One of the best psp games out there
The game is a work of art, with beautiful visuals, just like in the other games of the psp series. It has all the old areas of monster hunter freedom 2, as well as the ones from monster hunter freedom, and they all look wonderful.
It's actually a western version of a game that came out last year in japan (MHP2G), and its a sort of upgrade to monster hunter freedodm 2. In other words, if you have played MHF2 before, and have a save file of that on your psp, you can transport it to Monster hunter freedom Unite and continue playing. All the missions, including the ones you have completed, and equipment from your MHF2 game will go along with you.
The sound of the game is great too. Any regular player of the series will immediately recognize the music and overall feel of the game. It's just awesome. Your felyne companion makes some annoying cat noises, but you will never really notice while you are fighting huge monsters.
Speaking of that little cat.. it's one of the biggest additions to this game. players who want to take a lot of quests alone, or just don't have anyone to play with, will enjoy this new feature. The cat will go along with you on quests and help in fighting the monster, and you can teach it different skills to make different cats more appropriate to different types of quests. For example, you can hire a cowardly cat, and teach it to use the health flute and just sit back from the battle and heal you as you take on the monster. Or you can always train a brave cat to actually help you in fighting the monster. The stats of the cat are nothing special, so they don't do much damage, but they do a good job distracting the monster while you attack it or heal.
Another big add-on to this game comparing to MHF2 is the new level of quests (G-level), both at the gathering hall (where you can go multiplayer) and elder quests (where you can only go solo). These quests are a lot harder than the high rank quests from the other game. The monsters all have a lot more HP, there are a lot of new monsters, and supplies are rarely delivered. It's a really nice challenge and adds a lot to the game for more experienced players. There is also a new kind of quest, available at most quest levels, called Epic Hunting quest. In this type of quest you take on 2 or 3 different monsters in a row. In order to do this, after you kill a monster and carve it you won't get materials from it, but useful items like mega-potions to help you survive. It's a very good type of quest, and a lot of fun in multiplayer mode.
So in conclusion, capcom made this game mainly to get more people in the west to play this game, and to see if they could have a good market for the series outside of japan in bigger scale, but i really have no idea how someone who never played the game will see it. From gamespot reviews it seems that its hard for people new to the series to stick with it, due mainly to its high difficulty. I for one hope that more players embrace this series in the west, because it would be great to have more monster hunter games released here, like the game Monster Hunter 3 being released for the Wii only in japan, and the monster hunter MMORPG (monster hunter frontier).
If you are new to this series, prepare to get addicted to this game. once you really get into it its a lot of fun, and people who enjoy good RPGs will enjoy it a lot. Just don't expect a story and have fun with it!
I recommend giving it a rent first if you are not sure..
Happy Hunting!