An amazing game, but not for everyone. By far the best of the series - definitely a great time to try and here's why...
Unfortunately Gamespot has been irresponsible in their reviews. There are a lot of people who may miss out on something that would be a favorite - I almost did because of them. It's really disgraceful. There are many, many great games that I don't like, which doesn't make them less great. Given the originality of the playing system, the absolutely superb production, the legion of fans, and the fact that it sold over one million copies in Japan, one would have to conclude that this game is a good one.
The catch is this - it takes a lot of practice, patience and skill to win these monster battles. That is what makes the game great. In fact, Monster Hunter is like a "sport". A great example is if you went to play a game like golf. Now, I don't like golf, I am not good at it and I usually rip my hand to shreds when I try. But it is one of the most popular sports in the US. Obviously the more time you spend with it, the more fun the game is. Monster Hunter is very deep and satisfying - once you get into it you realize the game design and balance is incredible. So you know the kinds of games you like to play, so what we need is one of those "Are you a monster hunter?" deals:
1) You have to aim your weapons yourself. You have to move your camera yourself. You have to spend time with each weapon type before you begin to realize its potential. It may take you many quests before the "light bulb" goes off and you start to finally "get it". If you still are wondering where the "auto-target" is after playing an hour, put the game down and never play again. The game is not for you. This game does not have an "automatic transmission"... you gotta learn to drive a stick shift. Once you learn to "drive" it you will realize this is one of the best melee combat systems in any game.
2) Do you enjoy fiddling around with weapon and armor configurations, and preparing traps, lightning rods, flash bombs, poisoned meat, etc.? Spending time preparing and farming, eating power up food combinations, its all the calm before the storm. After these artery popping battles you will need a change of pace.
3) Are you a "casual" gamer who just wants to pick up a title and get some action for several hours, then move on to the next game? Then don't bother with Monster Hunter. You have to spend time immersing yourself in this world.
4) We can proably assume you want to fight some big dragons, but are you prepared to be trampled, tossed around like a rag doll, blasted, crushed, and humiliated ALL WHILE being antagonized, interrupted, and frustrated by smaller bugs, pigs, raptors, apes and those nasty little crabs? If this all sounds like fun to you, then you definitely should get this game.
Hopefully this all helps shed some light on why this game has such mixed up reviews. Here's a corrections to some of the misinformation in the review:
a) At start up there is a fast loading option. Load times go way down but it uses more battery life. I use this mode all the time and I have no problems with battery life. The loads are faster or even non-existent with this new feature, so that issue is gone.
b) You can download free software from xLink KAI and get a USB wireless LAN adapter pretty cheap in order to play online with other people. There are many people playing online round the clock on this system, so if you like the game you absolutely can play online.
c) If you want to spend more time fighting and less time diddling around you can do that. You can expand your item box to 6 pages of 100 items each (10x10 grid of stuff) which the reviewer was unaware of. But you don't need to do much with this, except maybe sell off some junk to clear it once a week. You can buy important stuff and you get things in the quest rewards, so you never have to think about it if it's not your thing. d) Quests are typically limited to 50 minutes, but if you are taking longer than around 10 - 20 minutes, you don't know what your doing and maybe need to do a few more lower level quests and buff up your weapons and armor.
e) Check gamefaqs if you get stuck - there are lots of tips and tricks for playing out there. The game is vast but if you need to know where to find a "hercudrome" bug to upgrade your weapon you will find the answer with a search. f) Check youtube for gameplay videos - try a quest first and see how you do, and then you probably will find a video on it taking about 1/10th the time you did to slay the monster. The cool thing is the clever tactics that people come up with, part of the fun of the game!
g) You can download new quests from the Internet onto your PSP.
Final comment - I took off half a point because CAPCOM/SONY should have built the online play right into the system, or provided their own. It is possible they may do this in the future. It is also aggravating that they did not release a console version, because these big monsters really deserve a big screen. It is probably worth buying the new slim PSP with the video out for this game if you can. Otherwise the game design has been balanced and paced very well, lots of tweeking over the past games really make the whole experience flow nicely.
Hopefully you will enjoy this remarkable game. If it is not your kind of thing, there are about a billion other titles out there so no big deal. But if it sounds good to you after reading this, then go ahead and get it, because it is a superb game... a masterpiece - but not for everyone!