Monster Hunter Portable: Any Good?

[hanafuda]

Before the wave of MHP2 insanity hits Japan, I'm thinking of checking out the first PSP game on budget.

Never played a Monster Hunter game before. Anyone have any impressions of MHP? Worth checking out for less than 3000 Yen / 24 USD?

 

[NeoEsZ]

i spent 20+ hours with it.
i played some good multiplayer here and there, too

 

[Ghost-Dog]

I liked it on the PS2, but the PSP version has no online play. Only local wifi. I think they also simplified the controls due to the lack of a second analog stick. It's a decent port with some cool ideas, it even reminds me of PSO a bit, definitely worth trying if you can find it cheap. Used copies are still 34.99 at most EB's here, so I'm holding out till I see one for 19.99.

 

[toy_brain]

Ehh, clunky controls, long missions and some slow loading times killed my enthusiasm for it after only a few hours.

The game is impressive in terms of a PS2 port, as it looses very little graphical detail in the transition and the controls are, if anything, better than the PS2 version. However the core game is an acquired taste with your character neither having a lock-on ability, nor the ability to move and strafe like in a 3rd person shooter. This means a lot of times you will find yourself fighting the controls as much as you fight the monsters.
Add in a severe difficulty spike early in the game, loading times of over 10 seconds when moving between each segment of the map, even longer loading when you first start out on a mission, and you have a game not well suited to portable play.

Having said all that, it seems to have found a fanbase, and people have gotten to grips with the controls better than I ever did, so uhhh, I dunno.
I still want to check out Monster Hunter 2 in the hope that they fixed some stuff because the core gameplay idea is sound, its just the execution is a bit sloppy.

 

[Diavle18]

I have heard a lot of good things about it, often times being referred to as the PSP's best game.

It apparently provides a really great bang for your buck, something like 300+ hrs of gameplay (and thats just getting done with the main game, before doing any of the side missions).