A game that drags you back for more!

User Rating: 9 | Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G PSP
You cant review Monster Hunter Unite without talking about Monster hunter Freedom 2 because most of Unite's gameplay is exactly the same as Freedom 2. Unite is an expansion pack that ships with the original game with a host of tweaks and improvements that make the game less of a struggle to play - the user friendlyness was turned from about a 3 to a 7-8 which is a massive improvement and makes the epic learning curve easier to deal with than before.

The basic gameplay is this: you are a dude/group of dudes and you go around trying to do battle with a series of insanely powerful monsters who are, at the beginning of the game, mind numbingly tough. However its only tough because new players tend to see monster hunter as they see many other games when it is in fact something very different indeed. In your standard action/adventure you play some strong hero with heaps of supermanesqe personality and enough muscle to kill most enemies very quickly - whereas in Monster hunter you play a fresh faced, silent hunter who is more or less you if someone gave you a big sword and some techniques on how to use it. Your little guy starts of pretty weak - not because his armour lets him get killed in 2 hits or anything that cruel, but because the battles in MH have a rhythm and a tempo that take a little getting used to. Now I'm sounding awfully negative here but there is a point where you will learn how to make the most of this game, a point where everything clicks, when you begin playing intelligently, and when you do the game rewards you greatly and treats you to the adrenaline rush and feeling of power that regular MH players come to love. #

When I first played this game I got about as far as the third, of (8) level of solo missions (not including the 11 levels of team player missions) and I put the game down, I cant remember any particular reason for it I just left it for other games for about a month, then I came back and picked up my save - this was the moment when the gameplay fell into place for me, and I haven't put it down since!

Monster hunter is above all a social game, whether that is playing with your friends, a pastime all of my closest friends enjoy greatly nowadays, playing online via various online programmes or even just talking about the game on gamespot's monster hunter union, this game has an incredible social aspect to it that explains why it has taken Japan by storm.

Just a quick note on the BGM and graphics - if you bought a PSP for those two things then you may be constantly disapointed but this game doesnt do to badly with either, nothing ear bleedingly or eye burningly bad, but not great. (though considering the number of things modelled in this game the compression is impressive!)

This game is something that takes some time to get into, and having friends who own the game makes the fun 1000 fold but trust me when I say if you get into this game then you will be more than willing to go through the gameplay that can last well over your thousandth hour!

my advice; get this game, give it a chance and don't be scared off by the slow start and dificulty curve because when it gets you, you wont want to get out!