TGS 08: Monster Hunter 3 hands-on

If you're reading this you're in the minority of Joystiq readers who haven't skipped down the page at the sight of the words: Monster Hunter. Clearly you're either a Westerner, curious about what the big deal is, or you're standing in line to play the third installment of the series right now. Within ten minutes of the TGS show floor opening, the line for this game was four and a half hours long. On a press day, no less. Thankfully, we had a considerably shorter wait inside Capcom's base (a hotel room), where we tried out the latest console version of one of Japan's favorite franchises.

While the series move from PlayStation 3 to Wii can be attributed to cutting development costs, no expense has been spared on the game's visuals. Monster Hunter 3 (or "Monster Hunter Tri~" ... ?) is one of the sharpest Wii games we've seen. It's also immediately recognizable as a Monster Hunter game. There's been no style change at all from other versions, just an upscaling of models and textures. The game's water looks impressive for a Wii title, which is important because Monster Hunter 3 is the first game in the series where you'll be going swimming.
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The swimming sections look on par with Endless Ocean, only you've got a giant sword, and offer the player the ability to hunt new types of undersea monsters. No doubt this will justify the purchase of yet another Monster Hunter game for many Japanese fans -- not like there's really anything preventing that outcome. Despite the player being given a decent amount of wiggle room underwater, we're not sure the ability to swim will add much more variety to the gameplay. You're still hunting monsters, after all.

Unfortunately, the controls are quite complicated and, for a newcomer to the series, they take a while to learn. While the Wiimote and Nunchuk feel like a good fit for the game, things start to break down as you progress. While you can waggle to attack, it seems unlikely you'll get very far with it. Attacking in Monster Hunter is about timing and combos, and the Wiimote feels imprecise, not to mention, exhausting. Instead, the A-button will perform a primary attack, while the Z-button handles secondary swipes.

There are other aspects of the controls which feel overcomplicated, too, such as the weapon sheathing and drawing. The character we tried out had an incredibly heavy sword, which seemed to take half a minute to swing! The easiest way to time a first hit is to sheath your sword (the 1-button), then draw it (the Plus-button) when a monster is nearby, hitting it in the process. Obviously this button combo makes for counter-intuitive controls. Of course, devotees will likely overcome this, but it's potentially off-putting to anyone else. It's a shame because the combat animations turn out to be quite visceral, with a sense of weight to the weapon you're wielding and the force of impact it makes on a living creature.

While we had trouble defeating our intended target (thanks to the speed of our chosen character's movement and attacks), other innocent creatures nearby stood still long enough for us to get some good hits in. The death animations of these large, vegetarian dinosaurs were unnerving, as the "monsters" writhed on the ground in their final moments. Maybe we're not so cut out for this monster hunting business ... At least, not on our own.

One of the main attractions of the Monster Hunter series has been its multiplayer. Monster Hunter 3 is no exception as it will include online play with friends. But only friends, thanks to Nintendo's infamous code system. There's no indication as to exactly how this will work yet, but hopefully the mode will be made as painless and unintrusive as possible. [Update] Playing with specific friends will require friend code swapping, but playing with other random players is possible thanks to a lobby system. With a dearth of upcoming first-party titles geared toward the "Core," it's titles like Monster Hunter 3 that could keep faith alive. That's true for Japan, at least, when the game releases next year. We're betting this one can be popular in the West, too. Sadly, there's no definite confirmation that will ever happen. But you never know.