portion of something, you can log it into your logbook and it's completed forever, even if the people's lives are reversed because of your time control power and it looks like their life has gone back to shit, you still got the reward from whatever you had to do before reversing time, so why waste your time with the inevitable, I mean you already got the reward.

Evil father time is evil. 

It is by far the most unique mechanic implemented into the game, and i wouldn't be pleased if it changed if they made a remake. That sense of fear that time was not on your side, even if you had control over it, you never really had "time" having your back. 

There are couple ways to make things bearable, you can slow time down to get more things down, and a banker who saves your money even if you reverse time, you get to keep all those precious Rupees, (their currency).

Now the mechanics in the game are amazing yes, but the one thing that makes this game different from the overbearing ocarina of time, was it had four dungeons, and you may compare them from time to time and think, well this game had four and the other had ten. Ten is bigger than four, but when any of the four is harder than any of the other ten, I must say kudos to the team who made this game. 

The first dungeon is so baffling hard at times, and there's so much to do in the dungeon besides the "get to the end". And for that fact as well, when you get to the end, the bosses are so painstakingly hard in comparison, the first boss has no visible weaknesses. Just attack him and pray you damage him more that he hits you, also, he's a ticki totem man who shoots flaming locusts at you. There' that too.

So to quickly summarize, this game has 4 dungeons only, and yet it feels like the game goes on forever because of the amount of content packed into the game. The difficulty is much harder than ocarina of time, and is truly unique to the Zelda franchise.

Pros:
-Hard difficulty
-immense amount of content
-Detailed Npc's each with their own problem to solve
-Unique bosses
-Depressing and well written story

Cons:
-Saving only when reversing time can be a pain if the game freezes. (happened to me)
-A lot of masks (can be good or bad depending on how you look at it)
-I want that damn'd remake, or even a sequel.
-Hard difficulty

"You've met with a terrible fate haven't you?"

Paper Mario Sticker Star: 3DS

Making a paper Mario game with a new mechanic; Stickers. Now i'm not against change, 2D jumps to 3D and sometimes even new whole takes on the game. But my god this is how to butcher a game series, take everything which made it what it was and ruin it. Now lets go back to the beginning, the real beginning, the start of the paper Mario series, and if you can already guess, i'm talking about Super Mario RPG. 

Super Mario RPG, an old game for the Super Nintendo, was a brilliant game and it had a whole new cast of characters, old characters had a new but not contrasting personalities, and the game itself was brilliant. I remember in my youth playing this game, but i had never beaten it, always though hoping for a sequel. Super Mario RPG had a turn based combat system, meaning in fights each team took turns to battle each other. It was a mix of final fantasy (The old ones) and Mario.

Now many people wanted to play another Mario rpg, and luckily it became the parent of two Mario RPG themed game series. The first being Mario and Luigi's super star saga series, where the two Mario brothers go out on an adventure of sorts to quell evil yadda yadda. The second, which came before Mario and Luigi, was the comical fun adventure of paper Mario.

One of the most innovative games for the SNES

Paper Mario was the most entertaining thing to see, it was if the developers at Nintendo decided to parody themselves. Take the world of Mario that you know and simply put them into a world of paper and see what happens. Because they were made of paper, they could do things that you normally wouldn't think of but makes sense because, paper.

Now as i said briefly, this game was highly comical. While Mario never talks (like how link talks in his game with gestures) the genius comes from all the other characters. Luigi goes on his on adventure in one of the games and he constantly tells mario how he's going to save a kingdom, but he's scared. Mario meets with these 4 masked koopas, and my god are these my favorite villians. The game is constantly having fun. 

The Koopa bros. What type of cameo are they? Some say Ninja turtles, some aren't sure...

Now since Super Paper Mario for the Wii, the formula for the game has been changing. Now i personally liked Super Paper Mario, it was not turn based but rather real time jumping and stomping, but the one reason i can overlook it is because MR.L. I firmly believe he is the best character of this game, and it shouldn't be a spoiler but it's Luigi. 

I DON'T KNOW WHO THIS MASKED FIGURE IS!

