Capcom's Monster Hunter: Freedom - Only for the patient

Author's Rating:

Pros: -Outstanding graphics -Challenging missions -Fully customizable character model (through equipments) -Fluid, user-friendly controls -Multiplayer capabilities

Cons: -No storyline -Mind-numbingly repetitive -Multiplayer capabilities are limited but enhanceable through additional purchases and software

The Bottom Line: 
I would recommend this game only for the hardcore RPG-fan because of the repetition. Otherwise, you're wasting your money.

Author's Review
Welcome to my review of Monster Hunter: Freedom. This is actually my first review, and I'm quite excited. I bought this game because I am a fan of Role Playing Games. There is so much to explain about this game and it's system, but I think it wouldn't be user-friendly if I rambled on, so lets get down to it.

In this game, you are an obscure hunter/huntress trying to build up his/her name as a legendary monster hunter. Aside from this context, there's no real storyline.

The Game:
There is one town area and eight hunting environments. Five of these environments have around 10 interconnected areas, each with fantastically detailed settings. The other three are small and have special purposes.



The game is played from the 3rd-person view. The camera is fully rotatable to 360 degrees with different angles

There are 6 weapons classes to choose from, each of which requires a very different style of play. Each class has over 25 different weapons. This aspect is nice because you can try the same missions with different weapons for a different experience. There are also countless amounts of equipment, each with a different model that makes your character very customizable in the way he/she performs and looks.

There are about 31 different species of monsters. The "bosses" are wyverns (think of wyverns as dragons that have no arms). You slay these wyverns in hopes of collecting materials for better armors and weapons.

The Review
The first thing you will notice in this game is the graphics. They are absolutely breathtaking up to the point that I actually made my roommate watch as I slew my first wyvern.

As I've mentioned before, your character is very customizable, which is a plus. There is only one town, which confines you to a very small area of navigation, but the hunting environments that you travel to during a mission are much more expansive.

The wyverns are incredibly tough, and they get tougher as you progress in the game. So if you're looking for a challenge, this is the place. No puzzles to solve, just tactics. But no matter what tactics you use, MHF is still reminiscent of a Hack 'n' Slash game.

This game is multiplayer capable! If you have nearby friends that have a PSP and MHF, then you can cooperate through Ad-Hoc mode and play missions together, which is infinitely more fun than playing by yourself (which is what you'll be doing for most of the time). There is also an unofficial way to connect to players through the Internet, but it isn't supported and intended by Sony or Capcom. It involves an additional purchase of the WiFi Max and some special software, but I believe that this is well worth the money.

Now, on to the bad parts. To progress in the game, you undertake missions with some kind of goal in mind. These missions take place in the hunting environments. During the missions, you get the chance to collect items which you will need to make new equipment. However, this process of slaying wyverns for their materials is only for the true fan of RPGs.

The game gets old real fast if you hate repeating past actions over and over. MHF unofficially requires you to do missions if you want anything other than basic equipment.

Another con is that there's no plot at all. Other than placing you into a context of being a monster hunter, there is no story progression. As such, this game never ends and is never "beaten". You can play this game forever since there is no ending.

The saving grace of this game is the multiplayer, and Capcom chose to limit this to only other PSP users nearby. As of this review, PSP is not incredibly popular. And if you do find someone else that has a PSP, chances are that they don't have this game. If Sony and Capcom only made Internet multiplayer a given feature, this game would be much better. There is an unofficial way for Internet mulitplayer, but it's has a learning curve to install and is quite a hassle.

The Conclusion:
The graphics are absolutely stunning. The depth of customization is also very good. I love the controls and concept. I wish there was somewhat of a storyline, but I guess that might contradict parts of the game dynamics. Non-RPG fans will get sick of this game incredibly fast.

For gift givers: Please read the following guidelines before purchasing this:
1)Your recipient owns a PSP
2)Your recipient is known to like RPGs (if you notice titles such as Final Fantasy or anything by Square-Enix, then this is an indication that your recipient is an RPG-fan)