Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

This meat is still rare, but in a few seconds it will be totally overcooked

Monster Hunter‘s impressive success in Japan has made it something of a mystery in the west. Like Dragon Quest, this series of action/adventure/role playing games never quite made it big here, despite several tries by publisher Capcom. We’ll just have to hope the third time’s the charm for Monster Hunter with the newest episode, Monster Hunter Tri, now sitting on shelves in the US, exclusively for Wii.

The game’s kind of a genre bender. It feels a lot like an RPG to me, but it’s really more of an action-adventure title when you break it down to all its elements. This is one of those games that has a lot going on at once. While the core mechanic revolves around building a character, accepting paid missions, then sending your person out to beat up and usually kill unsuspecting monsters, there are many other considerations. For example, is the monster you’re hunting best dealt with using a great sword, or is that too slow? Selecting the right weapon to use against the right creature can make a big difference. Does it really matter if the monster is some timid herbivore that’s just going to run away when you hit it? Naturally, the most exciting enemies to fight are the ones that fight back. Not doing so hot after a fight? Don’t feel like hoofing it back to base? There’s a menu option to jump home instantly. The game is really, really kind in such ways.

Beyond selecting the class of weapon, there are modifications to the weapons to consider. You can replace your weapons by forging new ones using raw materials (and money, of course), or you can use those materials to upgrade your existing ones for a lot less money. Tired of kicking monster butt? Buy a bug net and collect bugs, or fishing gear to catch some fish. In this sense, it’s kind of like Animal Crossing, without the grubby textures and lazy game design. Stamina low after taking a beating? Carve a chunk of meat out of your kill and roast it on a spit, right there in the field, playing a somewhat silly minigame where you press the button when the meat’s cooked just the way you like it. I’m not even kidding. There are pictures.

Beyond the finding and killing, there are also finding and gathering missions, which actually can be just as challenging in my experience. One early mission had me hunting for red coral stones. I spent a long time swimming around underwater just trying to find anything at all that looked like coral. Fortunately, there are sub-missions as well, so while you’re hunting for baubles or mushrooms, you can smash something to bits for bonus cash.

Missions have time limits, though, and you lose some of the purse that’s up for grabs if you “faint.” Screw up enough and the mission ends, and you’re back to the start and out the money you may have spent to start that mission in the first place. Better luck next time, loser.

You can fight using a torch, if you feel like it

The MH world is fully realized and elaborate, richly designed with varied environments, like forests, streams, even pitch-black caves that you’ll need torches to explore. There are different races in the game, like diminutive cat people called Felynes who yowl and hop around in the environments, offering helpful tips as often as they creep the hell out of you while hanging out in a crawlspace in a cave. I’ve even had a horde of them attempt to rob me. Needless to say, they ended up dead.

The NPCs in the game are talkative, but unfortunately everything they say is a block of text with a brief vocalized noise. It would have been nice to hear some talking going on. The dialog you’ll be reading is well written and funny. I especially enjoy the free use of gaming terminology within conversation. Characters will talk about saving your game, but there’s no “record your progress on the imperial scrolls of honor” crap, they just say what they mean and then express embarrassment at how silly it sounds. This is good localization. Maybe not on par with Treehouse, but still very good.

The village in the game is suffering from earthquakes, and as you complete quests, you obtain quest items which can then be spent to repair the village. Beyond this, Monster Hunter Tri‘s big new hook as an episode in the series is underwater battles, and they’re really something noteworthy. Over the years, I’ve played a lot of video games that have underwater sequences, from Super Mario Bros to Ocarina of Time and on, but no game has more seamlessly integrated this than Monster Hunter Tri. Underwater combat is easy: you swim where you’re facing, at an acceptable speed, and controlling yourself in combat works exactly the way it does on land. It’s so simply and neatly done, I was amazed.

Lagiacrus is every bit as tough as he looks

Tri is unique on Wii in a lot of ways, and they’re all very, very good. For one thing, the game looks phenomenal. There are no third party games on Wii that look anywhere near this good, and if it weren’t for the fact that Super Mario Galaxy is in such a different style, I would probably even set it above that. Let me put it this way: the only graphical limitation I see while playing this game is the resolution: things in the distance are rough because there are so few pixels involved… but for no other reason. It is simultaneously stunning and embarrassing. And yet, the entire thing is often ruined by some ridiculous clipping. Monsters become immaterial when killed. While this was probably a solution to people getting trapped in the environment behind dead bodies, there had to be a better one. Being able to stroll casually through an enemy that’s bigger than you after killing it is jarring and unpleasant. Bending to cut meat out of the enemy doesn’t look convincing when you’re already wading through the space it occupies. This is most upsetting because the absolute best looking thing in the game is the monsters.

The game also sounds great, and it’s a colossal shame that my surround system burned out shortly after I started playing. I’m looking forward to getting it back from service so I can enjoy more of the great score that’s been composed for this title.

Like some of EA’s games on Wii, Capcom has opted to forgo Nintendo’s WiFi Connection system entirely, building their own speedy servers to support the game with free online play. At launch, the servers were crowded but not overloaded. The friend system is easy to use, as there are no friend codes involved. You can search for people by name or using a short character string that’s unique to the player, link up to them and keep them on your friend list, jump to their location and more. I didn’t encounter any connection issues personally. You sign up for missions together and face off against monsters, some of which are unique to multiplayer. Honestly, these creatures are much harder than anything you’ll encounter in single player, so you’ll need the help. Got Wii Speak? I don’t. If you do, you can use it in this game.

If you don’t or can’t play online, there are other multiplayer options. You can play multiplayer locally via split-screen (remember split-screen, fellow old folks?) in what’s called Arena Mode. You choose two pre-created characters stored either on the console or a Wii Remote and set out on quests together. Again, they’re much harder than the regular single player missions, so right from the start you’ll need a strategy and some skilled fighting.

Ping!

Monster Hunter Tri is huge. There’s really no other way to describe it. The game is pretty complex, and you will spend some time in the instruction manual figuring out how to do things. That would be more acceptable if the printing job on the instruction manual hadn’t been completely botched: whole sections are missing, while others appear as many as three times. I don’t know if all the manuals are like this, but mine is. I’ve requested a replacement and I’m trying to find out if everyone’s manual is as bad as mine.

Learning all the mechanics and hunting down and collecting all the monsters in your field guide is going to take a really, really long time. Some estimates put this game at 80+ hours, something I am not even close to. Collecting everything in this game is a massive undertaking, and the game could keep you busy for months doing new things. So let’s put it this way: it’s probably the best looking game on Wii, it’s one of the best sounding games, it’s got the most content, the deepest combat, and the most robust online play. I don’t expect those who aren’t down for a huge adventure to be pleased with this game, but everyone who’s looking for an epic fantasy experience on Wii has finally got an option, and it’s a great one.

Buy this game in the bundle with the Classic Controller Pro, because it’s completely worth it. This new black variant of the Wii Classic Controller boasts some serious improvements, from a tapered grip to better placement and spacing on the buttons and control sticks. Don’t try playing this with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk if you have an alternative, because it’s a mess. Unfortunately, even while using the Classic Controller, you’ll need to use the Wii Remote’s pointed functionality to drag monsters into you guide, which feels annoying and unnecessary, but I suppose it makes more sense than dragging a pointer around with a stick, potentially in the middle of combat.

This game would be great on any platform, but is absolutely phenomenal on a platform as starved for this as Wii. Four and a half out of five.