Monster Hunter

"Are you kidding, Capcom? Giant turkeys?"

Monster Hunter is one of Capcom's underdog series. Not many have played it, but those who have tend to fall in love with it. The ability to forge your own armor and weapons from the body parts of fierce wyverns, dragons, and giant turkeys is fun for a long while.

Plot: 0/10.
To make a short story even shorter, there is no plot. At all. You're some random dude who wakes up one day and decides he wants to kill giant animals, and your friend who is a ninety year old hobbit or something assists you.

Gameplay/Controls: 6/10.
The controls are alright, after a very steep learning curve. Combat makes use of the right analog stick, and the camera is controlled with the L1 trigger and the d-pad. The games awkward controls really take away from the overall score. It's fine once you get used to them, but good luck sticking with the game through the bullcrap. There's multiple weapon types, such as lances, greatswords, dual swords, bowguns, hammers, and sword and shield. Finding out each monster's habits during combat is pretty fun, and tackling them online with up to 3 of your homies is even better. However, now that the game is no longer online, there's no point to play it anymore. The offline is sucktastic.

Sound:5/10.
There isn't much for sound at all. The sound effects are decent, and fit the weapons that they are added to fine. However, the area music is boring and mediocre at best. The monsters growls and roars sound horrible, and aren't convincing at all. Really, Capcom, a giant turkey barking like a dog? Scary!

Rent/Buy: Neither.
There's no point in even renting it anymore since you can't really do anything in a single rental. This game takes MONTHS to progress in, and last time I checked, rentals don't last months.

Graphics: 6/10.
The game isn't too beautiful.. Most of the weapons are unique and cool looking, with a few exceptions here and there. The player created characters all look different, it's kinda hard to find a twin.(Unless we are considering armor, since everyone wears the same damn stuff) The environments are all set in different types of habitats, such as Volcano and a Jungle, but, to be honest, they all feel the same in the end. Repetitive, ugly, and boring.

Overall: 6/10
While Monster Hunter is fun online, that's about all it has going for it. And considering the amount of people who actually have their playstation 2's hooked up for online play(Not many!) it just isn't worth it. There is no point in buying the game anymore. The online servers are shut down, and the offline is god awful. Monster Hunter was good once, but now it just feels like something Capcom had to throw out there while we waited for Resident Evil 4 to come out.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/19/08

Game Release: Monster Hunter (US, 09/21/04)