Japan's most successful PSP title, Monster Hunter Portable 2G, is heading to North America this coming Spring. Renamed Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, this latest installment in the epic Monster Hunter series delivers over 500 hours of gameplay spanning some 400 missions. Add in previously unreleased monsters, weapons and missions and you have the biggest Monster Hunter game to date. Using the PSP's wireless Ad-Hoc connection, players can adventure with up to three friends for a savaging multiplayer hunting party. From devising the strategy to executing the attack, players will need to work together in order to hunt down the ferocious beasts and progress through the wide range of quests on offer. Players will be rewarded for their use of deep fighting combat systems, encouraging them to seek out the more experienced hunters and team up in order to learn from their experience. Even in single player mode Hunters won't be alone thanks to the introduction of the new AI "Felyne" feature. Accompanying players on quests your furry ally will helping them battle monsters and gather extra resources.

User Reviews about Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

THE GOOD:
- Your skill at reading the movements of your enemies determine how good or bad you'll do at defeating them!
- 4-player cooperative game play via a local area network!
- Team work and tactics are encouraged in multi-player games.
- Compelling weapon and armor design, so you can look the part.
- Outstanding re playability.
- Insane amount of game-time can be spent playing before you reach the pinnacle of monster hunters.

THE BAD:
- Not much of a storyline. But that didn't bug me.
- Learning curve can be pretty steep for some people.
- Abilities such as the Armor Skills are not explained in-depth in the game.
- It's annoying to farm for rare items in the later aspects of the game.

SUMMARY:
I thoroughly enjoyed Monster Hunter over many other games, even over World of Warcraft. I believe the game has a unique play style in the sense that even if you have the best gear in the game, you can still be a terrible hunter.

Most games require you to get the best weapons and best armor to get through, but with enough skill and know-how you can get by in the game without much extra gear at all. In fact, it's a good way to test how skilled you are as a hunter in the game if you can beat certain monsters with the use of weaker armor and weapons (just to challenge yourself).

The graphics of the game are nice, not too flashy. But, it's for the PSP, taking that into account they're darn good. There's enough detail to not make you bored to tears from looking at your character. The designs of all the weapons and armor in the game are perfect for every giant sword and giant armor buff out there. Certain sets of armor such as the Monoblos armor have giant horns on the shoulders, making you look more akin to a demon than a hunter. Very cool equipment appearances.

The re playability is spectacular, but most of the time you wouldn't really need to replay the game unless you wanted to try and beat your previous total game time on the next character when you get to the same spot. In fact, if I remember correctly, there was another player who was making a series of videos on YouTube where he would start the game from the beginning, and play through it without any armor and with a great sword. That right there is some challenge!

My only real qualm about the game is that some of my friends have a harder time learning to read the movements of the monsters and find it difficult to play the game. If my friends could get into playing defensively they'd probably be better, but it's hard for some folks to do that. When people have a hard time playing a game, and aren't keen on learning the way to play it safely and effectively it makes them want to play it less, which is rather unfortunate for me when I'm trying to get some friends to play it with me.

Another thing with the game is that once you've gotten to the higher ranks of the hunting gathering hall, you run in to some quests that are literally too hard to do by yourself unless you are a disgustingly perfectionist player. So having a friend or two to group with through certain areas of the game can be a true blessing (or a curse if they aren't very good. :P) so don't forget to find a friend to play with you if you don't plan on being the best out there.

All in all, I give the game a 5/5. Very nicely done! :) -- A whole different animal

I have 3 copies of this game. The layout, gameplay, and portable nature are all top notch. I've enjoyed this more than Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii for all of the features it offers. Multiplayer is an absolute blast. With AdHoc Party on the PS3, this can be played online. -- The best Monster Hunter so far

I picked this game up after hearing good praise for it. After spending a few hours with the game I'm hooked on the game. I never imagined the game would be so indepth even down to cooking the raw meat. I saw that it has 500 hours of gameplay so it looks like I only scratched the surface, and I'm sure it only gets better. Well worth the $20 I spent. -- Blown Away

If you loved any of the previous Monster Hunter games, you will definitely love this one. It is sooo much better now and improved.

They made a number of tweaks to the game like combining items directly in the item box, 99 of each item, etc...

You also now have a felyne companion you can hire to hunt with you so you are never alone. You can hire a good number of cats and train them for different things. Some may be bombers, some for hammers, some for blading, some for healing, some for attacking, etc...

There are a number of new monsters to hunt in Unite and along with that comes new armors, weapons, and maps.

There are also new ores, bugs, and other items used to make things such as potions, armors, and weapons.

If you get this, prepare for many hours with your PSP to get anywhere. This game takes time, but it's worth it. With time comes skill and experience needed to tackle higher rank monsters.

You can go up to Hunter Rank 9 in Unite as Freedom 2 you could only reach Hunter Rank 6. There are more guild quests as well as village quests to complete. In the village, you can reach up to 9* quests, with a 9* Akantor being in the village now.

Some people complain about camera control. Well once you get used to it, you find out how good the camera control really is. It becomes second nature to you and you don't even realize you are hitting the button to move the camera as you fight. It just becomes "natural" in a manner of speaking. The button layout is just right, it just takes some time to get used to is all.

So anyone looking for another Monster Hunter game, are interested in this type of game, and don't mind spending a lot of hours on it, then I highly recommend this title. If you want instant action and gratification, then you may need to look elsewhere. I gotta tell you though, once you get the right weapon, armor, and skills needed to take down a large wyvern, it's a good feeling indeed and an awesome sense of accomplishment. It's one of those "woohoo!!!!!" moments. lol -- Awesome game!

The hype isn't true. MH is nothing more than an average game made difficult by poor software designer choices.
Many folks complain about lack of a lock on, IMO it's not even that it's simply the lack of a constant behind the character view that detracts from this game. It IS what makes the game hard IMO. This wouldn't be an issue if the PSP had a second analog stick but since it doesn't, CAPCOM's failure to allow the gamer to fix the camera behind him/her is a serious oversight. Just walking around becomes a chore to say nothing about keeping track of fast monsters. I love a good challenge but games that are difficult because of bad controls aren't what I consider challenging. -- Poor camera design