Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on Nintendo 3DS
In the modern era, humanity by and large doesn’t find itself facing legendary beasts many times its own size. We no longer battle against huge bears, vicious felines, or crocodilian remnants of prehistory in a never ending struggle to survive. The human race instead finds itself in a daily struggle against the forces of economic power and political persuasion, battles which last many years yet leave the individuals with nothing to show for it. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate harkens back to days gone by, rewarding your efforts and preparing you for those to come. A time when people from across the globe would fight to feed themselves and their families, a time which Capcom replicates beautifully in this latest outing of the Monster Hunter series.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate puts you into the shoes of a fledgling hunter, just trying to make for themselves in the world. Right from the off, you’re thrust into a tug of war with monstrous creatures often many times your own size. At first the struggle can seem futile. These beasts can block out the sun when they stand, so you might ask how can a lowly hunter who still has trouble tying their shoelaces stand a chance. The whole activity of making yourself capable of bringing down the foes thrown before you while simultaneously preparing for greater struggles to come is Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. No matter how far you come, there’s something more vicious waiting in the wings to end your life.
More often than not that thing with massive teeth waiting in the wings, has wings.
In order for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate to succeed, it had to bring enough of a meal to the table to satiate long-time fans while whetting the appetite of players who thought the only monster hunting game this month was Evolve. At almost every turn Capcom have been able to achieve this lofty goal, which will become clear soon enough.
So lets start with the most important aspect of any Monster Hunter game. The meat of a meal which will fill your stomach for many a day to come. Those monsters. Creatures from the annals of time gone by all make their appearances in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Everything from the lowly Great Jaggi to the terrifying Tigrex finds its way into a roster of over 70 larger monsters. This frankly insane number isn’t full of unique and special designs though. While the majority of beasts are different from each other, some are simply variants of other creatures with a new ability here or a different visual appearance there.
Every single one of the imposing creatures is so beautifully designed and incredibly well animated that even without the 3DS’ visual tricks, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re going to climb out of the screen to kill you. The wolf-like movements of a Zinogre invoke that same primal fear in anyone that our ancestors once felt. Swooping strikes from an angered Rathalos are so beautifully animated that your mind is taken back to the cold-sweat dreams that plagued your mind as a child.
Even the newer monsters have been given the attention one might expect to only be afforded to franchise favorites. Nerscylla are three-storey tall spiders with backs covered in a forest of poisonous crystals many times your own size. A terrifying prospect to fight when you only know this about them. Even more pant-wettingly scary when you watch their motions, stopping and twitching with sinister jolts. All of the creatures which show their faces for the first time in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate set a similar flame alight in the hearts of players both new and old.
Worthy of a special mention is the Gore Magala. This massive dragon-esque monster shows off the vast amount detail put into the beasts of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate beautifully, along with some of its new features. By looks alone, the Gore Magala oozes with xenomorph DNA and presents a challenge for even the most seasoned of hunters. It’s even introduced in a way which is totally new to the outings of this franchise on 3DS. At crucial points in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate‘s single player offline story, you’ll be thrust into unique arenas to do battle with monsters on never-before-seen battlefields with special elements adorning each one. Spearing the Gore Magala with harpoons attached to a ship is its own little treasure.
Another new element to the series adds an inspired mechanic to keep you on your toes in the most challenging of battles. The Gore Magala has spread a frenzy virus into the world, granting other monsters untold levels of strength and changing up the gameplay entirely when you face them. This virus can afflict the player, who will then be unable to regenerate health naturally unless they can deal a significant amount of damage to their own personal patient zero. In a game where one usually expects to be carefully holding back from rash attacks, the virus mutates battles like this into a race against time. Do enough damage, and you’ll become even stronger than you were before.
Risk and reward have always played an important role in Monster Hunter, so it’s a good sign that the ideal has been both embraced and improved upon in this latest iteration. When looking at what exactly you’re awarded with, we need to take a look at the armory.
In order to rise above the status of lunch, you need bring to bear one of a massive variety of weapons. All of the options available to you are finely balanced to deal just enough damage, while affording you some small benefits. There isn’t a best weapon, and that’s the way it should be. Every uphill climb you face can be overcome with any weapon. If you’re a stubborn sod, then you’ll be picking one weapon and sticking to it throughout. Those who want to constantly change up their gameplay will have plenty available to them.
