A great game that proves the Wii's superiority over other consoles that simply mass produce flashy first person shooters
The game starts with an awesome video showing you the eco system of these monsters that will soon be yours for the conquering. This alone left me somewhat speechless.
Anywho, I chugged right into the story mode, seeing a delightful video of a quaint little village going about its life until, holy snap, an earthquake! Apparantly, there's some beastie going around causing all this ruckus, and as a hunter, its your job to set it straight! The game starts out slow, which can bum out some players, but all its doing is easing you into the game by showing you how to gather, carve, mine, and many other useful skills that will become your best friend as time goes on.
The game visuals rival those of the 360, which surprises most people since this is a Wii. Most people will yell at this, saying 360 is superior and blah blah blah... but I stand with what I've always said. Wii is capable of much more than people give it credit for. As much as I'd like to go into this debate, that isnt the point of this review. As I was saying, I've seen games with way worse graphics than this litter the 360s endless pile of shooter and killing games. It is easily the best looking game on the wii. (as far as realistic-like graphics go)
The online is what really latches you in. Online quests are very easy to join and get involved in, and friends are easy to make now that Nintendo is edging away from their friend code system. Players can use Wii speak to communicate with other players, but it can pick up more noises than simply talking, and it drowns out the game's wonderful music. This is why it's more affordable and reasonable to plug a USB keyboard into the back of the wii and simply type messages to other players. The only reason the game loses a point for me is that players must be online or out of quests in order to be sent a private message. However you can use the public chat to communicate with them in quests if you are in the same city (server) as them.
Overall, Monster Hunter Tri is a game that astonishes and never ends. Weapon and armor forged from the resources you get from the monsters you kill keep you always working for something, so you're never bored.
Online or off, Monster Hunter Tri really doesnt miss a beat, and as the title of my review says, it proves that the Wii really is the second look people tend to not give it.