Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Solid"

Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (MHF2) is the next instalment in the Monster Hunter Freedom franchise for the PSP. With the new game, you get more quests, new areas, more monsters, more weapons and more freedom.

We'll start with the problems: There is still too much mucking around between quests as you study up and learn, plan, buy, combine and farm, and, as with the previous game, not all of this is interesting and can become more of a chore than an indulgence. This is a real problem, as I am one of those slightly crazy people who actually enjoy all of the fiddling around, and even I, with decorations and new weapons that are great on quests but quite complicated to prepare, believe this is just too much. The loading times are also too long, splitting up fast-paced action with seemingly long periods of nothingness.

Nevertheless, these are only minor issues in the grand scheme of things. MHF2 has everything that its predecessor had and loads more. All of the previous environments – bar one – have been completely redesigned and there are totally new environments to hunt and gather in. There is also the addition of both day and night quests, in which different monsters roam and the environments change.
With these new environments come new monsters, new weapons, and even new elements. The addition of hunting horns, bows, long swords and gun lances gives the gamer much more freedom.

Another new addition, one which has stuck, is the ability to improve the strength of one's armour with armour spheres and the addition of decorations, which add skill points. These are very confusing at first, but once that hurdle has been cleared it gives your character a new level of awesomeness.

Still a massive game, MHF2 offers new features in spades, the most notable being the addition of a download centre where extra content can be downloaded via the Internet. Whilst new content is no longer being created for the game, one can still download quests and a few little funky trinkets from the site, and bet of all, it costs nothing.

The music (which has become somewhat legendary) has also been upgraded, with the original themes being present as well as new friends to be welcomed. One may even say (and it is a big call, but I must agree) that the new MHF2 themes make the score even better than the original (although, of course, many of the original themes are still present).

I give this game 8.5/10 as it never ceases to bore me with its high level of challenge, beautiful environments, clear direction, great atmosphere and freedom coming out of its ears. Sensational.