Monster Hunter Tri

Purchased the Wii/CCpro combo a pretty much must have to play this game properly. I have about 30+ hours logged into the game and really I'm just scratching the surface still on this monster.

Monster Hunter Tri offers a lot of qualities in mmo likeness. You play as a randomly created character that you can fully customize right down to the voice. The basic plot of the game is that your a hunter and you want to be the best hunter there is. You test your strength by starting out with weak monsters and then working your way up the ladder to the strong ones. You do this by completing quest which allow you to earn points to progress in your rank.

As you slay monsters you will also be rewarded with materials from these monsters that you can take to an armorer to craft new and stronger armor and weapons for you. There's lots of armor sets in the game(I'm not that high so there's only but maybe 10 or so available to me right now)and as you become stronger more will be made available to you.

So that's pretty much it. Take quest...kill monsters... make weapons. That is pretty much the synopsis of the game. So what makes it so popular? It's what you have to do to kill those monsters. That is where the challenging part comes in. Each monster is unique and has it's own behaviors and characteristics that you need to learn in order to defeat them. You also need to figure out what equipment you will need to bring to take down this monster(once you start won't be able to restock items once durring quest).

All of these things I really like about monster hunter. It's fun, it's challenging, and it looks great. Matter of fact you will hear lots of people speaking about how great the game looks. Honestly what they mean is that it looks great for a "Wii" title. If you ask me the game looks about average by today's standards. Yes the environments are nicely detailed and everything is pretty to look at... but that's how 99.9% of games should look like with today's modern technology. When the PS3 was first released I brought a game called HeavenlySword and that games graphics blew me away. Having downgraded to a Wii and knowing just what else is out there... Wii graphics are about a few steps above PS2 and that's just me being honest. So does the game look great? Yes! Is it mind blowing? No!.

Now getting back to the game itself...there are a lot of things I enjoy about the game but why I rate the game at only 3 stars is because one of the biggest flaws of the game and to me it's something that a true 5 star game should have...GREAT CONTROLS!

Monster Hunter Tri has some of the absolute worse controls I have ever played...and yes that includes Sewer Shark and about 80% of the Sega CD games I owned back in the 90's. Monster Hunter Tri's controls are so bad they had to market a new controller with the game just to try and attempt to make it more playable. So let me explain exactly why I took 2 stars off for the controls.

To me there's 2 aspects of Monster Hunter Tri's controls. You have the equipment interface...and then you have your battle interface. The equipment interface's main problem is that it offers too many menu's and functions. Checking your bags and your equipment almost feels like your working on a excel spreadsheet. There's so much going on. It's just too complex because there is too much going on. The Final Fantasy 8 junction system was much more simpler than this and people complained about that as being over complicated. There are just too many options to select and too much that you have to go through just to empty your bags (provided you pick the right one),combine a few items, and equip them properly. I mean it's hit Y for this Z for that A for this B for that L1 for this and R1 to do this and so on. It's a lot more complex than an equipment and info window should ever be. I've seen it done better in other games that don't get as much press has MH3.

Another annoying thing that adds insult to injury is that sometimes you well need to grab your classic controller and pick up your wiimote while hitting all these buttons in sequence and then fling your wii more around to try and register a monster then hit some other buttons to clear your screen all while in the middle of combat! When at that point your probably being attacked by monsters because you had to jump through all those hoops just to add it to your register book. This isn't a required part of the game but still it is a part of the game and you think the developers at capcom would have figured out a simpler way to execute their idea especially in a game when your attacking or being attacked by something of some sort 95% of the time.

But!... all that aside those menu's and features aren't even my true complaint. There's one thing that makes the game fall so short on being all that it could have been. It's the fighting controls and the sheer programming of the game that makes it lose those stars. The only way that I can explain it is that when your in combat with your character it feels like your experiencing a heavy level of lag. All your reactions and movements are very slow considering how aggressive the pace of battle is. Your character pauses after every move and does an animation after every action that can put you in very dangerous spots. Some times you can be halfway across the screen healing or loading your gun and the animation for you healing or loading takes so long and with the added pause it will give a "monster" more than enough time to rush in and attack you. I should say that the monsters/bosses in this game move fluently however your character almost moves like it's turn-based. You can press the B button to evade an attack but your character will not instantly evade. They will pause like a dear in headlights and then roll out the way. You better hope that you leave enough distance for this animation delay to ensure that you do not get hit instead.

For attacks it's even worse. There are several attack moves that you can use. This is a nice part about the game because each weapon has its own characteristics and fighting style BUT... hit or I should say launch an attack you cannot stop your swing until the animation is done. That means that if you strike at an monster and miss (will happens A LOT since they are faster than you)...you are open to attacks until your attack animation stops. Like I said the game feels like Semi turn-based almost like how Final Fantasy 12 was but except you don't have to select a move from a list you just hit a button to launch it.

For me the controls really hold back the game from the "real-time" fighting experience that it could have offered. The game has potential but its very clear to see that the developers needed to spend more time working on the combat/control scheme for the game. The way your character behaves almost makes it feel as though they were designed to be in a completely different game but were adapted to MH3 "hit attack > pause > animation for attack > pause again" and you do this until the monster dies or you die.

5 Stars for the idea of the game -2 stars for the painfully enduring controls

Overall 3/5 rent it to try it if you like it buy it otherwise you might end up with something that is not your cup of tea.

Oh, and there's online too. Not much to talk about it's the same idea as the main game just with 3 other people and group related quest and events. That experience is either great or depressing depending on if you get a friendly group of people or if you get a group of jerks and morons. Level doesn't really matter you can be rank 1 or 100 online play is all about people your grouped with.

This game has its pros and cons, but for me, I'm more for gameplay, and not all for graphics. It's got good enough gameplay, but it's a bit confusing to the point where I'd rather play something else.

I prefer more hard-core RPGs myself, this was a gift for someone else but I got to play it. A little bloody, and the graphics are ok. Gameplay is fun with the wii but gets old fast. A solid hack-n-slash game with some extras, more fun online.

I think this game is amazing, and difficult. I have a ten-year-old brother, and he barely has the "skills" to beat a monster. The whole point of the game is for it to be challenging. I personally enjoy the challenge, because it is a change from the simple and "press the A-button at the right time!" game. I have only a Wii, so this game is like a gift from god. An important thing to know is the classic controller is the only way to have fun on this game. It is possible to use the Wii remote and nunchuk, but the controls suck. The Wii-speak is a plus, but you have to send a friend request so they can hear you.

Even though I am a begginer to the monster hunter games, I love this game. Since i am a begginer though it is a little hard to under stand everthing. Still all I have is a little more than 25 hours of game time, and i still love this game, although i have my wii hooked up the the wifi at my house and it definatly gives an advantage over those with out internet. One should also be warned that without the classic controller(pro or not) This game lacks.

Overall this a great game and i am looking forward to buying more monster hunter games.