Good game that just needs a little more detail in story and could use a more free based mode of exploration. Overall though a great game online and has many different ways of playing it whether you use a sword or lance you should be pleased.

To many people judge this game jsut by its outer shell. the real gameplay is inside the game witch is fun and can compell you to many hours of gameplay. the only real obstical is the quirky camra witch can get annoying, but that should be easily overcome if you practice on some small game. i love this game, it has given me at the least 200+ hours of compelling gameplay that could never get boring. and thats just one one char!!! the game start you off slowly with a couple mission to get you on your way. kinda like a long tutorial. this is were you should get ahold of the camra placement and stuff like that. then the game quickly speeds up to the point were your soloing some small dragons. while you kill them you can carve off some of thier body parts. the bigger the game the better the parts. the more stuff you get the more upgrades you can make its as simple as that. this game is almost like a sim's game.. just with the exception that your killing dragons as your job. there is so many type of armour, you could look like a monk in a white robe if you were wearing khezu armour. or you could look like your favorite samurai with auroros or shinobi armour. there are several types of wepons, great swords, regular swords, dual swords, lances, hammers, and guns.there is no wepon that looks alike. you can go with a elegant samurai great sword or a choppy bone sword. mabye a faster hit appeals to you, then you can try the regular sword or duels if you wanna be uber fast. mabye the lance is your choise, or be thore with the mighty hammer.if you dont like being in the fray, choose the gun. with this big of a system its almost impossible to run out of combinations. like real life if you hack at some thing long enouph some stuf will break. you could certainly chop of a dragons tail in the middle of a fight or mabye some of its claws on its wing. all of this is possible. this game definaty need more credit. P.S. i ran out of room.

Although it's gotten some decent reviews (though none by gamepro...),I feel that Monster Hunter is a very fun game.Very similar to an RPG except theres no skills to level up,just your HR,which inturn opens more quests (well,online anyway).Offline,you just go in and do quests,collect materials to make things (to make armour or to create and improve weapons),then do some more quests.That may sound repetitive,but its really fun. The beginning may be alittle slow,taking you through the basics of hunting (though i think its alittle better than some tutorials ive seen),once that has passed you can get going on your road to becoming a monster hunter (which is the last rank you can achieve).How you go about as to follow that road is your choice There are two kinds of fighter (blademaster,which uses weapons for melee combat,and a gunner which uses types of crossbows) with corresponding armour (most of the better armour you can make later in the game comes in versions for gunners and blademasters).Once youve decide what you wanna be (you can use both,but its easier to work on one thing earlier in the game),you can work your way to a higher HR. Not only are there two types of fighters,theres also six types of weapons (sword,great sword,hammer,and lance for blademasters;crossbows and artablasts for gunners),which have many different variations and improvements to them (a great sword can evolve into a large kantana,a hammer can evolve to a giant axe,and the sword can evolve into dual swords,just to name some improvements).More armour can also be unlocked by killing new monsters and carving them,who's pieces can be used to make armour or improve weapons. The game is fun either online or offline (one may be better for something that the other).If you wanna work up to get better stuff,go offline until you need a particular item,where you should then go online.But if you wanna have fun,join a group,and kill some big dragon,then go online.All in all,this is a fun game.