Now you might be wondering why i spent the last couple paragraphs reminiscing on the past. If you've played paper Mario sticker star, you'd understand. In this game Bowser returns as the villain. Now over the years Bowsers become a weak Villain, capture princess ect. Now i have not beaten this game, so if theres a big twist i can be wrong, but from what i played i did not enjoy, so i will not rate the story portion too much.

This game centers around stickers, you use them in combat, you use them to unlock areas, you even use them to help toads (the mushroom people). Now i would be fine with this concept, expect if in combat you run out of stickers, you run out of things to do and are forced to run. Granted nintendo does a great job, no sarcasm, putting stickers everywhere, literally. The boss fights require each a special sticker that can be used on them and does mountains of damage, trying to beat it without it, simply means you'll lose (when you run out of stickers).

The biggest problem i had with the game was the way the levels were separated. In traditional Mario games the levels are separated by and overworld map with World 1, world 2 ect and in each world smaller sub stages. eg. World 1-3 would be stage 3 of the first world. In the paper Mario series it was a giant world, no overworld, and to get to other areas you had to walk, which sounds tedious, but it felt like a real adventure.

Welcome to the world map, go have fun on the very linear stages.

In Sticker Star, the stages are ordered in the traditional Mario game setting, eg World 1 stage 3. It also has an overworld. While that doesn't sound so bad hearing about it now, it really takes away from the game. It doesn't do the series justice. The first two games in the series had you finding new companions to help out in your adventure. The version for the Wii had you switching between princess peach and bowser, though this one, for what i played, has you playing with only mario with a single sidekick.

Now over the years mario has become more of a blank slate persona, but thats where the paper mario series thrived, it made mario look as weak as paper. Pun intended. I remember when the first one came out and you had to fight bowser and jumping on him, the only thing that happened was a ting sound of nothing affecting him. In this one it looks as if a battle will start between bowser and him, but then it just cuts to the next scene, no fight, no nothing.

Paper Bowser, you were quite the villian. And comic relief. 

Overall Paper mario sticker star feels like a sad attempt at trying something new. They throw in a new mechanic to keep the game fresh, now i am ok with most of the sticker element, but other parts do not meld well. I like the museum where you collect the stickers you use in battle and spend them to put them on the wall, though it is seriously costly, and i can tell nintendo did that on purpose. Do i recommend sticker star? If your a huge fan of the series,  tread lightly, if you saw this in Gamestop or walmart and decided to buy it with no knowledge, you'll be fine. It's more of an ungraceful addition than it is a bad game. So Overall, a bad game to the franchise, but if you had no idea what paper mario is prior to this... you'll be fine.

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. SNES

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. SNES

Zelda Rating: 8.9/10
Difference from Prior Zelda Games: Side-quests, Important Npc's, detailed storyline
Using The Console: Multiple (two) item slots to use in comparison to 1.

My first Zelda game I called mine, Not my siblings.

This game was the first Zelda game i owned and could call mine. I slapped that puppy in the Super Nintendo and man, can i say that that intro music is just nostalgic goodness to my ears. And after playing a Link between worlds, i have to say, the classic game is still as beautiful as ever.

I honestly don't know where to start with this game, it was and is simply beautiful. It has tight controls, graphics, at the time, were pretty good and the storyline was great for this game, not too much where you wanted to skip everything, but not too little that you had no idea what the hell to do. I'm looking at you Zelda 1 an 2.

So the big difference, when the game came out, was that this game didn't seem to be connected to the first two in any way. The idea in the first game is that Ganon has destroyed and ravaged hyrule, that is why there are no towns. Afterwards people start rebuilding, thus in Zelda 2 there are villages, multiple ones. Many speculated where it would go on the chronologically, but it soon just became too much as later installments came out, some thought the games were never connected... UNTIL THE HYRULE HISTORIA.

What? Can't read Japanese? Well thats ok the important parts are in English.

As seen in the Huge picture above, Link to the past is technically a prequel, but years and years before the first two games. 

