Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U)

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U)

I’ve had this for a little while now, but for some reason I’ve not made any posts about it. I’d decided to buy the game, expensive as it was (£50!) directly from the Nintendo eShop. I thought it would benefit from always being installed rather than having to find the disc when I wanted to play, and given how much time I ploughed into the Wii version (Monster Hunter Tri) I thought £50 was still going to be value for money.

Either that or I had a funny five minutes.

Sure, I’m generally against the prices of eShop “retail” games, but the cheapest boxed copy I could find at the time was £44, so it wasn’t a massive saving. Then I found, just 24 hours after buying it, that Game did download vouchers for £42.99. Ah well, you live and learn.

How is the game, then? Well, excellent. I had two major issues with the Wii original – the controls (specifically the item selection during battle), and the inability to get certain items unless you played online. MH3U fixes both those problems, with item quick-select on the gamepad, and optional online. As much as I enjoyed it before, it’s far, far more accessible now. Which is A Good Thing.

That’s not all that’s new, though. Capcom have added some new monsters, areas and weapons too. I still went with a Great Sword though, same as before. I did consider trying something else, but only the Great Sword seemed “right” to me. I’m playing as a woman this time though, not that it really makes a difference.

Something I didn’t realise would matter so much is the improvement in the game’s graphics. They’re so much clearer that they make the game substantially easier. Enemies in the distance are more distinct – so you can see their “tells” better, and “gathering” areas (for mushrooms, mining, etc.) are far easier to spot. I even found two “secret” routes in the Deserted Island that I hadn’t seen before simply due to blur.

At the moment, I’m nearing how far in I got with the Wii game. I’ve not reached Tundra yet, but I’m way ahead in the sword improvement and armourcraft stakes – having full sets of both Rhenoplos and Jaggi armour. I never managed a full set of anything in MHT. I’ve not had a go at Barroth yet either, but I have defeated a Great Wroggi and several Arzuros – neither of which were in MHT.

I’m currently trying for full Ludroth armour, and mopping up a few remaining 2* quests and the rest of the 3* quests. Around 20 hours on the clock!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.