I have to admit -- I've never played a minute of the Monster Hunter games that first began on the PS2 in 2004. Capcom's hit series, that many thousands of Japanese gamers are especially fond of, has just never really interested me. However, when Monster Hunter Freedom Unite came across my desk for review, I thought I would step up to the plate and finally discover, if I could, what makes this niche game so very popular to many gamers.

If you're unfamiliar with the series, Monster Hunter is all about the hunt. Players begin their essentially endless adventure -- this particular entry to the series boasts 500 hours of gameplay -- by creating their character. Players take the form of a male or female human, and have a variety of clothing and hairstyle options to choose from. Your appearance throughout your adventure will change a lot however, as you find, purchase, and craft new armor, made from materials of slain monsters. You'll witness your characters' exploits from a classic third person view, although the camera can sometimes make life just a bit more difficult or inconvenient, as you have to manually adjust it with L and the d-pad.

Before getting ahead of myself, it's worth noting that Monster Hunter Freedom Unite isn't an entirely new adventure. It's actually more of an expansion or director's cut to Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (MHF2), which was only released in Japan. In fact, Unite has been in Japan (under a different name), for over a year. Anyway, with Unite, you get the massive MHF2, plus an additional 79 quests, five new monsters, CPU allies, as well as several other changes like how many of each item you can store, a new Sharpness level for your weapons, and level 10 rarity for certain weapons and armor.

Clearly, the core game remains the same. Players are still tasked with locating and killing monsters all across the land. You'll encounter a variety of creatures in different habitats that range from deserts to snow covered mountains to jungle and volcanic areas, with day and night cycles to boot. These different habitats and times bring with them different monsters to face, creating an additional strategic element. Unlike previous Monster Hunter titles, players won't be alone -- while you can still Ad Hoc (and, with third party tools, play across the Internet) with up to three other players, the single player mode now gives you the ability to hire a a CPU controlled ally as well, a Felyne. The Felynes are a race of cats that can talk and perform a variety of tasks; in combat, they may not inflict much damage to the monster or monsters you are attacking, but they do help in other ways like buying you some time and acting as a distraction so that your foes aren't constantly and solely focused on you. This is an especially welcomed addition for newcomers to the game like me.

Speaking of which, I thought MHFU did a good job in helping new players get accustomed to Monster Hunter's unique style of play and to the Monster Hunter universe itself. After a very nicely rendered opening cutscene, your character wakes up in a small house in Pokke village. Your character took a bad fall but you were rescued by the village's previous Hunter, and now you're here to take over his role as he is retiring. Before leaving this house, you can read up on several different topics regarding gameplay. Additionally, a feature rich training school is located in town that you can visit at any point to take on practice challenges and read about a lot of the mechanics and elements of MHFU.

You'll do quite a bit of reading in MHFU, but the script is well written. There are lots of NPCs to talk to for getting tips, buying and selling items, to acquire new quests -- and you will also want to be sure to talk to some of the craftsman in town too that can improve your weapons and create new ones for you, as well as armor. To do this you'll need a variety of items that can be found in the game world (by mining, for example) and from slain monsters. Items include everything from raw meat to fangs of monsters, to precious ores found in mountains. There are some 1400 weapons and roughly 2000 different sets of armor -- pretty insane.

Items have different levels of rarity associated with them, and quests take on varying levels of difficulty too. Being an RPG, you might expect a deep and elaborate level system for your character, but actually that's not part of Monster Hunter's style; there isn't anything wrong with that, but hardcore RPG fans that aren't familiar with the series may want to take note.

On the other hand, this game is going to appeal most to Monster Hunter veterans. Those who have imported Monster Hunter Freedom 2 will be happy to hear that they can import their character into MFHU. Another powerful new option is the ability to install the game onto your PSP's Memory Stick Pro Duo card; doing this, which requires about 600MB, allows you to load from the UMD and memory stick at the same time, drastically reducing load times.
For multiplayer, MHFU supports four player Ad Hoc mode, giving friends the ability to meet up and team up to take on the tougher monsters in the game. Players can also exchange their Felyne characters that I mentioned earlier. I wasn't able to test any of these multiplayer features due to the lack of additional players, but given how popular and sound the code was in Japan, this translation should work very well. Given that there is such an incredibly amount of content and numerous extremely difficult (if not impossible) monsters in MHFU, there's no doubt that this title was intended to be played amongst fellow players.

As far as presentation quality goes, Capcom has done a fine job. The first taste you get of the experience is with the gorgeously rendered cutscenes. Next, you'll get a taste of the musical score which is orchestral and sweeping, but can get repetitive. Graphically, it's a fine looking game; smooth animations, a nice variety of colors, great looking textures, but you can easily clip right through some objects, like a slain monster, which is odd and can make interacting with that monster (to harvest various parts of it) a little annoying.

Ultimately, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is going to appeal to the hardcore, established Monster Hunter fans the most. For gamers like me who knew little to nothing about the series before, and who have never played it, the initial intrigue is hampered by a significant learning curve. That's not to say MHFU isn't worth the effort, but be prepared to spend several hours and do lots of reading just getting accustomed to the universe that Producer Ryozo Tsuimoto and crew have created. And frankly, for me when I discovered how huge this game is and that there are monsters that you apparently cannot defeat without multiplayer help, it further discouraged me from dumping too much time into it. With no direct path or real ending, MHFU is just too open and 'unfocused' for my tastes. I mean, I think it's incredible, but also stifling, that this innocent looking PSP title is home to such a nearly-impossible long game. At least in my experience, I will long tire of slaying monsters before I hit even a tenth of the purported 500 hours.

In closing, it's good to see that Capcom decided to bring this expanded version of the previously Japanese-only title to the States, and I hope it does well. I can respect a good, high production value title when I see it, and although MHFU doesn't appeal to me, if you enjoyed the previous Monster Hunter titles or just want to experience the Monster Hunter craze, MHFU is for you.