If it wasn’t obvious Monster Hunter Tri is the third game in the Monster Hunter series with the first Monster Hunter game earning its release on the PlayStation2 in 2005. It’s also pretty obvious from the title what the game entails, there is no beating around with the bush with Capcom. You take on the role of a hunter who hunts monsters all based in a fantasy world. The objective of the game is to complete various quests and ultimately earn fame and glory through your adventures and explorations.
The series has done really well, with huge popularity in Japan and has managed to spawn sequels and spinoffs on various consoles and handhelds. Monster Hunter Tri was originally planned for a PS3 release but has since been released on Nintendo’s Wii and since gone on to become the highest selling third-party Wii game in Japan.
Onto what’s important though, the gameplay.
Monster Hunter Tri plays very much like its predecessors, you pick your weapon and begin to do quests, which vary from hunting, egg gathering and trapping, all for ‘The Guild’. After completing a number of quests the player then faces an ‘URGENT’ quest and successfully completing this task will allow you to move on and progress through the game and onto another set of quests.
In Offline mode the player can pretty much do as he or she pleases, upgrade your equipment, slay monsters or just admire your hunting trophies! Offline mode is best for familiarising the player with the creatures and how they respond in combat and the different environments Online however the player gets the chance team up with others and take on bigger monsters and harder quests. If all that wasn’t enough for you then you can also get yourself a nifty little house which you can fill with furniture, animal bones and tacky monster print rugs! Capcom have also promised to post occasional ‘URGENT’ quests which will aim to test the ability of the hunters as the quests will be more difficult and only for the hardened monster hunter.
While playing Monster Hunter Tri is enjoyable for a time it ultimately falls into the repetitive cycle which is fine for the first dozen quests but gets a bit tedious after that…there is no real difficulty in the game and while you can fail a quest if you don’t follow the simple and pretty easy guidelines outlined for you, you’ll only real fail if you die three times or run out of time neither of which are impossible feats to overcome!
Overall if your lust for the hunt overcomes you frequently then you may just enjoy Monster Hunter Tri. If on the other hand you are fed up with slogging through Warcraft dungeons and raids then this game will not help you take your mind off the monotony of bashing and casting your way through the same dungeon ten times just so you can get some very ultra rare boots!
Rent or Buy: Rent Gold Coins: 2/5
