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The time I spent in Japan opened my eyes to a powerful gaming phenomena known simply as monhun:  a wholly consuming obsession with Monster Hunter and all its facets. While I had never played the game, I could not help but have respect for it and be in awe of the following it had established.  Once I heard Monster Hunter Freedom Unite was coming to the states I figured it was about time to see what all the fuss was about.  Certainly the best selling PSP game of all time must hold that title for some reason, right?

Equips — The Clothes Make the Man

Unlike most games I play, there is no level system in Monster Hunter.  You are only as strong as the armor on your back and the ridiculously large sword in your hands.  Depending on the kind of games you’re into, you may or may not be a fan of this system.  Basically, a large part of becoming stronger will require gathering materials for weapon/armor creation.  The upside of this is that you won’t ever really feel as though grinding is required since there are a number of ways to earn said materials:

• Fishing
• Mining for ore
• Catching bugs
• Hunting monsters
• Completing quests
• Harvesting from Pokke Farm

The farm system is one of my favorite features as it allows for harvesting a variety of material from a monster-free environment.  It refreshes once every completed quest though, so you can’t just spam your farm.  The Pokke farm can be customized by earning points from acquiring rare items on the field.  Enhancing certain elements allows for more opportunities to harvest, as well as rarer materials to be found.  For instance, when upgraded my fishing pier I received six pieces of bait instead of three and a few new fish started showing up.

If you are the perfectionist type, you can really get into equipping your character.  Do you want to collect a full set of X armor, or mix elements of different sets together for a unique look?  Also, you can decorate your armor with various trinkets and imbue it with your favorite abilities.  This means there are nearly unlimited combinations of armor, appearance and abilities.

If that didn’t make character creation vast enough for you, there are also 11 different weapon types to choose from.  I spent the first two or three days of playing trying to decide what weapon was right for me.  Currently I switch between the katana and dual-blades depending on the situation.   Each weapon will demand a drastically different style of play from the character further increasing character customization.

Beginner Vs. Pro — Too Late to Start?

One of the best features of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is that those who played Monster Hunter Freedom 2 are able to load up their character(s) to hit the ground running.

I obviously couldn’t take advantage of this feature but definitely could imagine the advantages. The initial process of building up a decent stock of weapons, armor and smithing materials was not easy.  This could be chocked up to the learning process, which I think also slowed me down a bit — I suffered a few grizzly deaths but eventually established a foothold. Those who are starting for the first time will have their work cut out both in terms of learning and acquiring useful items. The impatient need not apply.

Those who have spent a fair amount of time with Monster Hunter Freedom 2 will find incentives in the hallowed walls of Freedom Unite: new weapons, new monsters, a higher level of challenge and more.

I have huge appreciation for the fact that there is an option to load up existing date from a previous title in the series.  I think this is a feature sorely underused in gaming.  With a title like Monster Hunter that touts over 500 hours of gameplay, I am a little more apt to jump on board seeing that the franchise treats those hours with the same respect I do.

Story — You Decide Your Own Level of Involvement

If you require a story that will dazzle and entertain you to stay involved, then I cannot recommend Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.  That is not to say I wasn’t dazzled and entertained, I certainly was, but story had no hand in it.  I am the type that is perfectly content to squirrel away items and slowly but surely increase a desired stat all the while being way too concerned with looking cool.  That’s starting to sound an awful lot like an MMO, isn’t it?  If you believe that you fall into that category then you will probably be able to entertain yourself in the absence of an engaging story.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX4JylEXVTQ&feature=related[/youtube]

If you consider yourself to be a competitive person, then you may also find inspiration for playing the game in the multi-player mode as well.  This may require a group of chums who are also into the game.  Since the range of a unit’s abilities can vary greatly, it’s best to work your way up together for first-timers.  The above video shows a team of powerful hunters combining their efforts in the multi-player mode.

Conclusions — Beware the Tigrex, my son!  The Jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

I now know what all those train commuters in Japan were doing with their noses buried in their PSPs, oblivious to the occasional bump of an arm or lurch of the train car beneath them.  They were becoming digital-hunter/gatherers, constantly seeking the next plateau from their character.  This desire I found to be very addictive and I think is the foundation of Monster Hunter’s appeal.  Those who appreciate a solid action-RPG with MMO undertones should definitely add Monster Hunter Freedom Unite to their library of PSP titles.