Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Standard Edition with Felyne Pin - Nintendo 3DS Game | Action RPG Adventure for Teens & Adults | Perfect for Commuting & Gaming On-The-Go

I have a LOT of time in the Monster Hunter series. I have played every US formatted Monster Hunter game, so I'm familiar with this series.I see a lot of questions asking if this is better than Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (MH3U). The answer is yes AND no. MH3U is MUCH more polished, and it's difficulty is more balanced. This game, MH4U, is a step onto a new level of hunting. The hunters, the weapons, the monsters, the game itself, have evolved, bringing a lot new nuances.In MH3U, the game throws you into the hunting field with a few tidbits of advice, then you're on your own. The game is hard right off the bat for a new comer, but, it's difficulty stays constant. If you can successfully hunt the first few monsters and catch on to the game's many nuances, you'll eventually become an expert, guaranteed.In MH4U, the game eases you in, there are "training" quests to familiarize you with the different weapon classes, you receive a lot more advice throughout the game, the story mode even actually guides you through certain parts of quests!! The first few monsters you hunt are easy, laughably easy, almost boring. From there, it gets tougher...and tougher. As a gamer that is familiar with the series, MH4U has been downright frustrating at times. The monsters hit super hard, and as I said, they've evolved. They've learned that driving you into a corner or to a wall, then pummeling you until you're down works well, they'll track YOU, and they'll change their behaviors according to yours. That being said, MH4U is still much more polished than the older MH games, and it is still a lot of fun.Moving to the online play. I play MH3U on my Wii U, and it's online experience is very rich. You can see which of your friends are online, what designated lobby/room they are in, and you can even message them in game even though you aren't with them. I believe in online manners, so, when I want to hunt with a friend, I message them and ask them first. Once you meet up with some people, you can use the gamepad's touchscreen and/or microphone, and/or a USB keyboard to chat.In MH4U, you can see which of your friends are online....and that's it. You can't see where they are or what they're targeting/hunting for, you can't message them either. All you can do is warp to them and hope the people they're with don't mind you coming, and hope the room host doesn't kick you out. While you're in the "Gathering Hall", you can use the touchscreen to type very short lines to others. Once you head out on a hunt, you are restricted to preset (can be edited) "shoutouts". You cannot chat at all, which, to an experienced hunter, hinders the experience. Monster Hunter's online quests are all about teamwork, and of course, communication is key! I wish Capcom would have added more communication features to MH4U, it would've made the online co-play MUCH more enjoyable.So, which is better? MH3U or MH4U? Neither. Both are excellent games in their own right. MH4U has more content overall, but MH3U is more balanced and polished.A final note: If you're contemplating buying MH3U over MH4U and you own a Wii U, buy the Wii U copy, not the 3DS copy. The Wii U copy of MH3U has stand alone online multi play. The 3DS copy of MH3U CANNOT be played online, not on it's own.There is a way to play MH3U 3DS online, but you'll need a Wii U, and you'll have to buy a USB to ethernet adapter, connect the Wii U to the internet via ethernet cable (hence needing the adapter) and you'll have to download and run a Packet Relay app on the Wii U.This game, MH4U, has stand alone online multi play, though as I discussed, it's features online are sparse.I've never played a Monster Hunter game before. A friend of mine and his wife are huge fans, however, so I was excited about finally giving the series a try with MH4U. My first impression? This game has a really big learning curve. It was not really a matter of jumping in and immediately feeling like I had a solid handle on the game. My understanding is that MH4U is much better than previous games in that regard, but as a brand new player it felt like I had a bit of a hill to climb before I was really able to progress on my own two feet. There is a lot of systems to learn, how the items work, a LOT of experimenting to see how the different weapons feel, and that's before even getting into the monsters themselves.However, once I started to feel like I had a hold of these things, the game quickly got really fun. I could focus on monster hunting and collecting items and doing the fun things as opposed to stumbling around trying to figure out what in the world I was supposed to do. The game did a good job of ramping things up a little by little so that by the time I fought my first proper monster, I felt like I was ready to do so. And after that, tracking and killing each monster becomes more and more fun.If I had to ding the game for anything, it's that it's still a game that takes a long time to feel competent with. Not competent in the sense of "I can beat this game", but competent in the sense of "I have acquired the minimum foundation of skills needed to begin to progress". The UI takes getting used to, the quirks of the series take getting used to, the controls take getting used to, and that's before you even get to learning about individual areas or monsters. It's not a game for those seeking instant gratification.Best of the series so far. They utilize the extra mobility in this game a lot. You can climb on tons of things and you have ledges in every area of the map in order to do jumping attacks on monsters and even be able to mount the monsters. The gameplay and control is genius level. The new weapons like the Charge Axe and the Insect Glaive are awesome. The Charge Axe feels like a Switch Axe + Hammer and is great for KOing monster as the Insect Glaive allows for great power ups and a feature to launch