With Monster Hunter Freedom Unite coming to Europe and America by this summer, I thought I'd do a review on the first Monster Hunter Freedom on PSP.

With the series being huge in Japan, there have been huge events, Manga-comic books and even a restaurant located in Tokyo dedicated to Monster Hunter. But for some strange reason, it's never done so well over here. Monster Hunter was first released on the Playstation 2 back in 2005 but was mainly an online Action-RPG game for PS2 owners and pretty similar to what you would see in World of Warcraft on PC.

Unlike classic Capcom franchises like Mega Man and Resident Evil, Monster Hunter Freedom is an enjoyable Action-RPG with a frustrating difficulty lever and an unusual addition to the genre. For example, as you play through the game, you never gain experience points, and monsters don't drop loot. Instead, you mine for ore, forage for plants, bugs, and fish, carve up the monsters you kill, and use those things to fashion better equipment for yourself. To use a word that's probably been overplayed lately, it feels like a very organic experience, and that's what I love about it. On the other hand, it's a brutally difficult experience, especially if you're playing it alone, and that's what I hate about it.

While spending a bit of time in your town getting ready and gathering together the right equipment and items, you can then head out on your quest. Characters in MHF don't have classes, so you can just choose a weapon and start using straight away. Going back to earlier quests is often necessary to gain the items you need to upgrade particular weapons into something you'd prefer.

The controls can be a little fiddly to control, depending on what weapon your character uses when you're taking out certain monsters. Some quests in Monster Hunter require a lot of tactics and strategy on how to take out certain monsters and to end successfully.

A good thing about the series is if anyone else has a copy of Monster Hunter on PSP can team up with you in 4 player adventures and make most of your quests and battles easier when taking out huge monsters.

The graphics for Monster Hunter on PSP look well done for an RPG game, but looks pretty much the same as the Playstation 2 if you have played through the series before. For those who never played through the series, Monster Hunter Freedom is basically a visual mix of Land of the Lost and Jurassic Park. Most monsters in the game are a lot like dinosaurs mixed with dragons. It even harbours a bit of Animal Crossing as well, letting you go fishing and plant seeds to make herbs, but also you can go mining and get rare crystals or special stones to help you.

A problem with Monster Hunter Freedom is the third-person camera control throughout the game is poor and you are unable to target and lock-onto monsters so attacks have to be focused directly at certain monsters if want to beat them.

Whatever character class you're using in Monster Hunter Freedom, the camera remains in third person and you can't go to the option screen and change the camera controls. But if you're playing as gunner, you can take out most monsters in first-person mode, breaking up gameplay nicely by allowing you to play through the game like a FPS.

The music is good, and does a nice job of enhancing the mood. Probably one of my favourite moments in the whole game is sound-related. When you kill certain animals, you will carve off a chunk of raw meat, which even a barbarian like you can't eat, so you have to cook it. Cooking meat is timing-based. Push the button too early, and you get a rare steak. Too late, and it gets burned. Hit it right on time, though, and you not only get a nutritious well-done steak, but you get a hilarious little victory riff and a chorus of voices saying "Mmm, that's tasty!"

Overall: Monster Hunter is one of those 'like it or hate it' series of games. Some people will enjoy it a lot and some people would not be at all interested and find it too difficult to play on their PSP. It's very challenging if you want to take on monsters single handed with out anyone helping you, but if you have friends who own this game it can be very addictive if you play with a group of friends.

There is no story so you are allowed to take your time in completing quests, and you can easily spend more than 50 hours playing Monster Hunter Freedom. It's one of those game that you'll keep coming back to if you're a fan of either the series or enjoy the Action-RPG genre.

It's been a while since I've been on CAPCOM UNITY, mostly been busy overt he past few months.

Yes I have been playing alot of RESIDENT EVIL 5 on PS3, here is my review on Resident Evil 5:

With Resident Evil 4 being one of the best games in the series and with a lot of gamers excited about Resident Evil 5 since day 1 back in 2006-2007 at least. A lot of people thought that Resident Evil 5 was going to be great on next gen consoles; well you are sort of right and wrong.

