Customer Reviews

Monster Hunter Freedom 2

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Monster Hunter Freedom 2 is by far the best version of one of the best video games ever made (I've played all US and Japan versions). Lots of little improvments over the Japanese PS2 release makes this worth the wait. The best dragon/creature fighting experience you can have in a game - but it takes work and patience to get there.

Huge hit in Japan, but so-so in USA outside its core fans. Reviewers calling for auto-target miss the whole point of this game: it's all about developing the skill to target specific areas of each monster (and then not getting killed!). Camera is definitely weird at first, but once you get the hang of it you'll be wishing other games used the same system. Basically YOU have to point the camera, it doesn't move for you! Final aspect of game is it takes patience to do a little farming, mining, bug catching activities - something I enjoy but not for everyone, however, with new version you can minimize those activities if you just want to bust some monsters up. Some people may never get over those hurdles, which is fine - there are plenty of games that I don't like that are still great games. I can guarantee that if you spend enough time with the game so the camera and weapons system are second nature, you are in for some of the most heart-thumping monster battles you could ever imagine, and the beasts keep coming and coming! If I made a list of my top 10 gaming moments, probably 8 or 9 would be things that happened in MH - and I've played plenty of other games.

Need to get WIFI max and KAI for online play - not directly supported at this time, but it works OK. Ad-hoc face to face is great fun for up to 4 people. MHF2 has more weapons & armor than you'll ever be able to use, faster load times, stabilized camera, and loads of other improvements that make this the best time to give Monster Hunter a decent go.

This game is awesome, but be prepared to spend a lot of time on it. It's hard to just turn on and really accomplish anything if you only plan to play it for 20 minutes at a time, but it's still not impossible. The game is hard, you will die, you will spend time crafting, farming, harvesting, mining etc to try and gather the materials necessary to upgrade your gear and that's essentially what the whole game is about. Skin monsters, harvest bone, scales, horns, claws, etc... and then craft new weapons and armor out of your latest victims. Incredibly addictive, maybe a bit of a learning curve if you're new to the series but worth it.

Afterall it is the fastest selling PSP game ever for a reason.

Im finally over 50 hours into Monster Hunter Freedom 2, W00T, and im still havin fun, lol. This game is the perfect rpg and i cant get away from it now hearing that theres an expansion comin out this spring.
Anyway, im organizing my review into two lists of pros and cons.

Pros
-The game is massive and endlessly replayable, giving role-players hundreds of hours of gameplay
-The graphics are AMAZING
-great combat system, enemies are damaged more or less or even not at all depending on where you hit them, and you can knock them down, stun them, even make them run away scared
-Own and build up your own farm to access endless materials, plant seeds/harvest crops, mine rocks, catch fish, catch bugs, (more options, but you have to unlock them)
-about 40-50 monsters to fight ranging in size and strength, from thee mosswine that can be easily 1hit KO-ed to the Elder Dragons that can easily 1hit K0 you
-multiplayer is great, gang up on your enemies, muahaha
-the best action you may ever see, getting beaten to death and eaten by a dragon in an arena duel has never been so fun
-after killing your enemies, carve meat and bones out of them, then use those items and materials gathered from your farm and the field to make your own weapons and armor out them, muahaha
-100s of weps, 100s of equipment sets, 100s of items
-realistic combat, you dont gain levels and exp, you train by learning better fighting strategies and enemies weaknesses, and makin better armor and weps
-hire felynes to cook food for you (although you can cook too)
-the game is mind-boggingly big and rumor has it an expansion is coming out spring 2009 (look up Monster Hunter Freedom Unite)

Cons (finally)
-like all great rpgs, the game starts off so slow you may be tempted to leave it (Elder Scrolls 4 anyone???)
-You are going to die!...the boss monsters are hard, there hp and power are massive, but try not to be discouraged, if you keep making better weps and armor, and keep practicing to learn their weaknesses, youll eventually be the one owning them
-the camera might not be liked by some, i personally love it, it does not move automatically, you have to move it yourself, even during fights
-the controls might be difficult to get used to, i still sometimes mess it up, its really only because theres so many things you can do its hard to fit it all into the PSP's controls, but Capcom did an okay job with it (id make one or two small changes)

thats everything i can think of, theres still so much more of the game i havent reached yet, im just over 50 hours into it and had a rough start, im like a noob in this game, but anyway, i have some Cephaloths to kill so i can upgrade a wep so Peace Out

First of all, one of the reviewers here said that it is impossible to get past a certain level by yourself. Wrong. It does take practice and patience and an eye for detail, but a hunter must analyze a creatures habits if he is to hunt it more efficiently. Monster Hunter Freedom 1 was literally impossible to solo because it was made for multiple hunters, however 2 has been scaled back a little bit to make it soloable.

