Monster Hunter 3 (tri) (Wii) Preview

Calum Peak
At the special event Nintendo had invited myself and fellow Cubed3 colleague Stuart Lawrence down to in London, Capcom had set up booths with all three main areas of Monster Hunter 3 to play through; a two-player arena, the single-player mode, plus that all-important online multiplayer aspect. Upon picking up the Classic Controller PRO, which will be bundled with the game here in Europe, and sitting down with the two-player arena, the first thing that struck me was how gorgeous everything looked. Not one pixel was out of place, with what can definitely be described as some of the best Third Party graphics for the Wii, if not taking the accolade of the most attractive game released so far on the system! Hopping into the game, after getting accustomed to the controls, it was a matter of taking down a Great Jaggi, complete with its family happily joining in the fray, a Qurupeco, whose mimicry skills allowed it to call in extra support from other monsters, and, finally, (after a fourth attempt and thirty minutes later) the slaying of a Barroth with its ridiculous defences that made it hard to even get close to the beast, making the use of good team-work an essential practice.

Next the two of us had the chance to sit down with the single-player element, which introduced us to customising our character with a list of preset options, ranging from skin tone to voice. Once the cinematic section had finished, a basic storyline was introduced, which consisted of an earthquake upsetting life in Moga Village (the main hub of Monster Hunter 3), which its inhabitants believe to be the work of Lagiacrus, a large water-dwelling creature. You, as the hunter, are expected to eventually get to the bottom of the situation and find out what the real problem is. From this point on, the game eases players in through quite a natural tutorial system that gradually teaches gamers how the controls work and how to slay and stay alive in a world filled with monsters. The whole experience felt wonderful, and just by playing an early section of the adventure it feels like Monster Hunter 3 will easily swallow up (well spent) hours of your life.

Finally, we got to sit down with the online multiplayer, and this is where the game truly comes alive. It feels so natural to be hunting and conversing in real-time with your party for co-ordination, all working for one ultimate goal; to slay the not-so-small beasts heading your way! With four players in on the action, the pace steps up a notch with the monsters being taken down quicker, and, therefore, their obvious distress bleeds through as they try to escape, as well as damage being shown in real-time (for instance, the tail got chopped off the one Stuart and I were taking down). Despite all the action taking place on-screen, the frame-rate did not dip in the slightest, whilst the connection was very stable with no lag noticeable.

After even playing through such a small teaser of Monster Hunter 3, Capcom has me salivating profusely, eagerly awaiting more of what the game can dish out when it launches in April 2010 here in Europe. With a promised seventy monsters that need to be taken care of, and the added downloadable content for extra quests and weapons that can only be acquired through online action, this game is shaping up to be one of the best third-party titles on the Wii.

Stuart Lawrence
The main part Calum and I were most keen to get our hands on was the offline two-player section. This part of the multiplayer takes players into an arena to defeat a selected boss, with four different weapons to select from - shield, axe/hammer/long sword, great sword, and the Bow Gun. Only three bosses were available for selection at the event, with each successive encounter growing progressively harder. My weapon of choice ended up being Bow Gun, which meant that although I had to keep my distance from the rampaging beast up ahead, I had a load of different options in terms of shells/bullets to attack with.

With the multiplayer element covered and out of the way, we started the single-player mode, created a new character, chose a weapon to commence with and set off to the village of Moga. The game allows you to import items gained from multiplayer into the single-player adventure through a servant in your home, which is also the place where you save and store items. Your first quest is to find the village chief’s son and collect resources. This is no mere simple introductory task, however, with it proving to be a major part of the game as it will have players collecting resources for the villagers the whole time, with more resources being accrued upon the despatching of a plentiful supply of dangerous monsters.

When finally reaching the much talked about online mode, it was truly amazing to witness exactly how stunning Monster Hunter 3 looked. Simply reading that Nintendo itself was shocked by how Capcom had pushed the Wii hardware considerably did not do this enough justice. Other builds that have been playable here in Europe so far were said to have been earlier builds, not showing off the full extent of the beautiful in-game visuals. The development team behind this seriously must be commended for their efforts!

We had three different bosses to choose from, choosing to face-off against a Lagiacrus, the dreaded sea monster. This gave us the chance to check out the swimming part, since we had yet to have the chance to try that out. However, there was a time limit set, so despite our desire to float around in the water for ages, we had to attempt to track down and slaughter the monster at hand before our fifteen minute timer zeroed out. For this particular boss, I chose a new weapon called the Switch Axe, which alternates between a sword and axe, unleashing powerful combination moves. When the Lagiacrus was eventually starting to get tired and distressed, it ran away, climbing onto land, finally leading to our time running out. Monster Hunter 3 is definitely a game to be enjoyed in multiplayer, and before the actual Monster Hunter conference took place, I had never played any game in the series, meaning I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Therefore, the fast that I was amazed by the end of the whole event is testament to how well-crafted it is, leaving me extremely eager to play more.