Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

After racking up 118 hours of playtime with its awesome predecessor, I didn't think I would hook up with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate again. But, after 20 hours of playtime, I can't stop fighting more bosses, acquiring more resources, and building incredible weapons and armor sets. The fact that this new Monster Hunter emphasizes the accessibility of the title to neophytes does not alter the quality of this fun video monument, whether you play in a single-player or four-player campaign in online multiplayer.

You could say that Monster Hunter is a game where the principle is to face bosses. Each monster has its own fighting style and the creature's different animations reflect its condition and its next attacks (instead of having a hideous health bar or icon) allowing you to dodge when the time is right and counter. -attack if you react quickly enough. The new monster, Kecha-Wacha who looks like a lemur, can, for example, use its long arms to swing around the area and strike when the hunter least expects it. This fight is completely different from the one against the Congalala monster, which uses powerful brutal attacks and can, with its breath, prevent healing.

Defeating these monsters allows you to obtain resources which can be used to build new, more powerful weapons and armor to kill other monsters. It's a fun loop that keeps the gameplay fresh and increases the challenge but also allows you to have an infinite number of combinations of weapons and armor. The only times when the rhythm of the game is broken is during several somewhat dull missions where you are asked to go collect eggs, pick mushrooms or other raw materials. They are not monsters and I am interested in hunting!

All of the highlights I mentioned come from other games in the series, but Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is changing things up by adding a vertical dimension to fights that already have a really great depth. These more agile hunters can easily jump from surface to surface or climb walls with the push of a few buttons. This allows for movements like running, jumping, kicking creatures hanging too close to a ledge, etc.

These new complex elements can be intimidating but Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is better at teaching newbies than the art of killing monsters compared to previous episodes of the series. This being the case, he could still explain some essential ideas of the game to players a little more precisely. The variety of weapons available from the start may seem enormous to the uninitiated (everything is explained in text form) and finding the category that best suits your way of playing is bound to go through several failed attempts. Once you find the right one, the experience is more enjoyable, but it takes patience.

Once you get the hang of it, these guns give you the same variety and depth as in other games in the series. Each of the 14 weapon categories further brings depth and nuance to the gameplay. The Glaive Insecte is one of my favorites. It has the speed and range of the Long Sword but also houses an insect that can be sent to steal an enemy's essence and ultimately give you bonus speed, attack, and defense. The ability to pole vault at any time makes this weapon the classiest of all. The second best weapon is the powerful Volto-Ax which also has impressive properties that include charged attacks that deliver enjoyable gnons to enemies, whether small or large.

The various environments of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate show improvements over the other episodes. The bustling city of Val Habar looks significantly different from the underground city of Harth. Each location and border area makes us feel like these spaces are better connected than in previous Monster Hunter's and I was impressed to see the world change to reflect my actions in the single player campaign. The village of Harth came back to life at the end of my stay there, with shimmering colors, lava flows and villagers looking happier than when I arrived. The campaign brings us real satisfaction throughout the journey and the discoveries.

Just a few taps on the 3DS screen can switch you between single player, local, or multiplayer, which is a big improvement in menu usage over other portable versions of the game. As the progression in the single player campaign and the multiplayer evolve separately, you will probably have to repeat a few boring side quests a second time. It's a little annoyance that we will live with given the size and excellence of this title, but it is unfortunate to repeat things that were already not fun the first time. During these repetitive passages, Monster Hunter tries to emphasize the importance of materials for building traps and potions, but there is nothing worse than lessons that you must learn twice.

Our highly customizable hero arrives in the village aboard a ship, which is soon attacked by a huge sea monster. The sequence is a tutorial on basic movements, of course, but it is also a preview of what will happen next, after a bit of quests: they will face impressive animals, with fights from the three-dimensional gameplay, which also include jumping on the back of the monsters ... as long as you're smart enough, of course. Yes, because the biggest news, in terms of gameplay, is precisely the vertical dimension of the environments and the fighting. With a cheering decision, the Capcom designers decided to shoot the boring and very slow underwater sections (which, let's face it, suck in 99.3% of the games), replacing them with the possibility of climbing on some surfaces and launching themselves from edges, all with different attachment possibilities depending on the weapon that is brandished.

In areas with gradients, for example, you can stun your prey with a well-placed trap, and then take advantage of the moment of defaillance and jump on your back, as in a violent and fun rodeo. With the biggest beasts it almost seems to have gone back to the days of Shadow of the Colossus, with sequences as exciting as useful for the rhythms of the fights. As in any Monster Hunter, all these mechanics are heavily influenced by the weapon you use, which in fact changes the gameplay almost as much as the use of a different fighter in Street Fighter.

Going beyond simple statistics such as damage and speed, each weapon has its own specific identity, with moves and combos that force you to play in a completely different way. Moreover, as expected, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is a perfect exponent of the equipment fetish, because with each quest and each monster killed, resources are accumulated to be transformed into swords and increasingly powerful armor. The customization possibilities are endless, to the point of being able to give radically different life and game experiences.

Also in this chapter we find the Calico, the cute cats that follow our hero in adventures. This time, however, our fighting cat can also be equipped with weapons and accessories, which fortunately are built in the village using resources other than those of humans. In practice, with each quest, resources are accumulated that allow you to progress on two levels, adding another level of complexity to the customization and tactics to be used. As if that weren't enough, a second Calico will unlock after a while and will interact with the main one on a mission. Every feline has specialties and distinctive features, so choosing your team well you can get the most disparate help.

As in all Monster Hunters, however, the beauty is that the player's power does not derive so much from the weapons and experience points (which do not exist, by the way), but from the real experience accumulated on the field. Those who want to be caught by the game ... indeed, let's say things as they are ... those who will get sucked into the bottomless well designed by Capcom will discover an incredible depth, with a learning margin that promises dozens, if not hundreds of hours of fun. As if that were not enough, we are dealing with the "Ultimate" version, which adds new monsters and content to the normal Monster Hunter 4, released only in Japan and not in the West.

Last but not least there is multiplayer, locally and online, with all the cooperative aspects of hunting in the most complex quests. Having played before the official release, my online experience was limited to an event with other European journalists, which is why I cannot comment on the stability and goodness of the servers. What I can say is that playing in multi is challenging, also because coordinating well is not so immediate, but also a lot of fun. Personally I will always be a fan of local experiences but, considering that in Italy Monster Hunter is certainly less widespread than Mario Kart, the possibility of playing online will open the maximum potential of the game even to those who do not have monkey friends.

Capcom is focusing heavily on this western release and hopes that hunting disease will finally spread to Europe and America, just like in Japan (where the series is officially record breaking). It is possible that the strongly Japanese structure of the gameplay discourages less persistent players, but it is also true that the designers have done a great job, smoothing out the initial obstacles and giving life to an experience that comes to life more quickly. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate however remains a particular taste, which may not appeal to everyone, but my advice is dispassionate and to try it. And if you don't like it, try it again.

MODUS OPERANDI
I played Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on a 3DS first model, equipped with the Circle Pad Pro. The accessory is not strictly necessary, but in fact the game has been designed with an analog double in mind. The lock system on monsters makes the experience livable even without, but if you want to play seriously I advise you dispassionately to get the accessory (or, if possible, a New Nintendo 3DS). I have been playing regularly for a whole month and I know for sure that I have not seen the most advanced parts of the game yet. I don't know how to estimate the hours of gameplay, but I feel like saying: "100 hours for normal people", "one thousand thousand for monkeys".