Even more Giant Monsters!
What could I say about Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (from here on will be abbreviated as MHFU)? It is a game that could destroy lives and suck the very life out of a person playing it, or in most cases said person's sanity! But alas I kid, I kid; In all honesty this game is about killing giant enemy crabs over and over again! Oh c'mon I couldn't help the pun! But yeah giant enemy crabs are just one of the many species of monsters in MHFU. In case you were wondering this is a giant expansion upon what was MHF2. MHF2 and MHFU are essentially the same game when it comes down to the gameplay and graphics but that's not why they made this game… See long ago there was a game called Monster Hunter it sold awesomely in japan but like crap in the US, so Japan got a sequel with a whole lot of new monsters and weapons and monsters.
Alright that's nice and all but what does this have to do with this game? Well MHF2 was basically a port of MH2 but for the PSP, but to fit on the PSP Capcom cut out a lot of content. So what the US got was 2/3 of MH2…. Until now! MHFU is MH2 and MH1 combined. It has all the classic monsters and many new ones and new subspecies of older monsters, It also tossed in a couple of monsters from the MMORPG Monster Hunter.
Graphics-9/10
The graphics are unchanged since MHF2 but they are still freaking awesome, they are some of the best graphics available on the PSP they are just utterly amazing, from the beautiful skies to the beautiful fire breathe of doom that the Gravios expels to the texture of a wall and the land everything is just so well done. The animations are great they are no framerate hiccups and everything is just perfect with the sole exception that you can walk trough monsters and if they are big enough you can see their hollow insides…which kind of ruins all the “realism” the game has going for it.
Story-1/10
Story? XD That's funny this game has no story. You where a hunter who was going to visit the village and replace the retired one on your way there you get your ass handed to you by some big giant T-Rex wyvern thing (Tigrex) which you will proceed to own later on in the game. Other than that no plot what's so ever, unless you count the little descriptions of the quest that they put just so you can know why you are taking said quest. Story sucks but then again this game isn't about story.
Sound: 10/10
BUY HEADPHONES! The sound is effing amazing from the headphones. The screams of the monsters rock you can hear them every time you hit with a elemental status you hear what it's supposed to be. If it's electricity you hear electrical surges, if its fire you hear explosions, if it's Ice you hear ice crystals breaking. Even the soundtrack is awesome, if it's all nice and calm then there is no music but when your in the middle of a heated battle the music is pretty epic and fits the mood/setting. All in all the sound is just simply amazing.
Game play: 9/10
This is the bread and butter of the game! They are several different weapons in the game: Hammer, War Horn, Sword and Shield, Dual Swords, Long Sword, Great Sword, Bow Gun, Bow, Lance, and Gun Lance. Each weapon has its weakness and strength. For example the Great Sword is slow and clunky but it makes up for it with its sheer attack strength and ability to charge one attack while the Sword and Shield provide defense and quick attacks. The game is just amazing and the battle system is really deed you could literally be hours just practicing on your weapons and creating new weapons.
This game has several types of quest that you will be doing:
Gathering- you go around looking for the item that they sent you to look for and deliver it back to the base
Hunt- you either kill of Capture the monster(s) they tell you to.
Slay- Kill what they tell you to kill
Epic Hunting Quest- This is a new quest added just for MHFU. Instead of carving parts off of the monsters you carve off Potions and supply, you also have to kill 2 or more main monsters.
Those are the main types of quest in this game you go around doing that and making better weapons and armor to kill the next thing monster, rinse and repeat and your hours will go by in a flash.
Now for your character, You have a Health Bar and a Stamina Bar, You eat Rations or Steaks to raise the stamina an Potions for the Heath. You're Stamina goes down after you do several activities for an extended period of time like slashing or running. The controls for your character are rather clunky but what do you expect from a guy wearing armor? You will spend most of your time repeating quest and trying to learn how to kill the monster. Each monster has pattern study these patterns and you will find opening. Each opening varies depending on the weapon. For example if you use a Sword and Shield you could go for a opening that a greatsword couldn't. With a slower weapon you have to make each slash count and make sure that what you are doing is worth the risk, many monsters are actually easier with certain weapons and you should not stick to one weapon if not expand and learn to play with multiple that will make the game really fun.
Multi-player: 10/10
The multi player for this game is amazing, It's the game but Multi-player, you have the same missions as the main game but you can take them on with your friend and team up (or you can do it solo) and do everything just as the main game . While you can do these mission alone it's more fun and slightly easier and everything you do with Multiplayer counts towards your Single Player. The multiplayer in this game is actually much better then the last one, now you have something called Adhoc Party via the PS3 so you can actually play online with anyone. It's simple to set it up and works on any PSP. You could also use a PC with some specific hardware (pretty cheap no more then $20)
Added Content to Unite- 8/10
Capcom managed to add a ton of stuff to this game. All of the maps of MHF1 and MHF2 are in this one version, all of the monsters and some new ones. The feline comrade also helps hunters who solo, (These are little cats that you train and help you do stuff think of it as a Artificial Multiplayer) If you're thinking “But I already have MHF2 why would I get this one?” Well you have about 200 Hours of additional content, you can install part of the game into your memory stick making the game load almost instantly and you can import your MHF2 save without losing anything whatsoever, all in all it's a no lose situation.
Replay Value: 10/10
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will last you well over 100 hours. You are constantly doing the same missions to get better armor and weapons so you can beat the next monster. Most of the quest last around 20 minutes minimum on your first try and that will rack you a lot of time also. The game's multi-player is also very good and worth all that time and effort to just go out with you friends and kill a giant dragon then dancing on its corpse. With very long missions and the need to do them more then once and the multi-player of the game this is a game that will last you well over 100 hours.
Buy or Rent: Buy
You will not get the most out of this game in one Rent so you should buy.
Final Score- 9.8
I cannot give a game a 10/10 just because there is no perfect game but this comes close to it, the lack of story really ruins it for me if it had a good story then it probably would be a 10, but if I round it off it will be a 10 out of 10! Go get this game!
