Nerd Mentality

Dinosaur Killing

Posted April 17th 2010 by Oliver Chen.

I don't know if you know this, but the life dream of all human beings is to hunt and kill gigantic dinosaurs.

This is me everyday irl

Fortunately for us, Capcom has taken up the mantle of providing aspiring hunters around the world with the means to satisfy their monster-killing itch. Monster Hunter 3 for the Nintendo Wii essentially boils down to killing giant dinosaurs then wearing their skin as armor. If that descriptor alone doesn't pique your interest then I just don't know what to do with you.

Monster Hunter 3 goes on sale April 20th, and is the first console Monster Hunter game released outside Japan since 2004. The series has a huge following in Japan, but is comparatively obscure in the west. It's clear Capcom wants to change this trend starting with MH3. In addition to sponsoring a huge advertising campaign, Capcom has made a free demo available for the Wii either from Gamestop or by ordering one online from Capcom Unity. I've had the chance to toy around with the demo for a little while now.

One of your victims in the demo.

One first point - the classic controller is far superior to the Wiimote as a control scheme. The original Monster Hunter games were designed with a regular controller in mind, and the reduced number of buttons on the Wiimote/Nunchuk has forced Capcom to make some awkward button mappings. Controlling the player character is a much smoother experience with the CC than the Wiimote.

First-time players will find the controls in general to be extremely stiff. I've seen some message board posters claim this is because of the "realistic" weight put on the weapons, but I don't buy it. Whatever the reason, I had a lot of trouble with diagonal movements and attacking where I wanted to at first. I'm a little better at it now that I've played the game somewhat, but it's something that could use improvement in future titles.

Each weapon type has its own unique control scheme and attack combos as well as a general winning strategy. Lance users, for example, must learn to switch between turtling down with their shields during enemy attacks while advancing and striking during safe periods. Longsword users, on the other hand, must find ways to continously deal blows to enemies to keep their combo meter filled. The wide variety of weapon types and their related tactics should keep people busy for a long time.

You would hope that a game titled Monster Hunter provides a large variety of monsters to fight, and the game delivers. Each of the eighteen monsters looks and acts distinctive, and each monster has its own attack patterns. You'll need to learn these patterns to avoid getting killed. Sense a pattern here? Monsters also have different armored and weak points, and some body parts can be cut off or destroyed for your benefit. They may also call allies to their cause or run away from you to heal up. The key to winning, then, is to minimize damage to yourself while preventing monsters from escaping your attacks. Your armor is upgradeable to help with the first task, but overall they have little effect on your survivability. The best players win by learning how to dodge monster attacks and when are safe times to strike.

The demo is nearly identical to the one the Japanese got a couple of months ago. Aside from the whole not-moonspeak aspect, the American version also includes a few weapon types not available in the eastern one. It contains two quests, both of which are "kill this boss" type missions. There's no story or tutorial involved at all - the menu has you select a control type (Wiimote or Classic Controller), a quest, and a weapon type before dumping you onto a deserted island without any fanfare whatsoever. The pamphlet included with the disc isn't much help either - it contains a brief overview of the game and a chart of Wiimote control schemes for each weapon type. CC users must hunt down their controls as a PDF buried somewhere on Capcom's site.

It's obvious the demo was originally intended to help veteran Monster Hunters get used to the Wii control schemes and weapons type than to be a sales pitch for newcomers to the series. The barebones presentation of the demo and the high initial difficulty of the game itself is a huge turnoff for potential customers, and Capcom has done nothing to help this. The twenty-minute time limit for each quest as opposed to the full fifty you get in the retail version also makes the missions extremely difficult to clear, if not full-on impossible for some weapon types. Not exactly the wisest decision, Capcom.

Some of the monsters you fight are kind of big.

The full game is available in two main SKUs: one includes the game itself, while the other bundles a black Classic Controller Pro for a little more money. Europeans can also purchase an "Ultimate Hunter Pack" that includes a few more goodies. The retail game also includes (or so most would hope) its main draw, online play. While Japanese players had to endure a P2P subscription model to play online, western fans can play the game online entirely free of charge. And since Capcom is running the servers for the game, there's no need for friend codes. Just load up a lobby, find three other players, and get hunting.

Eighteen monsters are available for your hunting pleasure, some only found online. Additionally, the aquatic nature of some of these monsters adds the additional dimension of underwater battles. More quest types are also available, although the main draw is still boss fights. Split-screen co-op is also available, although only in the offline coliseum mode.

Similarl to Phantasy Star Online, the game revolves heavily around rare items. After downing a boss, players have one minute to carve up the remains of the monster you just fought, and the best weapons and armor can only be forged from rare carves.

Overall, the emphasis the game places on boss fights and the reliance on dodging and pattern learning may turn some people off from the game, as will the high initial difficulty curve. I suppose the actual game may ease you into it better, but other than these issues the game has me interested.

Bonus video: advertisement

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