The game starts out quite differently than the first two, whereas you simply just start and wander around with no direction but the manual telling you the story, this game starts off with you being asleep and Zelda's voice calls out to you to rescue her from the castle Fungeon Dungeon. 

So you set off on a mission to save a person you've never met, you a random kid who lives with his uncle. Through hardships you eventually Pull out the legendary blue sword of death Light. Which, trivial information, this is the first game that included this mighty blade, and called it "the Master Sword".

You continue on to the castle where an evil wizard has captured Zelda, and you go to the chamber where he resides to do battle. An Epic final battle, Wizard Vs guy who has a lot of time on his hands. And how do you defeat him? Well there's really two ways, one the boring canon way, and two the lolsy more extreme non sensible way. 

This man earned the trust of the King. Does no one have any Evil Radar senses? Look at him, diabolical hand gesture. Check. Red coat dyed with the blood of the innocents. Check. Grey skin? Check!

For everyone to understand i will explain both ways to fight the evil final boss wizard of evilness. Now the Master sword can reflect light type magic, and whattya know, the wizard shoots lightning magic, and you swing your sword and reflect it back at him. 

Now that you understand how that works, you could also use, a Bug Net. Just swing that baby like you're catching bees. 

The Bug net, Same properties as a magical sword that can reflect light magic.

After this point, SURPRISE the game goes on. The evil diabolical wizard sends you to a dark world, Ooooo. and from there on you must save some crystal ladies and go fight the REAL final boss. Ganon.

The story line is firm and well made, and there are many tiny things in the multiple dungeons that just make this game amazing.

The game's Dungeons and Temples are very unique and you really do get immersed in your own way. Compared to the last two games where the Temples and dungeons were just recolours, these ones are wholly themed experiences. 

This game, I find, introduced Side-quests. Finding bottles under the bridge, getting a bug net to catch bee's (ok not a side quest), and little things here and there to improve your arsenal. But while not only side quests that made this game so unique, but the gambling and minigames. Race here, Race there, and "OPEN A CHEST, MAYBE YOU'LL GET MORE MONEY THAN WHAT YOU PAID" hated that game... 

Grammar, who needs that stuff. 

The world itself is amazing, especially when you have to venture to the Dark World, where Ganon resides. Link loses his form and turns into a bunny. It's so odd but quite appealing, and until you get a magical orb, you'll never get to be yourself in the Dark World, and as a bunny, you can't use your sword.

There are many things i can write about this game, about how good it is, about how well it pulled things off, how well it introduced others. But the one thing i will leave this post at, Is the 3rd Temple boss.

This is by far the hardest boss in the game.

It may not look like a hard boss, for those who've never played this game, but by god i'd rather fight any other boss twice over than this guy once.

He moves randomly, and if he hits you, there's a high chance you're going to fall off  the edge to the room below, and if that happens, the music stops, he regenerates all his health back and you have to hope you can kill him this time before he knocks you back down and you have to do it all over again...

...I get knocked down, i get up again... 

Pros:

-Brought back Top-Down Zelda

-Introduced side quests and fun NPCs

-Tough and challenging bosses, Unique

-Memorable 

-Replay-ability

Cons:

-Third Boss is ridiculous

-I can't think of another Con for this game, because seriously it was a well done game, and if you died, it wasn't the games fault. Except for the Third boss

And now i leave you off with Links Canon Hairstyle colour.

Link and his Pink hair. He can save the world, one strand at a time.

Zelda II: Links Adventure. NES

Zelda II : The Adventure of Link. NES

Zelda Rating: 5/10
Difference from prior Zelda games: Legend of Zelda; Camera angles, Level up system, Towns
Using the console: No difference from Prior game

Oh boy, this game was the first Zelda game i had ever played. I remember watching my older siblings play this game, as i was too young to understand how to push buttons appropriately at the time... 

Gold Box and a Gold Cartridge, Classic

I remember this game being so dark and weird. I had no idea what the game was about but that the person sleeping in the bed was Zelda and you were a person in green, Probably Link. I never beat the game as a child sadly, but i own the game now and can say this game was a perfect sequel. 

