![]() ![]() He was huge, bigger than I was expecting his looming violet-black shape filled the screen. It took only a few minutes to discover my quarry: the Gore Malaga. For the first time in the series, there was an emphasis on vertical terrain which hunters are able to quickly scale and leap from. The new environments looked lush and beautiful as I traversed the many enumerated areas. I quickly shook off the notion of trying an easier quest that would let me grasp the controls better and set off after this “all-powerful” Gore Malaga. Right away, however, I could tell that years of playing the previous titles on the PSP would itself as a problem every button I pressed was based on the wrong hand-held platform. ![]() As I familiarized myself with the 3DS control scheme and the Ancestral Steppe map, it felt good to be back in the Monster Hunter world. Truly suicidal hunters were able to take on the flagship monster of MH4U: the Gore Malaga (pronounced Goh-Ray).Ĭall it a combination of hubris and bravado, I thought that I’d be able to bring down this new monster without much trouble with my bow in short order. But the final option was the one that captured my eye and sealed my fate. The middle option gave me the opportunity to try the new Tetsucabra, a tempting choice for a veteran hunter such as myself. The easiest quest was a Great Jaggi quest that I shined on it’d be child’s play. In my initial demo of the game, I was given the option to hunt three different monsters based on a sliding scale of difficulty. It’s an odd combination of support and combat that will allow hunters to emulate the fast and furious combos of dual-blades with the reach of a longsword. But perhaps the most interesting Monster Hunter weapon to date is the insect glaive, which offers quick and powerful strikes a la the longsword in addition to a unique pole-vaulting maneuver and insect ‘companion’ that can be unleashed during battle to buff the player. Similar in function to the switch axe, the charge blade is a hybrid between the classic sword and shield and axe that builds a charge that can be unleashed by the player for massive damage. In addition to the new host of monsters to slay, players are intoduced to two new weapon classes: the charge blade and insect glaive. Longtime fans of the series will be also be happy to see the return of many beloved first-generation monsters like the Yian Kut-Ku and Velocidrome that makes the giant pool of monsters to hunt from in MH4U a good combination of new and old. New to the series are amphibian-class monsters such as the Tetsucabra and Zaboazagiru (not yet localized), a large blood-red frog with monstrous tusks and a mutant landshark, respectively, Chelicerates (giant spiders) such as the Nerusukyura that will make arachnophobes’ skin crawl, and ‘Snake Wyverns’ like the Garara Ajara. ![]() MH4U challenges hunters to test their skill against 64 types of ‘large’ monsters that fall into several different categories according to their body-plan. With more than 86 monsters to hunt, new environments to explore exploit for resources, new animations, and two new weapon categories, MH4U will be the largest hand-held iteration of the series to date. For those of us fortunate enough to attend E3 this year, we had the chance to get a hands-on demo at the latest Monster Hunter for the 3DS. Since then, this immensely popular series from Capcom has developed a cult following here in the US that will finally be able to get their hands on a copy of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (abbreviated as MH4U) in early 2015. I started my hunting obsession early when the Japanese-born title landed on US shores during the mid-late 2000’s for the PS2. There’s something infinitely gratifying about bringing down a giant monster and making weapons and armor out of its carcass in Monster Hunter. ![]()
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