I played the first one for 600 hours. I am up to 250+ hours on this one. i have about 15 other games in my case and I never play them because I am so addicted to this game. great fun with friends, great fun alone.

the battles can last up to 50 minutes each. most of them will not even take half that long but later in the game, you will be up against stronger monsters and the satisfaction you get from killing a Black Diablos with just 2 minutes remaining is fantastic.

Bottom line, this game is for hard core gamers. if you just want to blow through and 'win' the game in 30 hours you will have barely scratched the surface.

Back in the days when my TV broke and I was tragically ripped
from my Gamecube... I frantically searched for what would
replace Phantasy Star in my life. Awhile later I got a PSP, and
I started searching for the closest thing to PSO as PSPossible
(sorry, only way I could describe it).. I found this. And let
me just say... I got more than I bargained for. For one thing:
PSO is easy; MHF is HARD. Just a comparison.. I started; and I
never stopped. This game is LONG.

Now that that's out of the way, time for the IN-game: When I
started I was taken aback by the graphics. I thought "Wow, I
had absolutely NO clue that the PSP was capable of this! That
coupled with the sound (with earphones)... I couldn't get
enough. Sure this game was hard as hell, and frustrating, you
could call it, but I was too in awe to care. Now I was
searching for something PSO-like; killing monsters and all.. In
a sense they're similar, just 1000x more realistic.

Monster Hunter an action-rpg like PSO, however is more quest-
oriented, there's no huge consistent world to explore like in
Morrowind, nor is there much of a storyline. But the game more
than makes up for it: You hunt monsters from minuscule to
colossus, gathering materials and making better equipment.
There's no leveling system like in traditional RPG's so your
success is heavily dependent on your skills, although I have to
say your equipment has a large impact on your performance.
There's no real way to "beat" the game, the goal for you is to
beat down the baddest monsters in the game, and complete all
the quests.

'Rushing through the lush forest, birds chirping around you
looking for the catch of the day, when suddenly dramatic music
fills your ears, and your heart skips a beat as a ferocious
wyvern spots you and roars your ears off before beating you to
the ground. Of course you get the heck outta there while you
regroup... With your nerves steeled you rush back in to hold an
epic battle against the giant wyvern...' It's always rewarding,
that feeling you get when you down that giant beast.. and then
there's doing it with your friends. Yes, playing solo is less
than half the fun, I can't imagine myself playing MH without
friends.

Sure the loading time is simply atrocious but you could always
CFW your PSP and ISO the... :cough: That's another story
though... Well you could also turn on background loading, makes
it more feasible... Oh, but I can't believe I haven't heard of
this amazing game up until I got it... Just every aspect of
this game is so.. awesome! From the flow of the game to the
farm, items, equips, (the controls soon become second nature)
just sooo much out there that at least every PSP owner should
play at least once in their life.

All this but I still feel like this franchise has so much more
to offer... The 10/10 is reserved exclusively for MHFUnite. And
I'm dying for that one. Just one more thing I'd like to say -
There is no PSP without Monster Hunter. Ask Japan.

-Kenji

Before I begin, I just want to warn you that I have a tiny bit of spoilers in this review (referring to the new monsters).

Like other reviewers stated, this game is not for casual players. This is not a game you can just pick up and put down. If you want to get far in this game, you need to be willing to get a hang of the controls for each weapon as well as the camera, pick tactics to defeat each type of wyvern, and spend plenty of time getting items to craft armor and weapons. And trust me, there are A LOT of weapons and armor to craft. Anyway, don't be surprised if you spend hundreds of hours for this game.

Can you solo this game? For offline, both vets and newcomers should have no problem. Online is a different matter. The first part is fairly easy- meaning the non-G Rank quests. G-Rank is more difficult- think of it as a hard mode. I won't lie, some of the quests will make you frustrated to the point you feel like yanking out your hair (ex. dual black gravios and crimson fatalis). However with tactics and choosing the right items, it is possible. Some quests I would not recommend soloing (at least, not all the time), such as dual Kirin. Try teaming up with others if you have problems.

Pros:
- Nice graphics, though some clipping every now and then.
- Offers a challenge.
- Plenty to do (training, offline and online quests, crafting, etc.)

Cons:
- Camera and controls take getting used to.
- Difficulty can cause frustration.
- Online play limited to a small range due to ad-hoc (there are ways around this however).

