Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS)

I played Monster Hunter Freedom and Monster Hunter Freedom 2 on the PSP, and followed that up with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and now 4 Ultimate on the Nintendo 3DS and I can honestly say the game has constantly been improving and evolving, and this latest iteration is easily the best in the series. The classic hunt-gather-forge gameplay remains, but they've worked more of a storyline in to the game this time round. The new areas have that classic monster hunter feel to them, and the new monsters add some great new hunts.Most of all though, the new vertical elements added to the game are fantastic. The new charge blade is great but requires some very carefully timed hits to really make the most use of it, but the insect glaive is just fantastic. Using the insect to gather essence and power yourself up is surprisingly easy one you've practiced a couple of times and you figure out which parts of the monster give you attack/armor/power/health. The best bit though is the ability to vault up, land an attack on the monsters back, jump on and then go to town on it for some serious damage and eventually topple it. It's possible to to this with most of the weapons using the terrain, by jumping off walls and other cliff edges, but the insect glaive just makes it so easy (and gives you another way to jump out of the way of a charging Rathlos). There is also a new monster ability that I will leave out for now as I don't want to ruin the surprise.There are also a few new things added to the game such as the expeditions where you can discover new monsters, collect treasure (often armor/weapons) and then polish them to improve their performance. The addition of palico's (the cats) that you can gear up and either bring with you on hunts or send off on their own to find treasures and other items adds a fun new element as well, and the farming aspect of the game has also been simplified using a special vendor.Overall, this latest iteration of the game is still challenging, brilliant fun, and guaranteed to keep you entertained for hours.Oh, and the pet pig is still there.

Super fun game with friends but at the same time not so good for short play sessions.Great graphics.Great gameplay.Learning curve is too steep for new cummers but when you learn game mechanics. Everything starts to get better every time.

Monster Hunter is massive in Japan, and only really gaining popularity in the West over the past few years. The game itself consists of hunting down various large creatures to obtain materials to create new weapons and gear. The game has 14 weapon classes to choose from with various pathways to creating different weapons. Each weapon class has it's own mechanics and move sets that give them a unique feel, 3 out of the 14 weapon classes are ranged, which you can create specific bullets/pellets for that have different ailments.Armor is created much in the same way as weapons and there's a large variety of different armors to be made, each with their own specific attributes which can be mixed and matched, some attributes however are better suited to certain weapons to make the best outcome during the hunt. Weapons and Armor are best created by killing/capturing monsters and obtaining materials, however there's a shop in the location you are in which you can buy armor/weapons, however these are usually low levels, cost more and would become obsolete rather quickly.This game also has multiplayer and for the first time in the series on 3DS it has online MP. This is a welcome addition to the series especially since a lot of players prefer to play from the comfort of their own home, or are unable to find close friends to play with locally. 4 hunters team together to take on quests similar to single player with slightly increased difficulty, however this does not scale with the more players in the game. You can still tackle these by yourself as well, from MP you can rank up your Hunter Rank, known in-game as "HR". This unlocks you new quests to go through and is different to the single-player quests you can be given. The game has various areas you can hunt in, but you must beat certain questlines before reaching them. The maps usually consist of various small areas, between 7-12, depending on the map.Monsters are the biggest part of this game, they are the way forward and the way to create your new fancy weapons and armor. Every monster has its own unique set of moves which are to be learned while fighting them. If a monster seems too hard or you are dying often, best thing to do is to try and learn it's moves, this makes it more predictable and easier to dodge, however they also sometimes go into a rage and start doing moves in quick succession, however after this they become tired. This is the best time to hit some damage onto them. Don't be discouraged if you don't beat a monster first time or even after multiple tries. The game is all about trial and error and if you start getting frustrated you can't beat a monster, maybe check your armor or weapons as they could do with an upgrade, or it could even be your weapon has an element that doesn't really affect it, switch out to another one.Expeditions are something new to this game as well, they appear every so often and you can hunt monsters you wouldn't normally see on other quests, you also have to be more prepared for these as they are not your standard quests, you aren't given potions/food or even a map to help through these, however a map isn't really necessary as the paths are very linear.The game also has better tutorials compared to it's predecessor Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and anybody who hasn't played the series, or found MH3U hard to follow, will be able to get more out of this game.I recommend this game to any fan of the series, and any newcomers to the series should feel welcome with the new and improved tutorials provided.

Not a bad game but not for a veteran gamer in my opinion.The graphics are as you would expect on 3DS so can't have a go at them too much.The gameplay takes a long time to get into but again I think this is due to the fact it is on a handheld aimed at younger gamers. Too much handholding early on!

Best game for 3DS hands down, played so much of it.. So much fun fighting monsters and breaking parts off them. Loads of verity in monsters and their behaviors/ attacks. So happy there is no underwater fights anymore, that was so awful in the 3'rd game. Its a bit easier on beginners as well. The series is renowned to be punishing to new comers badly explaining things. You will have to do some research on armours and on certain weapons.. They are quite complicated and require certain skill instead of blindly button mashing which will kill you fast. Upgrading armour and weapons is a blast, missions are rewarding and you feel genuine progression in story and of your power. You get to travel to different areas fighting new monsters and having access to a new level of herbs/ butterfly's after finishing the star quest series you are on.. The game is so huge ive had around 50 hours and im still not high rank yet. Theres low rank/ High and G rank.. So you can see how long it potentially can be. There are 100's of armours which you can mix together for certain skills, which is another area that you will need to research. This is according to how you want to play.. A very decent game that doesn't treat you like an idiot and is genuinely tough.

Unplayable without pro pad plus