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PLATFORM
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3DS
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BATTLE
SYSTEM
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INTERACTION
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ORIGINALITY
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STORY
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MUSIC
& SOUND
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VISUALS
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CHALLENGE
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Moderate
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COMPLETION
TIME
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20-40 Hours
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OVERALL
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+
Maneuverability makes hunts
more dynamic
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Excellent graphics and music
+
Improved online interface
+
Good mix of new and old
monsters
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New weapons for veterans
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No global chat in multiplayer
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Click
here for scoring
definitions
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Eat, sleep,
hunt monsters, repeat. Such is the life of a
hunter in Capcom's Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
The latest in the company's beast-slaying series
brings with it a polished core from the previous
entries, along with a variety of new monsters and
features that refine the experience to make it the
most approachable games in the series. The game
adds a straightforward and entertaining story,
combined with refinements to tutorials and early
missions which should help new players get past
the game's steep learning curve. It's a refined,
beautiful, and exceptionally entertaining
experience that stands head and shoulders above
not only other entries in the series, but most
other RPGs on the 3DS.
The story
focuses on the player's custom created hunter as
he or she joins a caravan in search of answers to
the mysteries of an ancient relic. Story mostly
occurs through conversation with characters
between missions, though there are several
pre-rendered cutscenes throughout the duration of
the single-player experience. The game's NPCs all
feature some very entertaining dialogue thanks to
a superb localization, giving context to the
various hunts players will be sent on. The story
may be simple, but that's not the main focus of a
Monster Hunter game, so what's here fits
the experience perfectly. The action rarely slows
down, which makes these exchanges a fun and often
humorous break between the intense monster
battles. The game's story culminates with, as one
might expect, one of the best hunts in the entire
game. Some story does continue on into the title's
high rank endgame, providing an incentive to delve
into the game's harder quests beyond just the new
sets of monsters and gear that become available.
For those who aren't interested in the higher
level quests or prefer multiplayer, the story does
end on a satisfying note.
As should be
obvious, hunting is the name of the game in Monster
Hunter 4 Ultimate. Besides talking to
characters in town, players can buy and craft
gear, arrange and equip their Felyne companions,
and purchase meals that give buffs and special
abilities for the coming mission. Once out on a
mission, players will have the freedom to explore
the current hunting ground, which generally
consists of ten to twelve interconnected areas.
There's a time limit to complete any given
mission, but this thankfully isn't much of a
factor until higher levels and multiplayer quests.
More of a factor in regards to time is the stamina
meter. This is used for actions such as running,
climbing quickly, and blocking, but will refill
when not in use. The maximum level of the meter
decreases as time goes on, but this can be
refilled with rations and other food. Combined
with a limited supply of health items, players
will need to carefully manage their supply of
items in addition to focusing on the main task at
hand. The level of pre-planning is part of the
process, and it adds a good level of additional
tension to things. Thankfully, players can bring
in enough healing items and food that this should
not become a frustrating element as long as
players have done the proper preparation.
The fierce Gore
Magala is the game's signature
new monster. |
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Fighting
monsters themselves can vary greatly depending on
the monster, the environment, and even just the
weapon in use. Each weapon has its own combos and
special abilities, with guns and bows functioning
in a totally different fashion from melee weapons.
Any weapon is a viable option for hunting, so
players are free to use whichever they prefer. New
to this entry are maneuverability options that
allow players to quickly scale up ledges and
perform jumping attacks, and the hunting grounds
have a lot more in the way of hills, ledges, and
other environmental elements to make use of this.
Players can use these to their advantage, but
adding another layer to the mix, monsters can as
well. Enemies will often escape to higher areas,
quickly follow players up cliffs, and even destroy
pieces of the environment used for cover. The
advantage of getting to higher ground is the
ability to take advantage of mounting monsters, so
a well-timed jumping attack will activate a
quicktime event where players time attacks and
movements as to not fall off. If successful, the
monster will be knocked down briefly, opening them
up to a devastating string of attacks. The level
of precision in combat is extremely deep, as this
game is far from a mindless hack and slash.