If you're looking for a quick game to play or something laid-back, or you get easily frustrated, this game is probably not for you. If you like challenges and have patience, then this game might fit your tastes.

Okay I bought this game after viewing several player made reviews. They all basically said the same thing, "takes time". I was willing to accept this, being a fan of RPG-like games, so I bought it. When I played the game for the first time, I immediately noticed the beautiful graphics, but I soon ran into what was, for me, the two aspects of the game that made me quit: Loading times, and weird controls/camera. I have a PSP "Phat" so each load between areas takes about 10 seconds for me. This puts a major cramp on the enjoyability of the game, especially since there is a LOT of areas you have to travel through. The camera and controls take away from the game as well. Combat is made extremely difficult because of the controls, and the fact that the camera doesn't adjust automatically will cause you do die alot during combat (if you aren't used to it yet). If you think you can get around these two aspects of the game, then this might possibly be one of the best games for the PSP. If not, then don't bother buying it.

While this game won't be for everyone, those who do like it will love it.

However, be aware that Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is actually the same as this game, plus an assortment of extras like new monsters and new features. Unless the difference in price is extremely compelling to you, you'd do better buying Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

The Graphics!!! I will come back to this..

This is like an MMORPG for the psp minus thousands of players even though the npc's give the illusion of a living world here.
(this game supports AdHoc and Infrastructure mode via WiFi connection for up to 10 players)
Tons and Tons of Crafting, Cooking and creation Skills, weapon upgrading and armnor too. This game Is Huge
*now I know how Oblivion is going to fit*
this game at first glance may seem a little Hack & Slash-esque. I can assure you it is not.
*Harvest Moon fans May Like This*
if you do not feel like Killing today Try your Hand at Farming.Farm all day or fish! it's all up to you! *you can do this and only this if you wish* also fishing, herding, collecting, quests and downloadable quests and so much more its nigh impossible to put it all into this review.
If you are looking for a deep rpg with a lighter story and a Huge Open ended world like oblivion, Then this is for you!*until Dec 31 2007 (current Oblivion PsP release date)*
Now the graphics and Sound. WOW! was my Top End PC gaming Friends response to witnessing the opening sequence, and then again as he began playing in the Exact graphical Environment as the Opening Scene!

And the Sound is Surrealistic! truly amazong I actually was "feeling" the wind at one point *my a/c had come on* but hey it is Amazing!

the game may not appeal to the rpgers that prefer linear, turn based combat here because this is soo much like Ultima Online its scary.
Also Better in both sound and graphics. also great for the loot hoarders with a guild card system and an xbox 360 like achevement system that lets you display your most powerful wares and rewards to others online and off!
I own both of these games and any respectable RPG Nut should buy them both now.

Graphics: 5 stars *would go higher if it was possible* HUGE ENEMIES!

Sound: almost BOSE like in its purity and goodness 5 stars!

Fun: 5 stars Free roaming HUGE world environment *watch the sun set it's a marval* and the A.I. is excellent on the enemies you'd expect to be smarter and A Dragon cannot be Whomped by a level 5 character thats been gifted goods! he will get eaten along with his Mighty friend! just some things should Not be Faced Alone!

Overall: Brilliant! I hope to see many more games like this and I am even impressed with the Nods towards Harvest Moon and Breath Of Fire *fishing minigame* I cannot praise this game high enough and its all on a HANDHELD! my ps2 does not look this good.

5 Stars Buy it here and Now! MHF 2
Monster Hunter Freedom 2

and the First Monster Hunter freedom Here! MHF 1
Monster Hunter Freedom

I bought this game after reading about the upcoming sequel. I had to see what all the buzz was about.

Well, let me say this is a great PSP game, but it is NOT easy. You will get killed quite a bit and it can be discouraging. but when you finally figure out the right strategy to take out a monster, it's very satisfying.

The game has very deep customization of character, armor, etc. you can spend a lot of time just planning for the next monster hunt/quest. This may put some people off, but it really adds to the appeal of the game for me.

This is not a pick up and play for 5 mins type of game. It's very involved and requires a good bit of thinking/planning to be successful.

If you like MMO/RPG type games this is definitely one to check out.

It is not unheard of to see people put upwards of 400 hours into this game. I can see why.

Very good graphics/sound round out a great game.

The game supports multi-player through wi-fi/ad-hoc. No infrastructure support. However Ad-Hoc party is available in Japan from Sony and it allows you to use your PS3 to connect and play with people from all over on your PSP.

I am expecting this to be released in the rest of the world after the new Monster hunter game comes out in June. i am sure hunting some of the bigger and tougher monsters will be more fun with 3 other people to help!