First Look: Monster Hunter 4 : Videogame News & Reviews | Bits 'n ...

Posted by Martin Watts on Monday, September 26, 2011 ? Leave a Comment?

by Glen Mather

What?s That Com?ing Over the?Hill?

There had been grow?ing spec?u?la?tion con?cern?ing the press con?fer?ence that was held by Nin?tendo dur?ing the Tokyo Games Show.?? Put forth to fur?ther dis?may fears of the 3DS soft?ware line up, and its future as a con?sole, there were wor?ries of what they could pos?si?ble announce.? The big hit?ters in their arse?nal (any?thing bear?ing the chubby cheeks and bushy mous?tache of a cer?tain plumber) are already known to be on their way and Pok??mon announce?ments are nor?mally han?dled separately.

The announce?ment of the cir?cle pad and Mon?ster Hunter Tri G in a recent edi?tion of Famitsu had peo?ple won?der?ing just what could be left for the main show for a com?pany tra?di?tion?ally known as being one the few capa?ble of keep?ing secrets.

The answer?? Why, it?s Mon?ster Hunter 4, of course.

Announc?ing just one game in Japan?s cur?rent favourite fran?chise would be a huge coup for any of the con?sole man?u?fac?tur?ers, but to get two, includ?ing the fully fledged next main entry is even more spe?cial and significant.

Details con?cern?ing the fourth entry are slim on the ground right now with the only real infor?ma?tion avail?able being that which can be gar?nered from the two min?utes and forty sec?onds the trailer lasts?for.

It opens up with our war?rior run?ning along a plateau against a moun?tain back?drop before being spot?ted by a Tigrex (one of the numer?ous mon?ster types) perched atop some of the scenery.? As it gives chase to the player, we see it destroy parts of the envi?ron?ment in its bid to catch its prey.? The hero nar?rowly avoids cap?ture by nav?i?gat?ing a series of plat?forms the crea?ture is capa?ble of destroy?ing as he makes good his escape.

A show?down with one of the franchise?s other key mon?sters, the Ratha?los (think big red fire-breathing dragon) sees the entire floor start to give way with the player even?tu?ally jump?ing off of a wall onto the back of the brute before they come crash?ing down to the floor.? The break?ing of a stand?off then brings a close to the trailer.

Through?out the entirety of the clip, it?s clear that not at any point is there some CGI inter?wo?ven to give a false rep?re?sen?ta?tion of the graph?ics ? what you see here is what you will be get?ting when the title even?tu?ally ships.? But when that will be is anyone?s guess, as not even a ten?ta?tive release date is offered.? MHTG already has a date set for the 10th Decem?ber in Japan, where it will come in a series of bun?dles that include com?bi?na?tions of clock, fig?urine and the new Cir?cle Pad Extension.

But with MHTG just around the cor?ner, it does seem a tri?fle off to announce Mon?ster Hunter 4 so soon, and one can only assume that it was at Nintendo?s request ? some nice light?ing couldn?t hide the fact that the game was not of the same graph?i?cal stan?dard as the MHTG trailer also shown.? Alter?na?tively, it could be to help per?suade fans to pick up the port.? By con?firm?ing the sequel is also com?ing to the hard?ware, it?s pro?mot?ing the idea that this is where the future of the series lies and that peo?ple who want to expe?ri?ence the games might as well invest now because this is where they will be get?ting their hunt?ing fix from now going forward.

MHTG will be an exten?sion of the Wii game and as such, its core game?play remains very true to past entries in the series.? It also allows Cap?com to get a game out soon to sati?ate fans of the series, judge demand on the hard?ware, and cut down devel?op?ment?costs.

Mon?ster Hunter 4 on the other hand looks to be tread?ing a new path for the series whilst still stick?ing to what the series is known for.? Mon?ster Hunter Tri was unique for offer?ing water-based com?bat ? some?thing that hadn?t been seen in any of the other games but will be return?ing for MHTG.? The trailer showed the first crea?ture chase the player for some time whilst destroy?ing sev?eral obsta?cles in its path. ??Not only does it sug?gest a more open world envi?ron?ment (pre?vi?ous games have been bro?ken into small sec?tions that fea?ture load?ing times when tra?vers?ing from one to another), but also that the world itself will be far more dynamic than ever before.? Destruc?tible objects aren?t new to the series, but the player wasn?t capa?ble of inter?act?ing with them before.? This, cou?pled with seem?ingly improved mon?ster AI capa?ble of track?ing play?ers in a more nat?ural, real?is?tic and deadly fash?ion, leads to a whole host of pos?si?bil?i?ties for improved game?play with?out chang?ing the whole core basis of forg?ing new items from the spoils of your?hunt.

One thing that Cap?com have to get right is the mul?ti?player aspect.? MHTG is known to have local mul?ti?player but they have been quiet con?cern?ing the online capa?bil?i?ties of the title with word sug?gest?ing it?s been omit?ted.? The PSP titles are capa?ble of online play under the right cir?cum?stances so this does feel like a step back ? more so when you realise the orig?i?nal Mon?ster Hunter for the Wii had an online com?po?nent to it which still has a large fol?low?ing.? This hasn?t stopped the portable series being huge sell?ers in Japan though, with the lat?est sell?ing more than four-and-a-half mil?lion.? But due to the dif?fer?ence in gam?ing cul?tures, for the title to suc?ceed in the west, this would be some?thing of a pre?req?ui?site.? This has led fur?ther fuel to the fire that Tri G will not be see?ing a West?ern release.

The orig?i?nal ver?sion was never orig?i?nally pen?ciled in for a world?wide release either until Nin?tendo stepped in to help with it, so maybe an announce?ment will come in time.? Mon?ster Hunter 4, though, is likely to have a much stronger chance of release, for the sim?ple fact alone that it?s eas?ier to push a new title than what some will see as an enhanced port miss?ing the one fea?ture that kept them play?ing the orig?i?nal so?much.

It?s inter?est?ing to note that, fol?low?ing the announce?ment of Mon?ster Hunter 4, Capcom?s stock suf?fered an 8% drop this morn?ing after the unveil?ing at Nintendo?s show which hasn?t been looked on too favourably by ana?lysts in the region.? Some may see it as a strange home for the title to take given the cur?rent sales and if MHTG fails to cap?ture the mar?ket in the way antic?i?pated due to pre?vi?ous suc?cesses, there is pos?si?ble cause for con?cern but the game will still sell an impres?sive amount on brand power alone.? The rea?son Mon?ster Hunter Tri was released on the Wii was twofold ? one, the much larger install base in Japan and two, the fact that it would have cost Cap?com too much to make it for the PS3 even if the mar?ket was big enough.? Mak?ing the game for the 3DS allows them to reuse the graph?i?cal assets from the pre?vi?ous games and focus on cre?at?ing a new expe?ri?ence derived from improve?ments from the game?play itself instead of sim?ply wan?der?ing through dif?fer?ent, albeit pret?tier, environments.

The games haven?t changed much since the first instal?ment, but Mon?ster Hunter 4 has the power to change that and when it does even?tu?ally see release, Mon?ster fever will once again grip Japan? if it ever decides to let go of it in the meantime.

Source: http://bnbgaming.com/2011/09/26/first-look-monster-hunter-4/

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