Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is the most recent title in the Monster Hunter franchise. The game was released in Japan as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, and adds a new feature of a Felyne companion, hunting along with the player. Freedom Unite is certain to be among the longest and biggest titles ever released for the PSP till date, as technically, the game doesn’t ever end.
The game starts off as our monster hunter is attacked by a powerful creature and falls off a snowy cliff face. Rescued and nurtured back to health, he wakes up at the heart of a seemingly peaceful village. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite allows players to trade meat, skins, bones and anything obtained from the slaughtering of beast-like creatures. Upgrades to various battle gear can be purchased in this manner. Players can customize everything from their character’s appearance to his clothing. This ability is very rewarding as you can make your own character as you wish. You will even have the option of choosing your player’s voice as he shouts out in battle.
The graphics are not all that great and the pixilation on the screen is quite obvious. But for a game on the PSP platform you can’t really expect next-gen graphics. However, the Monster Hunter Freedom Unite graphics do feature an extremely high level of detail. The character’s movement is a little slow to say the least. Not something you would expect from a nimble and agile “monster hunter”. For a game that allows friends to join in and play together on monster hunting quests; pretty impressive. A very good immersive experience even on single player, Freedom Unite promises to deliver something even better in the multiplayer mode.
The relatively slow movement takes some time getting used to when trying to navigate your way around the environment. And at times, dodging the oncoming monster attacks can get a bit tricky. But the game does provide a mini map so that you know where you’re going. The levels are mapped out for reference.
Through the game, several upgrades are available for the taking, and upgrading armor and weapons lets you survive more powerful attacks and slay creatures with greater ease. This is a very crucial feature and players need to constantly tweak their arsenal to best to suit a hunt. Sometimes you might need heavy armor against a powerful beast, while at other times you might need to sacrifice self-preservation for speed and agility. Also, several new monsters can be found in Freedom Unite which should provide quite a challenge for first time hunters.
The practice area lets you get a hang of various skills and abilities you might need to command in a hunt and this feature of the game is very well constructed. There are various things that a player can practice ranging from movements to attacking skills to learning which weapons are of best use against specific monsters and players can try and master all these in this area. The music score and sound quality in the game are just excellent. This gives a great sensation when stalking and attacking the game’s various beasts. It actually imparts a feeling of oneness with the game’s main character, in a medieval sort of world populated with all these monsters for the hunting.
Gameplay, at the start of the game at least, is a bit slow to take off. A monster hunt, on the other hand, is something of an experience. And playing through Freedom Unite, expect to see all kinds of weird beasts which look like something straight out of a Spielberg movie.