Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Review

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

The good news for western gamers who aren’t too big on their Japanese RPGs then is that both the game and the presentation are fairly nicely lined up with what western RPG fans might expect. Yes, there are small cat-people and every line of dialogue feels like it’s lost a little bit of its supposed humour in translation (that or we’re turning into grumpy old men), but it’s still a fairly universal experience game-wise.

Unfortunately, the problem with being so universal is that the game as a whole is slightly generic and, though exploring the world and getting established as a hunter is honestly a lot of fun, initially there comes a very identifiable point where the magic fades.

Inevitably you realise that, even though you’re still nowhere near your overall aim to get the best armour and ranking, you’re still bored with running slight variations on the same quest over and over. The endless back and forth between monster corpse and delivery chest wears down your will to carry on playing just like using the PSP c-stick wears the skin off your thumbs.


That said, just because Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a bit of a grind doesn’t mean that you actually will stop playing it when you realise that though – if that was true then World of Warcraft would have gone under years ago. In fact, using the PSP’s ad hoc network system to join up with some pals and go on quests together is definitely one way to prolong the entertainment even if the experience would be better suited to a non-handheld console.

In fact, there are times when it doesn’t seem like Capcom has fully taken the limitations of the PSP console into account for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. We can’t speak for previous titles in the series, but we definitely found that there was too much text to read on such a small screen – and what there was seemed badly down-sized and bloated with failed humour and repeated nonsense. We’re all for reading through a tutorial, but seven screens of text to learn about a supply chest that’s mostly self-explanatory is pushing it.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite still has a lot going for it though despite these issues, especially if you’re a fan of tactical-action combat. Though the early stages of the game don’t offer much in the way of a challenge and mostly entail hacking or shooting at herbivorous creatures before they run away, the later stages are a completely different affair.


If you want to stand a chance in the later hunts then you’ll need to know a lot about how to counter enemy attacks, as well as how to survive away from the village for extended periods. You’ll need rations to eat, buffs and cures to help you weather the battle and hot chocolate to ward off the freezing mountain-top temperatures – a trick that modern mountaineers haven’t yet heard of. Of course, modern mountaineers don’t have the ability to keep their hot drinks warm forever.

Again, while we admit that we’re not established fans of the series, it seems like the monsters and quests that have been added to Freedom Unite for hardcore players will offer a real challenge and plenty of fun too. Our personal favourite is the new Hypnotrice – a wyvern that expels sleeping gas and is probably a distant mythical relative of the hypnotoad.

In the end though how Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will do in the west is likely going to be hampered by the diminishing popularity and rampant piracy on the PSP platform. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a solid RPG and it’s surprisingly addictive even if it is full of samey grinds and repetitive tasks, but unless you’re an established fan of the series and are desperate to get the highest possible rank then it’s not really a must-have title, nor anything you haven’t seen before. Fetch-quests and player rankings are a dime a dozen these days.

Score Guide