GamesRelay

Name: Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

The Monster Hunter franchise for the PlayStation Portable is something nearly all players will have either seen or tried on the PSP at some point. With a game which is similar to how Pokemon was first born in some respects, it's easy to see why the Monster Hunter series has garnered such a cult following by its fans. Offering countless hours of playtime, you could be forgiven for thinking the game never ends which is true in a manner of speaking because only the most dedicated will do everything there is to do in the game. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite isn't a sequel like most will think it is upon first glance, it's more a Monster Hunter Freedom 2 expansion pack with heaps of addition content and the original game bundled in to form "Freedom Unite."

The premise for the series is quite simple, you reside in a town which acts as a hub of activity for you to stage from where you will find quests which you can embark on, to shops and NPC's you can interact with, at its heart, Monster Hunter is a simple game and easily accessible, but to truly master the game you need to spend a lot of time learning everything the game, the monsters and the statistics of all the items. The quests which you can take up involve a multitude of objectives like hunting down specific monsters and killing them, or going to collect certain ingredients for one of the town folks, the quests aren't really anything that hasn't be done to death already but with a large variety of different quests to undertake it certainly isn't a boring affair.

The game is pretty much an exact replica of the original Monster Hunter Freedom 2, though as mentioned previously this is more of the same game with added content. This content includes more missions to take up, new equipment and new monsters to slay. On top of this, players can find their storage box now holds a larger amount of items, and a new quest can be undertook titled “Epic Hunting Quest” which allows the player to take on up to four different monsters in one quest, one by one. Players might be wondering what the point is in purchasing a glorified expansion pack when they will have to start over, thankfully Capcom has thought about this and allowed players to import there character from the original into Freedom Unite. With everything included on top of the game adding around an extra 25 or so hours of gameplay, hardcore fans of the game will no doubt jump at the chance to pick this up when it's released.

Graphics and sound wise, the game looks and sounds superb just as Freedom 2 does. When you set out on your epic journey you'll see a multitude of scenery which is nothing short of breath taking when you consider it's on a portable console, from snow topped mountains to blisteringly hot deserts and beautiful lakes, it draws you in and keeps you hooked to the game. Since their is a lot to explore throughout the game world, it's nice to have variety throughout the different areas of the world so that it doesn't become stale and repetitive to play. All of the music within the game is composed by an orchestra giving it more of a grand scale throughout your journey and it adds a lot to the gameplay, from simple exploring, to battling one of the many beasts you'll come across throughout the game.

Freedom Unite isn't all plain sailing however, for those that played it's predecessor, you will no doubt be aware of the problems the game had, such as long loading times and an awkward camera, but for new players this can be a drawback since the camera especially becomes annoying throughout the game. The third person camera can be rotated left or right with the D-pad and reset with a press of the L button, you can also change it's height by pressing up or down. What makes the camera disappointing is more often than not you'll find yourself fiddling with the controls to get the right camera angle for you to encompass exactly what your trying to do in game. Having to mess around trying to get the right height so that you can get a better view of the battlefield while trying to multitask makes you wonder why god never gifted you with a third hand to control the camera, the reset button and the other controls at the same time. If you can find the right angle, it's great, but more often than not you'll waste time trying to get it right before battling a monster for instance. The camera is certainly useable and adaptable, but it does depreciate the experience you receive when first playing, long time players will just simply grow accustomed to it, but in the end players shouldn't have to fiddle around with camera controls to play the game.

Where Capcom didn't fix the camera for Freedom Unite, they did however fix the loading times. The games loading times are pretty much the same as the original but thankfully Capcom have added a “data installation” option which will dramatically cut down the loading times throughout the game. Another added feature for Freedom Unite is the ability to use the Felyne helpers which you may remember tended to your farm, now they can come into battle and assist you in killing the various monsters. It certainly helps if one of you wish to attack from afar while the other gets up close and personal, you shouldn't find yourself worrying to much about your Felyne helper either since it pretty much looks after itself. Since all the Monster Hunter games have been remembered for their difficult combat, it gives newer players an added advantage to start off with which is a welcome addition.

As with Monster Hunter Freedom 2, Ad-hoc play is fully supported in Freedom Unite allowing you to join up with up to three other players as you battle monsters in the game. Some of the most enjoyable moments can be had playing multiplayer and because you bring your single player character in for multiplayer, collecting all that rare equipment from the single player really makes it worthwhile, giving you bragging rights over your friends. It's a feature which really makes the Monster Hunter game a great experience, it would be a good game without it, but it adds so much more to the experience of the game especially when you and three friends play together.

In summary, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite can be looked at from two perspectives, for a new player to the series looking to get in on the action, if you can forgive the awkward camera controls, then you'll be in for a treat with the game offering huge amounts of playtime and multiplayer to boot. For veteran players, the game is pretty much a no brainer, you'll find the new content a welcome addition especially for those who like to get the rarest of equipment. If the game was a sequel then this review would probably be done differently since other than the new content, the gameplay hasn't changed much at all, but since this is more of a re-released glorified expansion, it's something worth picking up and getting in to especially for veteran players of the Monster Hunter series.