Details from this week’s Famitsu magazine have leaked revealing a number of details about Capcom’s Monster Hunter 4.  The most frustrating, yet least surprising fact is that the game will utilize local multiplayer.  This fact makes sense considering that the developers also revealed they’d worked on Monster Hunter Tri G and Monster Hunter 4 simultaneously.  Here are other features mentioned in Famitsu:

• Local multiplayer
• No water/swimming
• When moving from a higher level of ground to a lower one, the player can execute a jump attack
• Terrain will play an important part in combat
• Under certain circumstances the player may cling to a Monster
• It’s a secret as to whether or not there are new weapon varieties
• There are new Felyne mechanics
  • The player may bring two Felyne’s on a quest at a time
• The base camp will not be like it has been in past came as the community your hunter belongs to is a caravan, always on the move:

• Concept art for the new monster, Kechyawacha was revealed:

•  Finally some new armor concept art was also featured:

It’s still too early for me to have much of an opinion on Monster Hunter 4 and how it compares to other titles in the franchise.  I like the idea of a caravan base — I could see that being a good way to pace the introduction of new monsters and locations.  Yet I still pine for the feudal Japanese aesthetics of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, an experience made more complete with online play and an HD version for the Playstation 3.  This trailer still gets me pumped: