We unravel the secrets of Capcom's biggest Wii game.
Monster Hunter 3 has an interesting history. During Sony's E3 2006 conference, Capcom announced that Monster Hunter 3 was being developed for the Playstation 3. However, during Nintendo's 2007 press conference in Tokyo, it was announced that the game had been moved to the Wii due to its lower cost of game development. Fast-forward to 2009 and Monster Hunter 3 will be released soon, and to build up a steady Wii Monster Hunter fan base Capcom released Monster Hunter G with a demo of Monster Hunter 3. The demo features two bosses, the Dosjagi (a land-based dinosaur) and Kurubekko (which looks like a combination of a bird and a baboon).
Monster Hunter 3 features a different type of enemy behavior. If players attack a pack of Jagi (small and weak dinosaurs), the Jagi will cry out for help and soon players will see a larger dinosaur rush out and attack the players. It's even possible that the cries of the Jagi can lure out the Dosjagi to attack players, and in some levels monster cries can lure out famous series monsters such as Rathalos, a fire-breathing dragon. The series mascot Felynes (a mischievous small cat), also have a new type of behavior. In prior games they ran up to your character to steal a random item; in Monster Hunter 3, their purpose is to attack your character or to distract you from the monsters that you are trying to kill.
The game has two different types of new areas. There are underwater areas and dark caves, where players can fight water-based dinosaurs and monsters such as sharks. While underwater there is a new air meter, which is positioned to the left of the health and stamina meters. To aid players while they travel through dark caves Capcom introduced a torch, which can be used to light up dark places, scare away smaller monsters without alerting bigger monsters to your presence, disarm mine traps, and catch specific types of bugs without the bugs retaliating against you.
Monster Hunter 3 features three different control options: one using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and two different configurations for the Classic Controller. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk is the most unique of the three, since it uses the Wii Remote's tilt capabilities to perform different variations of attack combinations. To make sure people won't be confused, there are four different positions from which to perform these attack combinations: tilt left, tilt right, pointed up, and flat. Attacks are performed with the A button in any of these Wii Remote positions. If players want to swing the Wii Remote to attack, it has to be in the flat position. While there are at most four different combo variations, each of the game’s seven weapon types have different control configurations, and different attack combinations which force players to learn how to control each individual weapon type. The D-pad controls the camera, and there is also a camera center button. However, like the other games in the series, there is no enemy lock-on feature.
Monster Hunter 3 retains all the mechanics and the high level of difficulty that has been present in all Monster Hunter games. Even though it is considered a "reboot" of the series, it stays faithful to its roots while adding features that promise to make it more compelling than its predecessors.
Monster Hunter 3 (tri~)
Monster Hunter Tri
