Freedom Unite is the full flowering of the Monster Hunter franchise and is, in some sense, the “ultimate game.” It is pure action-oriented strategy, resource management, and a series of hellishly brutal boss encounters. And there’s nothing like wearing the armored hide of a slain monster: Victory, once achieved, can fill you with a blinding white-hot emotion comparable to what a parent might feel during the birth of a firstborn.
New monsters, new gear, a new environment, the ability to port your old Freedom 2 character—that’s great, but the true newness lies in the inclusion of a Felyne sidekick. Depending on how you train the Felynes, they can beat ass, toss bombs, heal you, gather extra resources, and just be useful in general. But he’s only a sidekick, and is never going to leap on top of a dragon’s head and sacrifice his life to land a killing blow. My Felyne, the poor bastard, often ended up laid out like he was practicing being in the morgue, his little fuzzy face scrunched up in agony. I loved having him along, but was confused as to why I wasn’t given the freedom to name him. I ended up hanging with some doofus named “Peter” rather than kickin’ it with Toilet Head or Defenestration Freak, as I would have liked.
score 9.0 out of ten
verdict Freedom Unite is like the cube from Hellraiser that takes you to a world of ultimate pain and pleasure. The only major flaw: Capcom gives us ad hoc gameplay with local friends, but no real online multiplayer support. How many units does a franchise have to sell before you throw us a bone?
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