This game is ridiculously addictive, but make no mistake, it can be whatever you want it to be.
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GAMEPLAY:
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--Character Creation--
Lets face it, there are few RPG's on the Wii that offer character creation to anything past their equipped clothing. This is definitely a good change of pace.
--Endless Exploring--
In between contracts, you can go out and explore the vast world that Monster Hunter has to offer. Hunt what you want to hunt, go where you wanna go.
--Online Capability--
This one truly makes Monster Hunter 3 Tri stand out from other Wii games. Venture to a bustling Trade City, join up with other hunters and have a monster smack down ANYTIME you want.
--Multiple Offense/Defense Builders--
Don't have the cash for those nice boots? Is that dagger just not doing enough for you but there's nothing better? DON'T WORRY! Moga Village has a smithy that can help. For just the cost of a few materials and some labor fees, you can get anything and everything available to you.
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FLAWS:
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There's nothing more irritating than an unexpected twist that makes the game ridiculously difficult or a cheap camera angle that ends up killing you. Have no fear, most of the bugs in Monster Hunter 3 Tri aren't too bad, but they still damage the game.
--Easy To Miss--
For those of you going the motion-control route (It is classic capable after all), this little bug can really bust some blood vessels. Some monsters can be hard to hit depending on their position. A great example of this are the Jaggi and Jaggia. If you're directly facing each other, you could miss, and if there's more than one around, this makes it irritating. And Bnahabra
are the worst. You must be PERFECTLY POSITIONED to hit this flying critter.
--Vanishing Loot--
Another little irritation is the time delay corpse disappearance. This can become frustrating when there are multiple hostile monsters in a single area. An example are the Jaggi and Jaggia materials that become difficult to harvest, as one successful strike cancels the harvest, meaning the corpse has likely disappeared by the time you can get to it uninterrupted.
--Early Boss Interruption--
The Lagiacrus makes it's first appearance during the contract "Guts: It's what's for Dinner". Because this thing can out-swim you, you have to find a quick escape. The Lagiacrus can follow you into every area connected to the beach, even onto the sands of the beach itself, making the quest overly difficult, as the game purposely shrinks the Epioth number in the area beforehand from 3 to 1. I've heard there's a random occurrence where Lagiacrus will just disappear if you leave the area, leaving you to finish uninterrupted, but I've never successfully had it happen.
--Limited Tool Capacity--
It's really disappointing that you can only carry so many tools (picks, nets, etc.) at once. Because they randomly break rather than have a set number of uses, a planned long gathering trip can be cut short because of poor timing on the game's outcome randomizer.
--Material Unavailability--
Some materials are impossible to acquire until certain contracts are completed, some are just so rare to acquire that you could spend hours picking rocks before you get one. Some weapon and armor upgrades become like one big tease because of this.
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CONCLUSION:
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Monster Hunter 3 Tri is worth anyone's time, hands down! Sure the flaws do some damage, but not as much as the amount of fun that comes from it.