Fans of the series will know what I'm talking about with the main story. But for new comers story isn't that amazing mostly funny at certain parts of the game. Ten years after the destruction of Raccoon City, former S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team member Chris Redfield is an agent of the B.S.A.A. This paramilitary anti-bio-organic weapon organization travels the globe to seek out and destroy Umbrella's creations, which have fallen into the hands of terrorists following the collapse of the multinational pharmaceutical company. When Chris gets a tip that a known weapons dealer will be making a big deal in the remote African nation of Kijuju, he heads there to put a stop to it and learn what he can about the mysterious doomsday project known only as Uroboros. Chris is joined by Sheva Alomar, a local B.S.A.A. agent, and together they battle wave after wave of infected villagers, horribly mutated monsters, and even series archnemesis Albert Wesker.

Gameplay: If you have played through Resident Evil 4 either on Cube or PS2. It's the same 3rd person controls you can easily aim for enemies in the head unlike on the old Resident Evil games where you can't shoot most of the zombies in the head. Also returning to Resident Evil 5 is re-action commands which you have probably seen on other games where you might have to dodge attacks by pressing a random from enemies or certain cutscenes you'll really need to keep your eyes open because you may never know what is going to happen next. The whole point on Resident Evil 5 is teamwork where you have to watch your partner Sheva but having a partner can help you blast your way through over 20-30 enemies all at once. There will be times where your partner will be in trouble or badly hurt so you'll have to help your partner get back on there feet or get enemies of there backs. Through out Resident Evil 5 you can only carry at least 9 items with you and your partner, you can't upgrade it to carry more weapons and items but you will need to have to choose what you're going to take or what to pick up.
At the end of each chapter or if you die you to the can buy or organize items or weapons but you can also upgrade your weapons as well before going to what it is you were going to do before you died or going on to the next chapter or before taking out a boss. But the bad news is that the Merchant from Resident Evil 4 does not appear in Resident Evil 5 where a lot of people found him as everyone's favourite character in the series.

There is online Co-Operative where you can play with a friend online or offline. Players can join in on a free-for-all or invite-only basis if your game session is set up to allow this from the get-go. But these conveniences, there are some frustrating hurdles that need to be leaped over before a partner can begin playing. Co-op isn't drop-in, so if someone joins, gameplay is interrupted and immersion is broken to some degree. You can't trade items or weapons with your friends like giving your friend an upgradeable weapon or mixed herbs.

Graphics and Sounds: With Capcom putting a Resident Evil game on next gen consoles the graphics for Resident Evil are really impressive set in Africa. But there is more action then to a Horror game meaning that there isn't much blood, gore and scariness which unlike the old Resident Evil games which ever you played them on that gave you nightmares at least at parts of the game. But there are a lot of detailed environments in every way like the beginning you start in an African town, then moving onto the mines and deserts of Africa and then blast your enemies in a factory facility. But most places in Resident Evil 5 are not scary or creepy there no dark places or certain areas of the game where if certain enemies cans from the dark and scares you or if your opening a door a killer dog tries and attacks you. Great voice acting from most of the charcters, including the enemies which they do sound the same as the gonardos (the villagers in Resident Evil 4). Some enemies return from Resident Evil at there best you have to take out a people who are carrying a chainsaw. Most enemies return from the last game including the Lickers from Resident Evil 2 which most gamers will still remember.
Music is pretty tense making you feel on the edge of your seat with thrills and chill with a lot action.

Overall: It may not be the best Resident Evil game. Fans of the series will feel disappointed where some fans thought that zombies were going to return unlike Resident Evil 4 where some people were annoyed that there weren't any zombies. But with the story set in Africa I thought there would be flesh eating animals like an Elephant/Monster type where it grabs you with its elephant trunk and eats in half or flesh eating monkeys you into shreds if you're near them. Beating Campaign mode can take you over then 12 hours pending what difficulty you want it on. There a lot of things to do after beating Story you can replay the game carrying the weapons you've had before beating the game and there are hidden B.S.A.A. badges scattered throughout most levels to find to unlock new stuff. There is also trophie support if you are want to get all trophies or getting a higher rank on certain chapters. Mercenaries' mode returns again which a mini game where you have to take out as many enemies as you can on certain locations in Resident Evil 5.
If you are online on Playstation 3 yes there is a Resident Evil 5 space on Playstation HOME which will soon be full of online users later through out the weeks.

But if you new to the series it's worth picking up but I would highly recommend you playing the old games before playing Resident Evil 5 then you'll probably notice why a lot of people feel down that there any Horror mostly action. But however has Capcom really lost its taste in Horror? If there is going to be a Resident Evil 6, Capcom should have make it scary like the old games like Resident Evil 2 and 3 but having the gameplay mechanics from Resident Evil 4 then that would be a lot fun and scary for fans or people who are looking for a challenge.

8/10