Losing in this game meant Ganon comes back and kills everyone. Well Shit.

Many believe that Zelda games follow a formula, Go to dungeon, get item, beat boss with item. While that is true for some games, many don't see the other formula Nintendo uses for Zelda games. Each of them reinvents the game in some weird quirky way, which i will get to over the course of these reviews.

In The Adventure of Link, you find out that Zelda from the first game wasn't really Zelda and you have to save a new Zelda by claiming the ancient power of the Triforce, But what? You already reformed the triforce of wisdom, and Ganon had the Triforce of Power. There's only 2?! Ok enough i know no one fell for that, I mean the word TRI kinda also means 3... Well Spoilers ahead, link has to battle to the end to receive the Triforce of Courage.

The first game in the series to really say that Link isn't just an ordinary guy, but chosen by fate.

So the game follows a interesting path for the most part, you start in a room where Zelda sleeps and must travel throughout Hyrule, visit towns and Temples (Not dungeons) in order to place jewels to unlock the final Temple where you can receive the Triforce of Courage. 

One of the more interesting things that has not been used since this game, was not only the Level system, but the fact that items are strictly exploration. All the items Link acquires are all used to help him get further on the overworld map but not in battle.

Get hammer, Break rocks, Do not use hammer on enemies, Do not pass go, Do not collect $200

 But what does he use in battle you ask? Well his sword, shield, and multiple spells he's learnt from wizards living in basements. ...Yea i never understood that either.

Gee, thanks Mr. Old wizard in a basement! Pew pew, fire sword!

So Links arsenal in this game are, exploration items, A multitude of spells (Many help with exploration as well, but not strictly to overworld map) and a leveling up system to increase your Health, magic meter and sword strength.

This game i have to say out of the whole entirety of the Zelda series has never been remade, or redone like this. Where link grows as he fights everything, as compared to when he grows when he picks up heart pieces from bosses or pieces by exploring, or upgrading the sword through side quests. 

Which to level, which to level, save up for attack power? Or just level life right away, oh the choices.

Now for the one thing that i adore about this game, the thing that just makes this game the PERFECT sequel, is the Final boss. 

Dark Link, or Shadow Link, whichever you prefer.

Purple background, Black outline of you, This is just perfect.

So Links goal was to acquire the Triforce of Courage, what other way to test yourself against yourself?

I found this the most remarkable way to end the game, No ganon fight, no beast from the beyond. Just you, and you. The shadow knows all your moves and deals a lot of damage. And i gotta say, if fighting a shadowed version of yourself doesn't warrant a Shiny Triangle that represents courage. I don't know what does. 

Pros:

-Reinvents the game by turning the whole thing on it's head, Level system, sidescroll fighting and items only for exploration.

-Last boss is not Ganon

-Really feels like each monster helps you grow (cause it does)

-Unique and interesting addition to how you acquire the Triforce, and how it comes to existence
Cons:

-So bloody hard, when you have to level up to do better, and when you die you lose exp (needed to level) it becomes a tedious level grind

-Many people are really confusing, especially in the villiage where some people turn into bats...

-When you die you have to backtrack all the way to the place you were at, and that may sound easy enough, but good god is this world huge.

On that note I end off with I am Error

Pikmin 3. Wii-U

I played Pikmin 1 on the gamecube oh so long ago, and boy i hated the heck out of it. It was annoyingly hard to get the best or even a good ending. Heck i couldn't even finish it. Granted i don't remember how old i was, but nevertheless. You had to collect 30 parts of you ship in 30 days for good ending, i believe 22 for O.K. ending and if you missed even one, bad ending. Which can be really disheartening.

This box just showed you what you were getting into, A giant lady bug that's what. 

Never played Pikmin 2, but i don't think it matters.

Giant lady bugs are so last year, GIANT CRUSTACEAN!

But Pikmin 3, Hot diggity damn. Good reviews aren't entertaining because everyone on the internet wants to see some trash talking about games, and especially this year for nintendo because they're wii-u seems to be flopping. But let me say this! Pikmin 3, while it won't be the console saver, it definitely will keep it afloat until that game does arrive. Let me begin.

