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»Monster Hunter Freedom 2
"It's all for nothing if you don't have freedom...2."
Perhaps the hardest decision a developer has to make has to do with
niche sequels. On one hand, you have the enthusiastic word-of-mouthers
telling their friends about their favorite game, hoping to get them
involved in it. On the other hand, you also want to appeal to a wider
audience, making it more profitable and better worth your effort. Do
you make the game more accessible for newcomers or do you appease the
already established fan base? A lot of companies have struggled with
this dilemma, but none seem to balance the two as well as Capcom.
Monster Hunter Freedom pretty much threw the player into the game
without any hint of what to do or where to go. I think that’s what drew
in a lot of the people who loved it. The game had a very simple
tutorial section that ended in approximately 10 missions. After that,
you were expected to figure everything else out yourself. I’ll admit
that it was a little frustrating at first, but for those of us who
stuck to it, we found it one of the most enjoyable experiences on the
PSP or any system for that matter.
The second game more or less holds your hand a little longer than the
first and mixes up teaching you things. Instead of just telling you how
to do something, one of the characters in the town will give you
instructions while another will give you hints at monster weaknesses
and such. This makes the first part of the game a lot easier, but
thankfully they don’t tell you everything. It’s also good to note that
Capcom did well by those who have gone through the first game by
allowing you to import your old saves. You can’t keep any items over
rarity 3, but you do get special tickets in return for some of your
more precious items. These tickets will usually allow you make items
sooner than you otherwise could.
This easier Monster Hunter is sure to snag some new fans, but people
who played the original and found it too hard may already be too jaded
to give this series another shot. For long-time fans, expect more of
the same with varied monsters and new weapons. Capcom is even offering
weekly updated quests via download. This is a much welcomed feature for
the more regular hunters for more than one reason. True, they offer new
content, but more than not you’ll find a slew of monsters together that
would otherwise be in separate quests. Doing this makes it easier to
harvest specific monster parts which are frequently used.
Graphically speaking, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 isn’t a big step up from
the first one, but it does improve upon a few things. For one, there
are fewer camera problems this time. Technically speaking, this isn’t
really a graphic issue, however; I feel that this one deserves mention
as one of the big culprits of the bad camera was the low canopies in
some areas. MHF2 features a whole lot fewer of these low-hanging tree
tops that obstruct your view.
Another big thing I noticed was the distance the player can see beyond
their immediate reach. More often than not, you’ll be able to see an
entire landscape off into the horizon, complete with foliage and
creatures and other signs of life. It really adds to the whole sense of
immersion and looks gorgeous while doing so.
The old monsters were touched up a bit, but mostly unchanged.
Conversely, the new monsters look so great and make the game true to
its name where the first one might as well have been titled “Wyvern
Hunter”. The baddies you run into this time are much more varied.
You’ll come across pink baboons, Moose-like quadrupeds, and giant crabs
in addition to the more traditional wyverns and dragons. The new
dragons have different strategies and unique attacks to keep you on
your toes.
Speaking purely on the special effects like dragon breath and other
attacks like that, everything seems to be slightly toned down a bit and
you can notice a tears in the polygons and such. Still, due to all of
the other effects that are going on like the heavy downpour/monsoon
effects of the jungle area, you’ll quickly forget such things.
In this reviewer’s honest opinion, the greatest new feature added this
time is the option of preloading the next area before you get to it.
Sure, this drains your battery faster, but the amount it does isn’t as
noticeable as you might think. I think you’ll drop your game time down
by about an hour offline and by about half while playing via adhoc
wifi. Essentially, what this does is cut almost all of the loading
between areas and makes for a much more seamless game. Similarly,
they’ve allowed you to pause the game which really does come in handy
when you need to take a phone call or pay for the bus. I even find it
helpful to pause before hitting the PSP’s sleep mode as it allows me to
view my situation and gather my thoughts prior to being thrown back
into the action.
Article by: Bloodspoor
Posted on: Sep. 29th, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| It’s still a lot for a newcomer to take in at once, but this time around Capcom made it more than accessible for the less hardcore among us. |
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Graphics |
| I still think this is one of the best looking PSP games out there. There are some graphical errors here and there but the visuals presented are absolutely stunning. |
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Sound |
| This time around, they’ve added quite a few sound tracks for different events and they’re all phenomenal. Furthermore there isn’t a single game on any platform that has immersed me more through the audio than this marvelous series. |
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Replay Value |
| The only thing keeping this game down from a perfect score is the lack of true online play. |
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