Alongside the staple Switch Axe and Heavy Bowguns come a pair of tools every hunter needs to look at. Springing from the trap first is the Charge Blade. It’s a little unassuming at a glance but with time, the weapon becomes a finely crafted device for your quest. It begins as a sword and shield which can be changed into a powerful axe when fully charged, reinforcing the greater focus the relationship between risk and reward in the franchise. Stay hidden behind the shield for too long, and your sword will be useless. Spin up the axe too early, and it’ll be about as potent as a wet sock.
The one which will interest most is the Insect Glaive. In the opening hours of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, this weapon looks to be nothing more than an unassuming stick. With proper use though, it is a jack of all trades weapon. An Insect Glaive comes with its very own Kinsect, a sort of pet which can be commanded to attack an enemy monster and return with a boon for its master. Most importantly though, the Insect Glaive artistically shows off another feature which is new to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and yet a well known aspect of another Capcom title.
No we aren’t talking about Ryu’s Hadouken here. We are actually talking about the fine art of rodeo, a feature which first entered the grasp of Capcom through Dragon’s Dogma.
While not as deep or advanced as the previous iteration in Capcom’s library, it is nonetheless a new feature that many of the old guard will be left wondering how they ever played Monster Hunter without it. Through leaping off from a higher point, a task made much easier by the increased amount of verticality in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate when compared to other entries, or bouncing with the Insect Glaive, hunters can grab onto a monster’s back and stab at them to cause damage. When this happens, the monster tries to throw its unwanted rider. While there’s plenty going on visually, all that really matters is a small bar at the bottom. Hold R to grip tightly when the face is red, and hammer X when it’s green. A simple and yet ingenious way to stave off the staleness of repetitive combat.
Not that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate‘s combat ever actually gets repetitive. Far from it in fact. Fights against monsters generally last between 10 to 15 minutes, spanning multiple different phases and locations for each battle. As they move from location to location, you have to modify your strategy to make use of the environment without giving your enemy the advantage. Luring a Seltas into charging you in flight with its horn can leave it stuck on the wall, open to a furious flurry of frenzied strikes. Finding yourself backed up into a corner with an infected Tigrex often leads to certain death as the monster viciously rips you apart. It’s a constant and exciting battle of wits between you and your quarry, and that’s even without thinking about the smaller creatures in your vicinity.
In these times of combat you’ll also have to make sure there’s opportunity to replenish health or sharpen weapons. That’s where the helpful Palico’s come in. These feline friends appear early on and are, quite frankly, useful as a tissue-paper umbrella. They do next to no damage to large monsters and they’re about as unpredictable as a Yak on LSD. Where they are useful however is in their ability to be another target. Monsters will single them out along with yourself, giving you the opportunity to reposition or rearm with a little less of the beasts eyeing you up with fava beans and a nice chianti. Palicos are recruited throughout the game and actually play a fairly important role in some of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate‘s newer features.
Before we get there though, we should go over another Monster Hunter feature that defines the franchise; crafting. Taking down monsters is all well and good, but you’ll be expecting something in return for your hard work. That’s where the crafting comes into play. You kill creatures to obtain better components, before using them to cobble together some new gear and go on to fight more powerful monsters. The sheer amount of different equipment sets and weapons on offer will boggle the minds of those not already used to the franchise, but Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate actually makes this process of creation even easier than older entries.
In past iterations of the series you’d often find yourself battling against a specific monster well over ten times to try and obtain the specific component you wanted. In Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, you can usually create a full set of armor along with a gorgeously designed weapon after only a few fights. Removing particular elements of large monsters or damaging special areas seems to be a little easier in this latest entry. Through this, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate‘s never-ending quest for better loot strikes the perfect balance between reward and the investment of time.
The careful mixture of these two elements creates what makes Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate so damn compelling. You aren’t going to be fruitlessly bashing your head against a fight for hour after hour to become more powerful. Kill a monster a few times, build a better set of gear, then move onto the next challenge. Granted, it may sound a little bit like hard work from that, but once you have the game in your hands and the wash of brain-grabbing wonder washes over your face you’ll see it’s a gateway to many an hour of fun times and good hunting.