And now, peace, no giant monsters in this scene. Blissful peace.

Now most of you understand the premise of pikmin games, grow pikmin, use them to collect and ect ect. Now im strictly comparing Pikmin 1 to 3. This game does not have a game limit, you can go exploring as much as you want, but you still have the daytime restriction like morning to dusk, but that is not a problem, timed games increase the thrill, least with this game.

The game uses a fruit timing system in which when you collect fruits during the game, similar to treasure, and in turn depending on the fruit it turns into various amounts of juice. At the end of each day you spend 1 thing of juice, like a life force of something. Theres enough fruit in the game that if you are diligent you will never have to worry about not having enough. 

This is how i imagine the game when it squeezes all the juice from the fruits i've collected

The two new pikmin types are definitly interesting, and they, at least to me, dont feel gimmicky. The first newest one you meet are rock-pikmin, they destroy glass like structures and when initially thrown, hit really hard. It's surprising how many places they actually come in handy and the times they do blend into the illusion and doesnt take away from the game. 

"Idgaf" 

The second newest one is flying pikmin. They are like Blue pikmins cousin. Take these guys over the water, over anything really. The only disheartening thing is the stage they're introduced, is the same stage spiders are introduced, and if you're not careful, they'll fly right into the spiders web, and die. Fly pikmin, Flies. Flying pikmin are the only pikmin i think are a real thing, Fruit flies. Eugh.

You know, most people seem charmed with these ones, i think they're kinda creepy, big blue bug eyed creepy things that fly. Eugh.

Now since you have 5 kinds of pikmin, and only 100 pikmin capacity at any time, it all depends on how you want to get things done. the 20 per group normally works, but it later becomes situational for you to use rock pikmin or flying pikmin.

During E3 they talked about how the game would have 3 interchangeable characters and how you would be able to access more things with more captains. At first i thought i'd hate this idea because i want to love only the main character, but in pikmin, they divvy up the spotlight quite well.

I don't really got anything clever, these were great characters. 

One thing that really struck me as a nice touch was whenever you found a new onion, the home for the pikmin, it fused with the other onion, continually each time you found a new one, this way saving space and time when you want to just get all the pikmin you want. It really shows that small touches really make a game. 

The FUSION ONION! MULTI-COLOUR GLORIOUSNESS

Lastly a feature i like but have not yet enjoyed to the fullest is the camera function. Anytime in the game, as long as its not a cutscene, you can take a picture, bosses, monsters, drowning pikmin, ANYTIME. Because this is a first party nintendo game, of course it's crucially linked to the Mii-verse, even though the naming of the mii-verse sucks, i really quite enjoy the place, but this is a pikmin review.

Pikmin 3 might not be a system seller, but damn mii-verse is. Not kidding. Srsly its the shit.

Now normally I post a spoilers section and go into depth of the storyline, but the game just came out, and quite frankly, i'm not gonna go shouting how snape kills dumbledore. Or maybe i should. Naw. But i'll say this about the story, it does the first two games justice, least it does the first one. Maybe it does for the second who knows. The three characters are unique enough that i feel like i really don't hate either of them. Maybe thats just an opinion. But hey.

Now like all pikmin games ( i think, still havent played 2) the ending is all dependent on how well you did, and i just beat pikmin 3, and hoo boy i did shitty. But i beat the game! So i can tell you this, Pikmin 3, has replayability, maybe until you get a perfect completion, or maybe its a personal thing. But remember, i hated pikmin 1, and for me, buying pikmin 3 was a chance, and i am glad i took it. 

(Chrono Trigger, Snes)

Be glad nintendo isn't as cruel as it was back in the day of Snes

Nintendo, This ain't the game you need to save the wii-u and beat up everything in it's way, but it's the one that's resuscitating it after it drowned. And that's equally as important. I recommend this game to all wii-u owners. If you don't own one, well this wouldn't be a console seller, but it should lean in favour of it. 

Well i'm off to play Earthbound,

Beat up some hippies.

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife... 

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....