Battles in Monster
Hunter 4 are intense and dynamic, and the
variety of monsters keeps things fresh and
exciting. Each type of monster, excluding
sub-species, has its own unique set of attacks and
behavior that players will have to learn. Watching
monster patterns, reading in-game text, and
sometimes simply using common sense will help
players discover weaknesses and create an
advantage. For example, monsters have destroyable
parts such as tails and horns that can weaken
their attacks. To help new players along, the game
includes tutorials along with tons of in-game
help. This entry in particular has greatly refined
these, as past games have provided poor help to
rookies. Previous entries also often had a large
number of mindless gathering and hunting quests at
the start of the game, and these have thankfully
been either completely removed or made optional.
Crafting also plays
a key role in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
Parts collected from monsters can be turned into
weapons and armor, which will often have
properties related to the monster in question. For
example, armor created from a rathalos, a type of
dragon, will have higher fire defense for armor or
give a buff to fire attacks for weapons. Some
repetition is obviously required to get the
requisite monster parts to craft items, but it is
mostly mild until the post game and high rank
multiplayer. The higher rank gear will often
require rare parts, which will send players out on
multiple hunts of the same creature, often asking
them to destroy specific parts or capture the
monster rather than killing it to increase their
chances of a rare drop. During the lower ranks,
most of this extra hunting is completely optional,
simply giving players the chance to get better
gear earlier if desired. In addition to main
equipment, decorations can be attached to gear to
enhance skills. Crafting gear is a deep process,
which can become addictive quite easily. There's
nothing like finishing off a new set of gear and
using it to tackle a monster that previously
seemed insurmountable.
Monster
Hunter 4 Ultimate can get complex, and
though the controls can take some getting used to,
the game helps players adjust. Weapons within the
same group, i.e. ranged or melee, have similar
controls to each other, so switching from one to
another isn't too hard. Weapon control help is
easily accessible from the in-game menu as well.
The interface on the whole is simple so as to not
get in the way, but effectively communicates
everything the player needs. The UI on the
touchscreen can be customized for easy access to
items and other functions to allow players to
setup things to their preference. Camera controls
can be handled from the D-pad, a Circle Pad Pro,
or even by centering with the L button depending
on player preference. Since it supports the Circle
Pad Pro, the game is fully compatible with the new
analog nub on the New 3DS, which works quite
nicely with it. The interface on the whole is well
designed, and makes crafting and other tasks quite
easy.
Multiplayer
monsters are more challenging
and require good cooperation.
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Online play has
seen some improvement, ditching the convoluted
server system of the previous entry on Wii U. Now
players can simply go to the world map via the
touch screen and select online play to create a
room or to search for one to join. This includes
options for locking rooms with a password and
joining up with friends. The search allows for
filtering so players can find others tackling
specific quests or difficulty levels. It's a nice
improvement, though it lacks the chat channels
that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate had, so
players will have to find other outlets to chat
with other hunters outside of game rooms. In game
chat is available via a keyboard and some preset
phrases.
The
presentation of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
is far and away some of the best players will find
on the 3DS. Monster Hunter 3 on 3DS
suffered visually from being a port, but that
isn't the case this time around. Hunting grounds
look absolutely gorgeous and really pop with the
3D effect on. Monsters feature complex animations
and the detailed models move through the new
multi-tiered environments with only the rare bit
of clipping. Monster Hunter traditionally
has had lots of tribal music along with some more
epic themes for later bosses, but this time around
epic music shows up during the player's first
encounter with a large monster and stays amazing
throughout. There is a good variety of musical
tracks available, and they make each battle feel
like a classic confrontation, even the relatively
easy fights. Monster Hunter has become a
flagship franchise for Capcom, and the
presentation of this game finally reflects that.
Monster
Hunter 4 Ultimate is a game built on the
idea of repetition
that manages to feel quite the opposite. Through
diversity, both in
the weapon selection, in the menagerie of
different beasts for players
to fight, and in the different hunting grounds,
all sorts of different
experiences become possible. An improved, yet
imperfect, online interface extends the experience
well beyond the the extent of the single player
campaign. Streamlined tutorials provide ways to
better ease new players into the series, though
the learning curve remains relatively high. At the
end of the day, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
is a
brilliant experience that no fan of RPGs should
pass up.
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