yourself in the air to mount monsters.The storyline isn't just one small village like Tri and MH3U but you go to multiple villages and a large city to help the citizens out with their monster problems. The cut scenes are the best so far and the graphics for those are incredible. The graphics for the gameplay while hunting mirrors that of Tri and MH3U but it is still very appealing. The new armor is awesome and they have really outdone themselves on some of the weapon and armor designs.I thought on a mobile platform that this would play terribly. It plays wonderfully. With the Circle Pad Pro it is the same functionality as other consoles like the PS2 and WiiU. It plays much better than Tri did. If you do not have the Circle Pad Pro it is effective to target each monster on hunts and tap L to focus on them. I did that through the first ~50 hunts before my Circle Pad came in and it worked wonderfully. I got the Circle Pad with this to save me from finger and hand cramps which is the only drawback of this game being on the 3DS instead of a home console.I have been eagerly awaiting this game since its first announcement way way back, so what is the game about?You play the role of a hunter who is employed by the local guild and caravan in this one to slay monsters that range in size from man size beasts up to the huge dragons of legend.However this is more than just a hack and slash button masher it requires a LOT of skill and patience when confronting these beasts, you need to wait for opportune moments to attack and others for defence or evasion as the monster counter attacks or flees. If you go all out in a tekken style play i guarantee you will fail very quickly. This is like playing chess, easy to get the rules down but a lot more tricky to master,You start of with a basic weapon and armour, you hunt the small man sized beasts first, off them you create better armour and weapons, you hunt bigger prey, use them for even better armour and weapons and so on until you can hunt the pinnacle of evolution, the elder dragons, these are ancient beasts that can`t be killed only driven off.I have sunk over 50 hours so far into this and it was only released on 13th February 2015 and would recommend the game highly. Just make sure you have the patience learn the game otherwise it can be very frustrating.Best game for 3DS hands down, played so much of it.. So much fun fighting monsters and breaking parts off them. Loads of verity in monsters and their behaviors/ attacks. So happy there is no underwater fights anymore, that was so awful in the 3'rd game. Its a bit easier on beginners as well. The series is renowned to be punishing to new comers badly explaining things. You will have to do some research on armours and on certain weapons.. They are quite complicated and require certain skill instead of blindly button mashing which will kill you fast. Upgrading armour and weapons is a blast, missions are rewarding and you feel genuine progression in story and of your power. You get to travel to different areas fighting new monsters and having access to a new level of herbs/ butterfly's after finishing the star quest series you are on.. The game is so huge ive had around 50 hours and im still not high rank yet. Theres low rank/ High and G rank.. So you can see how long it potentially can be. There are 100's of armours which you can mix together for certain skills, which is another area that you will need to research. This is according to how you want to play.. A very decent game that doesn't treat you like an idiot and is genuinely tough.Honestly my all time favourite Monster Hunter games, relatively newbie friendly but challenging enough for veteran hunters (who should and probably do already own this).Basic essence - Go out, kill big monsters for village(s), gather materials, make ridiculously large weapons and armours, repeat but with bigger monsters, progressively getting bigger and deadlier as you get more talented, well geared and knowledgeable of the prey.There is no "levelling up" system - You, as a person become better at hunting, You recognise move patterns and when to dodge, you know when to sneak a slow but strong combo, you know when to strike and retreat quickly. You recognise it's weaknesses, you know what armours defend you from its abilities best, you know what weapon injures it best and what elements and conditions effect the monster most.This is incredibly grindy though, lot's of repeating quests to gather materials from monsters but these are generally different, as the monster behaves differently enough to stop you creating a solid tactic to fight it.It is however a huge time sink, THOUGH, it does allow for short burst hunts - Ranging from a quick 10-20 minutes hunt of a simple Gendrome or Great Jaggia, to a full blown Harvest Tour including a potential encounter with one of the more dangerous and dramatic monsters of the series.Literally spent hundreds of hours playing this since release date but still not completed it.A great game to spend time on, but online connection is almost a necessity with monster hunter games now to make use of all features possible. Although the image quality of the game is a definite downgrade from MH3U, I can say with confidence the game play makes up for it. Having loads more monsters than any of the recent monster hunter titles adds way more diversity and the new ride-a-monster feature is also a great introduction.Would recommend to people who are not afraid to spend hours upon hours grinding, but not to people who enjoy casual games which are not really intense.Originally was not going to get this as a veteran to the franchise as it looked like they added parkour to the monster hunter series. However the new mounting, climbing and jumping animation features to the game act as a bonus rather than a hindrance after further game-play. Loads of bonus content added to the original Japanese 4 version (hence ultimate) and DLC accessible from main menu via internet adds extra stuff to your experience. Got onto G-rank and still haven't finished, definitely recommend!