Review: Monster Hunter Tri

Rated M for Nintendo Wii

A screenshot from Monster Hunter Tri.

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Wandering the plains and hills of Monster Hunter Tri is like seeing the movie Jurassic Park come to life.

Dinosaurs of all varieties - and aggression levels - abound, some content to eat the grass and roam whiles others are keen on eating you whole.

Monster Hunter Tri gets off to a slow start, as most previous Monster Hunter games do. But it's a game that delivers rewards if you invest some time.

You have to collect enough resources to help rebuild a small fishing village that has been devastated by recent unexplained earthquakes and is being terrorised by a ferocious sea creature.

You can either control your Monster hunter with the traditional Wii remote and nunchuk set up, or use the Classic Controller Pro which comes bundled with the Monster Hunter Tri package.

Monster Hunter Tri is a role-playing game, so that means that as well as foraging for herbs and collecting animal pelts that you can sell back at the village, you'll also have to keep an eye on your avatar's health status.

New to Tri is the ability to pull out a portable BBQ to grill meat on the spot. Be careful not to cook it for too long as it'll turn into charcoal and become inedible.

As you progress, you get upgraded weapons and equipment but take care on the weapons you use on missions.

During one hunting excursion I opted for a huge broadsword which looked imposing and did a lot of damage but I forgot that a bigger sword takes longer to swing and is harder to handle, leaving me open to attacks by smaller dinosaurs.

Graphically, Monster Hunter Tri is one of the better looking games for the Wii, but there's the odd graphical glitch to knock you back into reality, like seeing your avatar stuck halfway through the chest of a dinosaur he's carving meat off. But, generally, it's all pretty good.

More jarring, however, is the regular "Now Loading" screen you'll see as you move from location to location. Expect to see those two words lots.

While the single player takes a while to get started it's an astounding game once you get into it, with a huge amount of depth and tactics needed to take out the larger monsters. More fun, though, is heading online and joining other hunters in working co-operatively to take down large monsters.

It's taken a long time for a "monster" game like Monster Hunter to finally hit the Wii, but for fans of the series, it's well worth the wait.

Sharpen your sword and get slashing: monsters await!

- © Fairfax NZ News