Review: Monster Hunter Tri - Wii

by Steven Williamson on 7 June 2010, 11:26 4.6

Tags: Monster Hunter Tri, Capcom (TYO:9697), Nintendo (TYO:7974), Wii, RPG

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Seeing your character grow is very moreish

The fluid animations of the monsters and the way they intelligently react to makes combat not only visually arresting but also challenging and therefore extremely rewarding when you beat them. There are many strategic layers to the monster hunting and part of the challenge in combat is adapting your skills to tackle the different creatures. You have to study behavioural patterns and take into account numerous factors, including the environment.

It’s a challenging mechanic, but extremely rewarding when you get it right. You really need to knuckle down and learn to hunt well if you’re going to succeed, the button mashing tactic rarely comes into it. The developers at Capcom have got the balance between challenge and fun spot on and you become totally immersed in the game because there’s no other way you can play it if you hope to succeed. When you've spent 50 minutes on a quest to capture the Lord of the Seas 'Lagiacrus,' and you succeed, it feels like you've been on an epic quest because of the effort and the tactics that you've had to employ to complete it. The robust structure of the quests, coupled with the fact that combat is so fluid and the monsters are so techically well designed, makes it feel exciting and unpredictable each time you head out into Moga Island.

Monster Hunter Tri also has a lot of other stuff going for it. You'll spend a lot of time in the village making sure you have the perfect mix of items, weapons and armoury to bring on your travels. The more you progress the more important you'll realise it is to spend time in the village making sure everything you bring you on a quest - to perhaps slay half a dozen of the aggressive Ludroth or help protect the Shakalaka - is the right mix of items. The game cleverly rewards you well for completing these quests in the form of resources or monster parts. As a result, it always feels like you're constantly progressing in the game and you're building up your character after every mission into a better fighter. And like any good RPG, it's the addictive nature of wanting to reach that next important level, and seeing your character evolve - in this case into a awesome fighting machine - that makes it so entertaining and obsessively moreish.



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