Monster Hunter Freedom UNITE (Demo Impressions)
Thursday's PSN update finally saw the release of a demo for Monster Hunter Freedom UNITE, Capcom's attempt at bringing Japanese cash-cow Monster Hunter Portable G2 to the western regions.
Does UNITE look to have what it takes to set the US PSP sales charts aflame, or will it repeat the 'blink and you've missed it' releases of the earlier Monster Hunter Freedom games?
Read on for our thoughts below.
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Like many gamers in the US, I've been both curious and excited for the Monster Hunter franchise ever since Monster Hunter Portable G2 became the must-have game for the PSP in Japan. Having spent a weekend with the demo, I'm still pretty curious about the full game, but my excitement for the game has changed a bit. And if you can't tell, while reading it, let me just tell you outright- I failed the easiest hunt many, many times before having any luck with this demo at all.
In case you're not familiar with the concept, in the Monster Hunter games the player takes on the role of a hunter, that is then typically tasked through the game's hub town to hunt and kill specific monsters per the quest at hand. After these quests, you're rewarded with the means to begin the process of upgrading your gear. Unfortunately none of this gameplay is featured in the demo, where you're limited to selecting one of 11 premade characters, each one specializing in a specific type of weapon configuration (Great Sword, Long Sword, Sword, Dual Blades, Hammer, Hunting Horn, Lance, Gun Lance, Light Bowgun, Heavy Bowgun, and Bow-) and dropped into your choice of one of three hunts, with an increase in difficulty between each.
The first thing that I really noticed about this demo is that it's pretty hard, even on the easiest hunt- while playing single-player it's entirely possible to spend a solid 20 minutes fighting a single target monster without defeating it. This does, of course, go much faster while playing with a group of up to four friends via Ad-Hoc wireless (including support for the PS3's Ad-Hoc Party feature.)
In addition, though the demo provides no guidance or instruction outside of a listing of controller functions, there seems to be a number of techniques integral to successful play that aren't obvious in their design or controller command; a good example of this might be a rolling ability that is initiated with the X button- initially I'd thought that this was a move used to dodge attacks from enemies, but after a bit of research I discovered that it's actually meant to be used to pass through attacks of for enemies so as to cleanly strike them while they're still in their attack animations. I also found myself occasionally frustrated by the very context-specific usage of nearly every button on the PSP- though this was alleviated through practice, it was initially very difficult to coordinate which button did what depending on whether I was standing still, walking, or had my weapon at the ready.
I must say, while it might sound like I didn't enjoy my time with the Monster Hunter Freedom UNITE demo, after playing through it several times, as well as researching Monster Hunter websites to get a better understanding of some of the more esoteric gameplay features, I did get a solid glimpse at what appears to be a ridiculously deep game based primarily on observation of the hunted monsters in question, study of their idle and attack patterns and a risk-reward based combat system in reaction to their behavior. At times the game felt not entirely like a slow-paced fighting game, sometimes going 10 seconds without and effort at attacking the enemy a single time, waiting for the right moment to do so, based on his animations. And while the game takes more time than I was expecting, I found it to be really rwarding when I did it right.
I don't really know that this demo was the best way for Capcom to put their foot forward for Monster Hunter Freedom UNITE in the US- it's obtuse, inaccessible and really requires gamers to WANT to learn it. But ultimately I came away looking forward to the opportunity to create a character and customize him through subtle and frequently tense battles in the game's lush, organic environments. I don't think this game will be for everyone, but if you're patient, you just might get quite a bit out of it.
Does UNITE look to have what it takes to set the US PSP sales charts aflame, or will it repeat the 'blink and you've missed it' releases of the earlier Monster Hunter Freedom games?
Read on for our thoughts below.
---------------
Like many gamers in the US, I've been both curious and excited for the Monster Hunter franchise ever since Monster Hunter Portable G2 became the must-have game for the PSP in Japan. Having spent a weekend with the demo, I'm still pretty curious about the full game, but my excitement for the game has changed a bit. And if you can't tell, while reading it, let me just tell you outright- I failed the easiest hunt many, many times before having any luck with this demo at all.
In case you're not familiar with the concept, in the Monster Hunter games the player takes on the role of a hunter, that is then typically tasked through the game's hub town to hunt and kill specific monsters per the quest at hand. After these quests, you're rewarded with the means to begin the process of upgrading your gear. Unfortunately none of this gameplay is featured in the demo, where you're limited to selecting one of 11 premade characters, each one specializing in a specific type of weapon configuration (Great Sword, Long Sword, Sword, Dual Blades, Hammer, Hunting Horn, Lance, Gun Lance, Light Bowgun, Heavy Bowgun, and Bow-) and dropped into your choice of one of three hunts, with an increase in difficulty between each.
The first thing that I really noticed about this demo is that it's pretty hard, even on the easiest hunt- while playing single-player it's entirely possible to spend a solid 20 minutes fighting a single target monster without defeating it. This does, of course, go much faster while playing with a group of up to four friends via Ad-Hoc wireless (including support for the PS3's Ad-Hoc Party feature.)
In addition, though the demo provides no guidance or instruction outside of a listing of controller functions, there seems to be a number of techniques integral to successful play that aren't obvious in their design or controller command; a good example of this might be a rolling ability that is initiated with the X button- initially I'd thought that this was a move used to dodge attacks from enemies, but after a bit of research I discovered that it's actually meant to be used to pass through attacks of for enemies so as to cleanly strike them while they're still in their attack animations. I also found myself occasionally frustrated by the very context-specific usage of nearly every button on the PSP- though this was alleviated through practice, it was initially very difficult to coordinate which button did what depending on whether I was standing still, walking, or had my weapon at the ready.
I must say, while it might sound like I didn't enjoy my time with the Monster Hunter Freedom UNITE demo, after playing through it several times, as well as researching Monster Hunter websites to get a better understanding of some of the more esoteric gameplay features, I did get a solid glimpse at what appears to be a ridiculously deep game based primarily on observation of the hunted monsters in question, study of their idle and attack patterns and a risk-reward based combat system in reaction to their behavior. At times the game felt not entirely like a slow-paced fighting game, sometimes going 10 seconds without and effort at attacking the enemy a single time, waiting for the right moment to do so, based on his animations. And while the game takes more time than I was expecting, I found it to be really rwarding when I did it right.
I don't really know that this demo was the best way for Capcom to put their foot forward for Monster Hunter Freedom UNITE in the US- it's obtuse, inaccessible and really requires gamers to WANT to learn it. But ultimately I came away looking forward to the opportunity to create a character and customize him through subtle and frequently tense battles in the game's lush, organic environments. I don't think this game will be for everyone, but if you're patient, you just might get quite a bit out of it.