Monster Hunter Tri

Not much to say really. The game is good, real good. If you own a Wii and want a game that's challenging, rewarding, and has 100+ hrs of gameplay with a excellent online mode. Then this is your game.

This is a "hardcore" game and will challenge you.

As a newcomer to the Monster Hunter series, I am astounded by what Capcom has achieved with Monster Hunter 3(Tri). I'm a big fan of action RPGs, favorites including Diablo, Diablo 2, Phantasy Star Online, and Torchlight. While Monster Hunter takes many cues from these games, Sega's Phantasy Star Online in particular, the result is a game that really cannot be compared in its action or style.

Rather than fighting your way through hordes of minions to reach your goal, instead Monster Hunter 3 has you joining a hunters guild to take on various quests. To ease you into the game's basics, you start out collecting mushrooms and squashing a few pests. The vast majority of the game, however, consists of hunts to either slay or capture large wyverns. These boss monsters vary greatly in size and abilities, and they will test your skills as an action gamer as well as your strategy in using your various tools and traps which you bring to the field. To defeat these beasts, you have your choice of a variety of weapon types, each with a unique move set, feel, and role in cooperative online play.

Now keep in mind, Monster Hunter is not a game you can immediately pick up and dive into. It has a fairly steep learning curve and requires some patience, with newcomers needing a good 5 hours of play before reaching the point where they can take on the lesser boss monsters. The offline mode does a fairly good job teaching new players the basics, though there are a lot of hidden nuances. You'll also have to gather materials to create most of the tools and items you'll use at first, to keep with the hunter-gatherer theme of the series. This may seem tedious at first, but this becomes less and less necessary as you get deeper into the game. Instead you'll spend much of your time rising in the ranks by hunting the greater wyverns and building new equipment from their body parts.

If you can get past the learning curve, Monster Hunter 3 is an incredibly rewarding game experience like no other. The most fun is when you are playing online and the entire group just clicks together and efficiently fells the target beast. Though even if you do not have access to online play, the game still offers more than 50 hours of game play in your quest to save the small village on Moga Island from an aquatic terror.

This and Super Mario Galaxy are hands down the best Wii games available in my opinion. Monster Hunter has a more serious tone and is much more difficult. It has a learning curve, but it's worth every minute you put into it. Single player is fun and multiplayer is a blast! It works with Wii Speak. You can send text messages with the controller or a USB keyboard. The controller method is horrendous (they have a funky keyboard displayed on screen making it hard to text efficiently). It works great using the keyboard though and most USB keyboards will work. I originally thought I had to buy a Wii specific keyboard, but tried the old one that I had lying around and it worked!

I am one person that the font appears more fuzzy. I can read it, but it's not always easy. I have my Wii connected to a HD widescreen television and all the settings proper on the wii...others say that theirs looks great though. It does not take away from the fun though. Speaking of screen...the graphics are great for a Wii game...they definitely don't match my PS3 or 360, but outstanding for a Wii game.

About the Controller. I got the bundle that included the controller and have not tried to play without it. I really like the controller and having easy access to all buttons which you won't have with the nunchuck / wii remote. It feels similar to a PS3 controller...only negative with it is the weight...it feels light and cheap, but it works great.

About Wii Speak. Two things to note:

1) You do NOT have to exchange Wii console or friend codes. You do have to send a message to the player online and request them to be a friend within the monster hunter game. Once both accept, then it works like a champ. Other players who do not have Wii Speak cannot hear you talking though :(

2) Do yourself a favor and get headphones to listen to the game and speech if you are using Wii Speak. The echo is bad otherwise. The Wii Speak quality is already not good so the echo makes it even worse. Besides, if you get the headphones, you will get a more surround sound experience and can turn up the audio as loud as you want when family members are sleeping (believe me it makes a big difference for me)

The Online community is awesome. There are always plenty of people online and most are very friendly...they are willing to help you even if you are a much lower rank than others.

They also put special online only "events" and "Arena" missions that you get to do each week. Some give you special tickets to allow you to get a special weapon that you can't get any other way. This additional content is free!!!

Overall, there are a couple of minor issues but in the end this is a fantastic game that will last a long time. I highly recommend it!

Monster Hunter 3 is a pretty fun and long game. I have put in many hours already and I feel like I'm finally getting a hold fighting techniques. This game is not easy. i struggled with a few of the monsters and sometimes they take a long time to kill. The single player mode will get at least 20 hours out of you and the online is pretty exciting too since you can join with three others and gang up on a monster. It's definitely worth your money if you are patient enough to steadily increase in skill and better weapons and armor. It's a great game overall. Lots of fun!

Not since World of Warcraft has a game had me this hooked. I've put in 75 hours in 3 weeks, that's with a full time job and responsibilities at home. Mostly because of the intensely addictive online mode. My brother, cousin, and I spend hours at a time running one mission after another. Because unlike a lot of RPGs it is always intense. Even after you get to know a boss, if you let your guard down you will pay for it. And the controls, which seem to get a lot of criticism, are great. They never hand you anything. No auto aim, help in any way, but if you master them it makes it all the more rewarding.

And it always feels like you're doing the quest for a reason. You always need more materials so it makes it so rewarding when you beat a boss, and carve him up for materials to make new weapons, armor, and items. And with all the customization you will spend a lot of time mixing and matching armors for the best combinations to fight certain creatures.

The enemies are tough, but stick with it, learn their moves, and be patient, and before you know it it's lying dead at your feet. The level of excitement you feel, for a boss that took over a half hour and almost killed you numerous times, is amazing. Also, it takes much preparation. Fighting a thunder based creature in the desert? You will need cool drinks for stamina, thunder protection, and all sorts of healing items, bombs, traps, tranquilizers. You will soon learn that taking your time and being prepared cuts the steep difficulty level down.

This is my favorite MMORPG. That is something that a lot of people would argue, especially World of Warcraft's rabid fan base. But even though it's not as deep as WoW, the combat is so much more exciting then the typical right click of PC based MMORPGs. Get this game if you like great RPGs, with amazing battle systems.. or just get it if you love an extremely well put together game that will challenge you, and keep you playing for hours. I can't rave enough about this game. BUY IT!