Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Serious gamers are always looking for new challenges, and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate delivers in a big way. This intense game puts you against some of the most incredible monsters in gaming history, and requires you to hunt them without things like health bars and other stats to help clue you in on their behavior.

All the beasts you hunt in this game behave in different ways, and learning what their behavior indicates is part of the game. If you want an immersive hunting experience against unpredictable monsters, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be a thrilling game for you.

Early Levels Nerfed

In past Monster Hunter games, there essentially was no ‘beginner’ levels. You were thrown at beasts without compromise for being new or getting used to the controls, and had to learn through the “Survive or Die” approach.

If you’re experienced at gaming however, you’ll probably breeze through the early levels of this newer version of the game. This easier intro is designed to make the game a little more beginner friendly, but by the time you hit level 5 or so the compromise is over.

Lots of environments to battle in

One of the nicest touches this game has is the environments these hunts take place in. Rather than one static arena, forest, or mountain terrain, there are several different environments to battle in. You’ll travel through them to arena like areas. It’s refreshing to see how much detail was put into the backgrounds, even if it’s a small part of the game. A few of these environments will definitely remind people of past Monster Hunter games, but mostly in a good way.

Get ready for extreme fighting

Once the initial levels have passed, the developers held nothing back. You won’t be able to use your knowledge of past monsters to help you fight the available ones here. Each mob is a unique beast with special skills ranging from the ability to destroy the ground beneath your feet to ending up in a rodeo when you try to jump on their back.

The game allows for you to jump from platform to platform in the game, bringing vertical surfaces into play for the battle. You’ll need everything you can get to battle most of these monsters, but they can be defeated with strategy and experience in the game.

It’s similar in a lot of ways to the multi-player game Dauntless, with it’s massive monsters and difficult terrain—but in Monster Hunter 4 you’re on your own.

Pros:

• Extreme gaming for the expert player
• Fresh new environments for each hub
• Unique monsters with different skills

Cons:

• May be too difficult for casual players