Monster Hunter Freedom

"Very great addition to the Monster Hunter series."

Monster Hunter Freedom is a great game. Period. I loved the first Monster Hunter games for the PS2, and Freedom really took the lead for the PSP games. I'm very thankful to Capcom for making such a vastly long game shrink onto a portable -- without further adieu, here's the review. (that wasn't intended to rhyme)

Graphics 10/10

The crisp visuals were almost seamlessly transferred from the first Monster Hunters on PS2 all the way down to PSP. The loading times were somewhat long but very much worth it. There are load-times every time you enter a new area, but that is forgivable for how awesome the game looks for a portable system. Sometimes the screen would get crowded with (flawlessly textured and well done behavior physics) enemies, but the game never lagged once.

Sound 10/10

From the clanging of the sword when you hit the hard hide of a monster when your weapon isn't sharp to the unsheathing of the weapon, (even walking seems real) it's all very believable and wonderful. It never gets repetative unless you put a bad sound set on at the beginning, which I find as a very good feature. (The sound set is what you select at the beginning of the game that makes the sounds different when you swing your sword or get hit by a monster.)

Gameplay 8/10

First of all I will say a word or two about the camera. First of all the camera always finds a way to get in front of you and lead to your death. Sometimes if you're fighting a big wyvern and you're getting a little scared you'll hit the down button on the Directional Pad. What this does is moves the camera pointing upward like it's a puppet being controlled from the back of its head. Normally I wouldn't mind that at all, because I like to have an inverted axis on first person shooters, but the placement of it kind of sucks sometimes. For first time players, you will be constantly battling the camera, trying to keep it behind you, but a Monster Hunter veteran like Never_Forget32 or myself would get used to it soon enough. Alot of people groused about the lack of a lock-on target frame thing, but this, in my opinion, would make the game too easy. The game starts out too slow, but will eventually pick up, so don't worry. Fighting large Dragons and things does not get tedious, but rather, after mastering the camera, gets very fun and it flows together with great combos and elemental attributes. I won't get too much into that, but Monster Hunter Freedom is not too hard, but can get frustrating when a fast creature pummels you into the dirt and you can't do anything about it, only to be comboed again by a flying death fireball. When you begin, you can make a custom guy with a custom face and custom hair, gender, voice (even), but sadly, not clothes. You can carve slain monsters for items to increase your armor and weapons. You can buy felynes that cook for you and help you get other cool items and powerups that could help or hurt you in your next mission. Also there is a place called the Kokoto Farms where you can grow veggies, mine ore, grow mushrooms, hunt bugs, fish, just about anything.

Re-playability 10/10

Obviously the replayablility is very great, considering how many things there are to do in the Kokoto village. Die-hard Monster Hunter veterans like me could easily put in 120 hours (that could be pushing it a bit), and a normal Monster Hunter beginner could put in about 40 hours, easy. There are tons of things to do in this game, and it is definately a BUY!

Multiplayer 9/10

Ad-Hoc (local wireless play) is very fun if you can get some friends to hunt with you. It goes up to 4 players per hunt, and this is probably the only time in the game where the framerate drops a bit, but it really no big deal. Sometimes Ad-Hoc is a little hard to get set up, but it is definitly worth it. Tell your friends to buy it and prepare for some hardcore monster killing.

Possibly the best game for PSP at the time. I'd agree.

10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/06