Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Hunting Season is open

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate as the name implies is a game of hunting monsters. Luckily for me there is no need to befriend any of these monsters, you just go out and mess them up something fierce, seriously though aside from pokemon making friends with gigantic creatures and having them fight alongside you is ridiculous. Don't ask me why…..the reason is really stupid.

Anyway, first off I wanna thank a friend of mine for convincing me to buy Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate the last iteration in the seres, because that is what got me interested in MH4U. So thanks Tim. 

Second MH4U is a lot of fun, it is one of these games that takes A LOT of your time but the grind is worth it when the armour you get looks this badass. 

Monster Hunter is a great game. I'll admit it took some getting used to some of the mechanics of the game, but once you do you can start reaping the rewards of the game in a big way. If I had to say anything about Monster Hunter it would be repetition. Repetition brings reward and with reward comes the chance to go toe to toe with an even bigger challenge. Obviously most games are like that, you start off weak and helpless but build yourself up over time, the good thing about monster hunter is that you can tell how experienced a person is by their weaponry and armour. If you come across someone with amazing armour and find yourself marvelling then that probably means they spent hours trying to cultivate that set and they were obviously well rewarded.

Monsters Mash

The main focus of Monster Hunter, aside from the main story, is gathering materials needed to make new weapons and armour the way this is done is to hunt down, you guessed it, monsters. Each new monster you slay gives you access to new weapons, armour and other assorted trinkets. The harder the monster the better the armour/ weapon. Obviously each monster is different some are weak to specific elements that you can make use of others are strong to all types of elemental damage. Some are downright invincible. 

The newest feature of Monster Hunter is certain monsters can enter a frenzy state, where they get increased strength, speed, defence and generally become a whole lot deadlier. The purpose of this is to keep you on your toe's when you go against them, so far however I have only encountered one monster who enters this state. There is a benefit to frenzy however, when a monster attacks you in frenzy state it infects you with a virus. Don't be alarmed though if you manage to attack it enough while you have the virus it will instead be turned on its head and give you a boost of strength. 

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes and each one is different from the last, sometimes a model is reused for certain monsters but thats to be expected. The biggest point of Monster Hunter is the monsters and I have to say, what I am constantly impressed by MH is its diverse selection of monsters and how each one can be so cohesive with the environment its in. Each Monster is deadly, even the ones you wouldn't look twice at, its one of the best features of Monster Hunter that when you square off against an opponent you have no idea how things will go. Its intimidating coming up against a large monster because your not sure how they'll move. 

Tools of the Trade

As a hunter you are going to need weapons almost as big and obnoxious as the monsters you fight. The weapons you can chose from are: Great Sword, Long Sword, Sword and Shield, Dual Blades, Hammer, Hunting Horn, Lance, Gunlance, Switch Axe, Light Bowgun, Heavy Bowgun and Bow. New to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate though are two new weapons the Charge Blade (Think Switch axe but with a shield) and Insect Glaive. These two new weapons are extremely beginner friendly but like most weapons also cater to the master hunter as well.

Usually what I've found is that any weapon is useful against monsters and some more experienced players can use something as weak as a sword and shield and still manage to take down a Rathalos solo. A lot of weaponry is situational for instance if your sub quest is to break a certain part of a monsters body you make pick a weapon that is focused more on that. 

All the weapons in Monster Hunter are as creative and imaginative as the armour. They all look so impressive and beast like that it seems like cruel irony to hit a monster with a weapon made from its fallen kin. 

In MH3U the games newest mechanic was swimming, which was incredibly difficult to do. Battles that took place under water were exhilarating and it was an interesting concept however it fell short of being a corner stone in revolutionary mechanics as swimming wasn't featured in MH4U. Instead jumping from small ledges or tall cliffs was added in and when you perform a jump attack from one of these ledges onto a monster your character does a rodeo attack, lethally stabbing the monster in the back while hanging on for dear life. A skilled player can topple a monster with a mount and then immediately lay waste to some of its armour making the mount function one of the most important features of the game. Not to mention incredibly fun to do.

It's a BIG World Hunter, get out there!

Honestly if Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate doesn't keep you hooked for hours then you must not be playing it right. Because there is so much to do, and unlike other games which might have you making a chart over how to spend your time Monster Hunter doesn't do that. You can jump in and start whacking away at monsters quick as anything. 

But thats where the beauty of it lies. The pro's will know where a monster goes, where its healing point is, how many hits it will take before it starts limping, which weapons are most effective, all this and more is what contributes to it. There is so much content, so much challenge to the game that it can suck you back in before you even realise what you missed. With free DLC at the moment too there's plenty of reasons why you should pick up Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. 

The risk vs reward, the grind of hunting powerful monsters, finding new ways to beat those monsters is what its all about. From a personal point of view, I have to say that MH4U is one of the best 3DS games to grace the console in a while and while I am sure there are better ones on the horizon, I can't help but sit here and wonder what Monster I'll face next, Kirin? A Zinogre? Maybe Shaguru Magala again? Who Know's? With other hunters and your trusty palico's at your side you'll be as expectant and excited as I am. 

Happy Hunting!!!