Monster Hunter Freedom 2

Monster Hunter Freedom 2 is by far the best version of one of the best video games ever made (I've played all US and Japan versions). Lots of little improvments over the Japanese PS2 release makes this worth the wait. The best dragon/creature fighting experience you can have in a game - but it takes work and patience to get there.

Huge hit in Japan, but so-so in USA outside its core fans. Reviewers calling for auto-target miss the whole point of this game: it's all about developing the skill to target specific areas of each monster (and then not getting killed!). Camera is definitely weird at first, but once you get the hang of it you'll be wishing other games used the same system. Basically YOU have to point the camera, it doesn't move for you! Final aspect of game is it takes patience to do a little farming, mining, bug catching activities - something I enjoy but not for everyone, however, with new version you can minimize those activities if you just want to bust some monsters up. Some people may never get over those hurdles, which is fine - there are plenty of games that I don't like that are still great games. I can guarantee that if you spend enough time with the game so the camera and weapons system are second nature, you are in for some of the most heart-thumping monster battles you could ever imagine, and the beasts keep coming and coming! If I made a list of my top 10 gaming moments, probably 8 or 9 would be things that happened in MH - and I've played plenty of other games.

Need to get WIFI max and KAI for online play - not directly supported at this time, but it works OK. Ad-hoc face to face is great fun for up to 4 people. MHF2 has more weapons & armor than you'll ever be able to use, faster load times, stabilized camera, and loads of other improvements that make this the best time to give Monster Hunter a decent go.

This game is awesome, but be prepared to spend a lot of time on it. It's hard to just turn on and really accomplish anything if you only plan to play it for 20 minutes at a time, but it's still not impossible. The game is hard, you will die, you will spend time crafting, farming, harvesting, mining etc to try and gather the materials necessary to upgrade your gear and that's essentially what the whole game is about. Skin monsters, harvest bone, scales, horns, claws, etc... and then craft new weapons and armor out of your latest victims. Incredibly addictive, maybe a bit of a learning curve if you're new to the series but worth it.

Afterall it is the fastest selling PSP game ever for a reason.

Im finally over 50 hours into Monster Hunter Freedom 2, W00T, and im still havin fun, lol. This game is the perfect rpg and i cant get away from it now hearing that theres an expansion comin out this spring.
Anyway, im organizing my review into two lists of pros and cons.

Pros
-The game is massive and endlessly replayable, giving role-players hundreds of hours of gameplay
-The graphics are AMAZING
-great combat system, enemies are damaged more or less or even not at all depending on where you hit them, and you can knock them down, stun them, even make them run away scared
-Own and build up your own farm to access endless materials, plant seeds/harvest crops, mine rocks, catch fish, catch bugs, (more options, but you have to unlock them)
-about 40-50 monsters to fight ranging in size and strength, from thee mosswine that can be easily 1hit KO-ed to the Elder Dragons that can easily 1hit K0 you
-multiplayer is great, gang up on your enemies, muahaha
-the best action you may ever see, getting beaten to death and eaten by a dragon in an arena duel has never been so fun
-after killing your enemies, carve meat and bones out of them, then use those items and materials gathered from your farm and the field to make your own weapons and armor out them, muahaha
-100s of weps, 100s of equipment sets, 100s of items
-realistic combat, you dont gain levels and exp, you train by learning better fighting strategies and enemies weaknesses, and makin better armor and weps
-hire felynes to cook food for you (although you can cook too)
-the game is mind-boggingly big and rumor has it an expansion is coming out spring 2009 (look up Monster Hunter Freedom Unite)

Cons (finally)
-like all great rpgs, the game starts off so slow you may be tempted to leave it (Elder Scrolls 4 anyone???)
-You are going to die!...the boss monsters are hard, there hp and power are massive, but try not to be discouraged, if you keep making better weps and armor, and keep practicing to learn their weaknesses, youll eventually be the one owning them
-the camera might not be liked by some, i personally love it, it does not move automatically, you have to move it yourself, even during fights
-the controls might be difficult to get used to, i still sometimes mess it up, its really only because theres so many things you can do its hard to fit it all into the PSP's controls, but Capcom did an okay job with it (id make one or two small changes)

thats everything i can think of, theres still so much more of the game i havent reached yet, im just over 50 hours into it and had a rough start, im like a noob in this game, but anyway, i have some Cephaloths to kill so i can upgrade a wep so Peace Out

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