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Monster Hunter: Freedom (PSP)
by Connor-
Monster Hunter Freedom was the game which took shape after Monster Hunter for the Ps2. I'm not sure as to why they decided to go with the PSP instead of making another game for the Ps2 but oh well. The game was release on December 1st 2005 (in Japan) by Capcom. Monster Hunter is a really popular game in Japan and still is. This game can ... be picked up for a mere £10 so it really does deserve a chance!
The game itself is very much similar to the previous Monster Hunter. It stuck to the basic weapons types which were in the PS2 version.
Great Sword - This is a slow weapon which hits hard and can block.
Sword and Shield - As the name states, its a sword and shield but the shield is small so when you block with it you will get thrusted backwards so its not ideal for blocking multiple attacks. These are average damage dealing weapons.
Hammer - This is a hard hitting weapon and is slow so it's similar to Great Swords but it can knock enemies down for a short period of time but this comes with the disadvantage of not being able to block. You can charge Hammers up to do a special attack but this uses up a lot of stanima which i will talk about later.
Bowgun - Theres two types of Bowguns, Heavy Bowguns and Light Bowguns. The Heavy Bowguns are stronger and can usually fire ammo which the Light Bowguns can't. However, with a Heavy Bowgun out you can only walk which makes it very hard to evade enemies as you can't block with Bowguns. You can run with Light Bowguns but they tend to deal a lot less damage than Heavy Bowguns. You can actually do a Mellee attack with Light Bowguns but it does more or less no damage so it's pointless. Bowguns are high damage dealing weapons.
Lance - More or less it's just a lance with a shield. The shield is the best form of blocking in the game. Lances are very defensive weapons with the ability to hit high up on enemies in places which other weapons can't. Lances are average damage dealing weapons.
Dual Swords - Ah these are my favourite weapons, they are so fun to use. Its two swords which cannot block and while they are out you can run with them. They hit fast but for little damage but despite this, they are one of the stronger weapons. You can "power up" with them. Whilst powered up your stanima will drop constantly and when it hits 0 the power up will end. Whilst powered up you can perform various different combos.
The Health and Stanima bars are displayed at the top of the screen. The Health bar is green and the Stanima bar is yellow. The Health bar drops when you take damage but about 30% of the damage you take can be regenerated unless you are hit before it does this. The Stanima bar will go down every time you sprint, climb, use power ups on weapons and block with weapons. When sprinting, once your Stanima bar nearly reaches 0 it will go red and you will start panting and running slower than you would without sprinting so its best to stop before this happens. If it goes red and you stop, your character will keel over to catch his breath before being able to run again.
Weapons and Armours can be created from different materials gained within the game. You can carve materials from Monsters you have slayed or you can use materials that you have Mined, Bugnetted, Fished, Found on the ground, searched groups of mushrooms etc. The armour/weapon craftsman will create these armours/weapons for you if you have the materials and enough money. Once you have 1 of the materials needed to make a weapon it will show up in the crafting section so you will know what other materials you need. You can check if you want the piece of equipment by having a look at what it looks like. Once you have a weapon, you can pay the craftsman to upgrade it which will require more materials. Starter weapons/armours are available to be bought at the start with just money which you are given.
The combination system stayed roughly the same but with the new materials which featured in this game, they would have to make more items which could be made by combining different materials. There is a fail rate when combining two materials together to create another which varies depending on what item you want to make. If you fail a combination, the item will turn to "Garbage" and be placed in your inventory. Garbage is worthless of course so you may aswel discard it!
You can do three types of quests, you get Hunting quests, Capture quests and Gathering quests. Gathering quests can be quite annoying I must say but they do allow you to get materials for you're armours/weapons. Hunting quests are just quests which expect you to go out and slay a monster. These are considered the funnest and least stressful quests of the 3. Capture quests are similar to Hunting quests but you need to injure the Monster and then capture it. This can be really annoying as often you will accidently kill the monster or try to trap it when it isn't weak enough leaving you with nothing to trap it again with which means you will fail the quest. You only have to complete a certain amount of these quests on each set of quests. Once enough are done you will be given an "Urgent Quest". This quest must be completed to progress to the next set of quests. The game will last you a very long time. I believe it took me at least a hundred hours to get through all the quests but even then you might want to unlock all the weapons too!
You can play online on this game. You can play LAN with people and you can also play with anyone in the world if you buy a "Kai". Some quests online are different to the offline quests. Some quests which are simply too hard to be completed offline are put into multiplayer or quests which the designers just felt wouldn't be fun offline. Online the quest system is the same but you gain "Hunter ranks". Your Hunter rank which is commonly referred to as your HR will increase when you complete quests. A certain HR level aswel as the Urgent Quest is needed online to progress to the next set of quests. You can get meals in the "Gathering Hall" (Online area) to boost your stats or in some cases degrade them depending on what you pick. You can also get drunk in there which can be a laugh.
There are various emotes which you can do to express your feelings or just to do them for fun but there is the ability to type to others online so this isn't really needed.
----Overall----
Monster Hunter Freedom is a great game for the Psp which can be played with others.
This review is also on Ciao under the username Connor131
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Monster Hunter: Freedom (PSP)
by Em145202713
I've been waiting to get this game for a long time now and it didn't fail to disappoint. The depth to it is amazing for a game let alone a handheld.
Plot: Well there isn't one as such. You choose your hero and then head in to the village which is a hub of sorts. You then have the option to pick up a variety of quests ... involving doing all sorts of things which usually involve some sort of reward at the end.
The crafting system is has a lot of depth to it allowing you to create pretty much any armour you like from a monster you just took down and speaking of monsters, each one needs a different attack plan to it. If you don't get it right, you could wind up being killed which as you can probably guess is quite inconvenient. It's up to you to work out the best way of tackling each of the monsters you come across.
Graphics: The graphics are very pretty and one of the few games that seem to really push the PSP to its limits.
Controls: Here's where I felt the game was let down and of no fault to the developers, more due to the PSPs poor layout. The main problem like with most PSP games is the camera. Not having the option of a second analogue stick to control it results in some annoying camera placing. The camera is tied to the left bumper which when pressed centralises your character to the screen. This is fine when simply exploring but when fighting, makes your hand in to a sort of claw resulting in very painful playing.
It's probably just me as it's a very successful series but having to fight, run, dive AND keep your character centralised on the screen was simply too much. I kept missing my intended target due to having to focus on the camera so much.
Lifespan: Unfortunately I had to give up due to the control layouts but I've read plenty of people reckoning the game as 500+ hours. With the linking of PSPs for the multiplayer side too, you could be looking at a never-ending game.
Overall: It's a great game let down by a poor control scheme but if you can cope with it then I would definitely say to go for it. I personally would rather get a version of the game on one of the consoles with dual analogue sticks (PS2 and Wii).
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