A massive game on a tiny console
Incredible monster design
tough combat
Brilliant
unexpected writing
Impenetrable stats
cluttered inventories
Mounting adds less than it should to combat
We would have liked a go on a big screen
Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Find o🌱ut more about our reviews policy.
I have spent five hours trying to build armour that makes me 🉐look like a huge, bipedal lobsꦦter. To do so, I’ve trekked, harvested, mined and murdered my way across the world. I’ve sent tiny, talking cat minions fishing. I fought a giant landshark nine times, in the hope that its icy back would drop a specific type of crystal. As I finish the helmet - all crustacean feelers and empty, black eyes - I tingle with a feeling almost no game can offer: actual achievement. Not the hollow victory of collecting the usual scattered collectible scraps of open-world games, but the sensation I usually get after making a meal from scratch, or having yet another child. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is quite the thing.
For those who have played previous games in the series, the set-up is familiar. Within the stat-stuffed trappings of a JRPG, Monster Hunter lives up to its name, a true fantas𝓰y hunting game. The gentle rhythm remains - heading out into the wilds, picking herbs, mining ore or carving beast-flesh, before returning home to craft items that make that whole process more efficient, or give you the opportunity to take on harder challenges.
It’s still several different action games at once, similar to Bayonetta, in the way every weapon type (of which there are now 14) turns combat into an entirely different experience - this game’s two new weapons help show that off perfectly. The transforming Charge Blade, which can be both ‘sword and shield’ or ‘greataxe made out of a sword with a shield stuck on the end’, is a leaden thing, totally reliant on considered, occasional strikes and blocking. The Insect Glaive, on the other hand, is an acrobatic whirlwind of attacks accompanied, weirdly,❀ by the ability to sendꦉ a compliant insect to suck the juices out of monsters’ body parts, rewarding you with useful stat buffs. Learning one will not help you with the other - you need to specialise.
The game also, stubbornly, continues to refuse to explain itself. It’s an imposing mess at the best of times, tens of different stats competing at once, multiple inventories, invisible calculations being made with every swipe of a sword. Minor improvements have been made - there are now clearly defined tutorials for every weapon type, and customisable item sets speed up the interminable inventory process - but this is still a game that takes the help of a seasoned player, or YouTube video series, to fully understand.
Replacing the last game’s freakish coconut🌜 men, Palicoes are 4 Ultimate’s new AI companions. A race of squealing cat-people who can be collected like Pokemon on your travels, each comes with individual stats an🦹d abilities. Taking a lot of damage? Find a healer. Using a ranged weapon? Find one brave enough to distract huge enemies. And even if you don’t want to use them, a couple of Palco minigames - including fishing and their own automated mini-hunts - let you use their abilities in new contexts, netting you rewards in the process.
| Genre | Role Playing |
| Description | Hunt monsters alongside friends, while crafting armor and weapons. |
| Platform | "3DS" |
| US censor rating | "Teen" |
| UK censor rating | "" |
| Release date | 1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK) |