Holding the door for this gateway is an introductory system that makes Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate much more accessible than others (here’s looking at you, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite) of the past. Rather than simply launching you into the deep end, this latest entry holds your hands for the opening segments. That doesn’t last forever. Within hours you’ll be gritting your teeth as battles are won by a whisker.
This accessibility is not only found in the world of fighting or crafting either. Activities like using merchants to create more items and even the simple act of doing missions outside of the main story (for both multiplayer and single player) are more geared towards including everyone. Getting into a hunt with other players online is incredibly simple when compared to past attempts, plus attempting these hunts alone is much easier thanks to a more accurately scaling system.
Gathering items outside of combat is made simpler with the inclusion of a single merchant who exchanges caravan points (gained by doing almost anything in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate) for an increased stock of items you already have. Yes, you’re going to have to go out foraging for items before some hunts, but its made much less laborious with the new additions. Its here that a very important aspect of Monster Hunter helps the fourth main entry in the series reach heights its predecessors have never dreamed of. Preparation of potions or other consumables is still important, just a lot less of an effort to gather.
Preparation is somewhat important in most quests but can be supplemented with some of the items offered at the beginning of them from a camp. Where you are going to seriously need to prepare is in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate‘s new mode, which sends you out on Expeditions. These are a collection of a handful of different zones, each one filled with monsters and collectibles that vary every time. Monsters that you’ve fought in the game so far will appear in them. alongside special pieces of gear that are found in special treasure areas or among bundles of crates.
What they bring to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is what the franchise never really had and yet always seemed to need. They’re an ingenious solution to a problem that should never have existed. For all of its focus on preparation, the Monster Hunter property has always had a little too much in the way of predictability about it. You’d very rarely be set upon by something you didn’t expect to see and you’d know the lay of the land after countless hours hunting over its rolling hills or deep within volcanic caverns. Expedition mode does away with some of that prior knowledge. Not all of it though, just enough to keep things fresh.
You’re tasked with going into an area of unknown layout, with the single task of doing some killing for the organization that commands you. You’ll be told what might be there before you go, but there are plenty of opportunities for surprise appearances from monsters that’ll keep things fresh. You don’t even have to necessarily kill the creatures. Just cause something to drop off of their body as proof and the guild will still reward you. There are even chances to go into treasure-holding areas and find extremely powerful equipment just waiting to be added to your armory.
There are masses of other new features jammed into Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate including a Palico fighting minigame that’s used to gather gear for them to wear, a fishing game which can lessen the need to cast out your rod, even a system that allows you to melt down items into other ones for your own personal use. Too many to really go into here without the need to acquire some sort of novel publishing contract.
One of the only gripes with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate however is its camera. The viewpoint through which Monster Hunter games are viewed has always been a sore point since the claw grip technique came into the world. In this version it is certainly much better than in the past, but still causes enough frustration to cause a few 3DS’ to be slammed against thighs. Locking onto your quarry is all well and good, but even when using the Circle Pad Pro or the New Nintendo 3DS’ C-Stick it can sometimes just be sat in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also be prepared to have a handful of views from inside the monster as it gets up in your grill.
With a single player offline only mode that’ll keep you going for at least 20 or so hours of pure gameplay, solo or group hunts from the Gathering Hall (which run exceptionally well I might add), Expeditions, and the unquenchable desire to complete equipment sets, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is a package that most games could never come close to in terms of content. So it might seem strange that this title is available on a handheld system. One which is often used to play quick games while commuting or taking a break at work.
Well its actually the perfect place for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate to make camp. You can be happily engaged in a tight battle against the rocky Gravios monster, then simply flip the screen down before continuing on with your day. A few hours later, either after work or when the need to kill that monster becomes to great to halt, you open the screen to resume the hunt. Carrying around your own personal action title with enough different fights to make many people faint in fear just feels right. Heck there’s even a pretty good Streetpass system that allows players to put their hunter into the game of another. That other is then able to go and use that hunter to do quests. It’s great, just simply great.
Its no surprise that the dollar sign ($) appears on the “4” key of most keyboards. With its improved accessibility, vast amount of activities to engage in, and intensely compelling gameplay, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is a title that could make Capcom incredibly rich. If you’ve got a Nintendo 3DS and the idea of pouring hundreds of hours into one game that’ll handsomely reward you for your time, then this is most certainly the way to go. It’s a monster of a game in a small package that’ll eat your spare time and spit out a smile stretching across your face for many days to come.
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