The Monster Hunter Tri-o featuring John Mayer! (Review)
Game: Monster Hunter Tri
Rating: T
Platform: Wii
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: April 2010
It's kind of interesting how when a popular game comes out that's good for specific reasons, several other games can be trusted to follow in its footsteps only to miss the point completely.
"Modern Warfare" did gangbusters because it had excellent controls tied to a robust multiplayer, yet most developers seem to think it was because Russians were the bad guys; Several imitators popped up to challenge the original "Guitar Hero" without acknowledging that people were sticking around for the combination of scoremongering and classic rock/metal soundtrack, and while we've gotten plenty of games in which you kill gigantic screen-filling monsters, none of them get that "Shadow of the Colossus" worked because it gave its living skyscrapers believable presences and made fighting them more visceral and involving than 'shoot/stab until dead.'
So does "Monster Hunter Tri" buck this trend and give you a more satisfying and interesting way to take down... well, monsters and make it rewarding?
Well... kind of. But not often.
"Monster Hunter Tri's" story is fairly straightforward-- you, an adventurer, go to tribal town to become a proper Hunter and kill a gigantic sea creature that's been terrorizing the island. But really, that's just the endgame to give what you'll actually spend most of your time doing some context, and this is where it becomes clear that "Tri" is not a game for everyone.
For the most part, it's you going on Quests which involve killing a certain number of monsters and/or collecting a certain number of resources in order to get better Quests and improve the town, thus leading to more, better stuff. It becomes clear pretty quickly that "Monster Hunter Tri" is an MMO in all but a monthly fee, and while that's a genre I've never really been able to get into, there are some positives to the whole experience.
The game is really at its absolute best when you're actually fighting monsters, and while there's a disappointing lack of variety to designs (most of them are basically just dinosaurs, really), fighting is pretty satisfying. Having to manage your stamina bar, your weapon's sharpness, your own health, knowing when to press your advantage and when to hold back-- it gives a strong impression that this is how a mythical adventurer's life probably would be, and there is something rewarding to scavenging everything from the land itself to felled enemies for materials that can be used for anything from healing to weapons/armor forging and upgrades.
No game is without its annoyances though, and they're definitely present in "Tri." Most notable is the Quest structure itself; instead of most action games/RPGs, in which Quests are basically optional side-things to do in between major missions or just wandering the world map, a Quest basically forces you into a cage. You have to leave to go to a 'special' version of the gameworld, where you have a time limit and access to certain items (that the game takes from you after completion), which boots you out as soon as you complete the task in question. You can't save after accepting a quest, and if you happen to pick the wrong loadout then you have to go all the way back and start it up again. The entire setup seems rather forced and arbitrary, really, and the control oddities don't help matters.
For example, in order to gather resources from a dead monster you have to put your weapon away, then press A to pull out your weapon again and use it to gather resources. Coupled with the fact that monsters vanish into the ether if you don't scavenge from them quickly enough, and in some areas monsters will continually respawn from convenient holes-in-the-walls, pulling off this simple and necessary task becomes a considerable frustration. There's also the awkward inventory system (hold L to bring up your Item Wheel, then press Y and A to cycle through it, then find the one you want, then LET GO of L, then press Y to put your weapon away, then Y again to actually use it), and the Pokedex Monster Records system that pointlessly requires the use of the Wiimote pointer-- even if you're using the Classic controller.
There's also no pausing at any point between all of this, but I suppose that was intended to accomadate the big selling point of the game itself-- the online multiplayer. To be honest, this is probably the most well-put-together online play for the Wii I've yet seen; it all runs smoothly and there's practically no danger of lag/dropped games, but for quite a while you're just going to be stuck doing alot of the same quests you did in the single-player, just with a few more people. Granted, the quests do get more interesting or at least give you better monsters to kill as you progress, but ultimately, that's the biggest dividing point on "Tri."
"Monster Hunter Tri" has some good things going for it, and there were certainly some things I liked about it quite a bit, but the problem is that it requires such a considerable time investment to get to the really good stuff that people with actual lives may as well not even bother. It's a game that demands your undivided attention for quite a while, and for those going in with the right mindset that's really not going to be an issue.
And even when you get there, you're just repetitively beating dinosaurs to death, so if that sounds more fun than a round of "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom" or even some "House of the Dead Overkill," than you might as well just restart "World of Warcraft" again .
The Good: Combat is enjoyable and interesting, scavenging from your kills is surprisingly satisfying.
The Bad: Gets old fast, bizarre and unnecessary Quest structure, no target-lock system makes things get a little annoying in combat.
The Ugly: If you plan to play this on a regular basis, invest in a Classic Controller. The Wiimote/Nunchuk does NOT cut it. At all.
Rating: 11/X Resource Farmings