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Good: Graphics; Sound

Bad; Combat; Camera

Not to be confused with: Monster Rancher (Tecmo)

Two years ago, Capcom released Monster Hunter for the PS2, a game that didn't sell particularly well in the US, but it did manage to spawn a strong cult following thanks to its online component. While the American fanbase missed out on the PS2 sequel they are fortunate enough to receive an update in the form of Monster Hunter: Freedom on the PSP.

Freedom follows the same premise as its PS2 big brother: you scour the countryside for various herbs, mushrooms and other items and fight giant dragons or creatures that closely resemble dinosaurs. At the game's outset you create a character from a rather paltry character creation feature and then begin a series of training quests that verse you in the ins and outs of the Monster Hunter universe.

Basically there are two types of quests: hunting and gathering. Gathering Missions are either glorified scavenger hunts or free-roaming excursions that allow you to stock up on rare items. Sure to please the Ted Nugent in all of us, obtaining these items usually involves killing a monster and then gutting the carcass with your trusty hunting knife.

Scavenging is absolutely necessary in order to find health and stamina items as well as materials needed for weapon and armor creation. Weapon and armor creation is easily one of the best aspects of the game because it allows a high level of customization without ever becoming overwhelming. It's obvious that the developers had it in mind since the game encourages the creation of equipment over purchasing by making it substantially cheaper.

Hunting Missions involve tracking and either killing or trapping a certain kind of monster. Some missions require you to engage a set amount of monsters while others have you focus on one, usually huge, creature. These missions are often very challenging, but the rewards are huge and the items yielded from the monster's corpse are always worth the trouble.

In terms of visuals and sound the game has lost almost nothing in the translation from console to handheld. It is one of the more beautiful games for the PSP, complete with dynamic lighting effects and high poly counts for the characters and the creatures, most notably the dragons. The forest and swamp environments are some of the most impressive thanks to the high level of texture detail and their multi-tiered design.

Aurally the game is equally impressive. Ambient noise of the jungle or the wind blowing from the left to right channel in the desert is remarkable, while the sounds of the monsters can often give away their position. For best results Freedom should be heard through a pair of headphones, there's just too much going on for the PSP's tiny speakers keep up.

As with most PSP games, the high quality of the audio and video come at a price: long, frequent load times. The game has to pause to load each time you enter a new environment, which is quite often when you're in the field. This gets especially tedious when a monster flees an area for another random spot on the map, forcing you to essentially search the whole map again.

Capcom did an excellent job of retaining the look and sound of the series when bringing Monster Hunter to the PSP. While the gameplay is also largely intact, problems do arise from the changes they had to make to the combat, camera system and online mode.

The change in the combat was a given. The PS2 version used the right analog stick to execute attacks and combos. Since the PSP lacks a right analog stick the combat now relies on combinations of the triangle and circle buttons to perform various attacks and combos with any of the game's five weapon types (short sword, long sword, dual swords, lance and bow gun).

If only Capcom had taken the opportunity to overhaul the combat while they were at it-then it might actually be fun to fight these creatures. Instead we're left with combat that feels like a guessing game, largely because the delay between command and execution of an attack and the complete lack of a lock-on feature.

It is especially frustrating when fighting some of the game's faster enemies like the Velociprey (Monster Hunter's equivalent of a Raptor). These creatures leap, sprint, charge and are generally in perpetual motion while your character chugs forward in a single direction. If your prey happens to be in front of you, great. If not, then it just means you have to wait until your character's finished the combo, pick a new direction and do it all over again. Good thing it's not a central gameplay element or anything:oh wait, it is.

The frustration is compounded by the game's awful camera that manages to position itself in the most inconvenient place possible, forcing you to re-center it with the L button continually. Pressing Up and Down on the D-pad cycles through four different camera positions, but none of them really get it right. One places the camera directly above your character, limiting your field of vision to the space right in front of you. Another would allow you to see downfield better, if your character wasn't positioned directly in the middle of the screen.

The lack of a true online mode is also disheartening. After the mandatory training quests, the game becomes amazingly difficult (especially the hunting quests) for a solo player. Taking on these quests with a few other players is still possible through network play.

While it may be more difficult to find three other people that own Monster Hunter: Freedom, multiplayer is still the best way to play. With more players the game actually becomes strategic. Use your bow gunner to engage your prey from a distance while your lance and broad swordsmen sneak behind the monster to deal some major damage up close. At the very least, with more players chugging in similar directions the odds of actually hitting the desired target increases.

In addition to playing the main game over a network it is also possible to play a new two-player minigame called Treasure Hunter. Here, as the name implies, you and an ally search for treasure in environments specifically created for the mode. While it loses it's entertainment value quick (after all it is just a modified version of the gathering quests) it is one of the best ways to find some of the more rare items in the game or just accumulate additional cash for weapon and armor upgrades.

Aside from treasure hunting, the game does see a few bits of new content that keep it from being just a simple port. The problem here is that most of the new stuff is hardly noteworthy and generally feels thrown together.

Take for instance, the game's three minigames: fishing, bug catching and mining. Bug catching and mining hardly classify as games at all since there are designated spots to perform these actions and they only require that you equip the right tool (bug net or pick ax, respectively) and hit Square. Fishing is a little more sporting, requiring you to press Square to cast and X to reel, but not by much.

Monster Hunter: Freedom continues on the course set by its predecessors. It's an extremely niche game whose (limited) success is based on the dedication of the online community it established, not groundbreaking gameplay or a deep, meaningful storyline. If you're a fan of the series you'll find yourself right at home and if, in spite of this review, you're still interested come equipped with a Zen-like patience. You'll need it.

Graphics: B+

Audio: B

First Play: C-

Replay Value: D

Gameplay: D

Overall: 64% D