Monster Hunter 4 Climbs a Rathalos on 3DS in Debut Trailer
The surprise bombshell at Nintendo’s pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference today came as quite a shock to many. Despite having just announced Monster Hunter 3G for 3DS, an expanded version of the Wii’s Monster Hunter Tri, they dropped a trailer for Monster Hunter 4.
While it’s still unclear whether or not the game will also appear on other platforms, the trailer had a lot to analyze. While running away from a Tigrex, a hunter is seen jumping (gasp!) to various rock structures before they’re smashed to bits, not just landing on top, but clinging to sides from a jump as well. And just when things get really vertical, you can see the Tigrex climb the side of the rock face in pursuit of the hunter.
Things get real interesting when a Rathalos shows up and the entire play field gets knocked over, making a steep slope out of what use to be flat land. There seems to be no wall the hunter can’t climb as he dodges fireballs while hanging on for dear life. As the Rathalos draws near, the hunter pulls out a smaller weapon independent of his great sword to attack the monster while in a climbing position.
Finally, the most exciting addition comes when the hunter jumps onto the back of the Rathalos itself in what appears to be a Dragon’s Dogma inspired grapple system. The same smaller weapon is seen stabbing the back of the Rathalos after it falls out of the sky, hunter and all. His great sword is then drawn as the logo flies onto the screen.
Throughout the entire trailer, the hunter is seen moving through a rather large environment without any abrupt transitions. Could this be the seamless environments we wrote about in our wishlist earlier this year?
It looks like Monster Hunter 4 has quite a bit of new features if this trailer is any indication. More dynamic levels, jumping (which may or may not be context sensitive), more open and seemingly faster climbing options (including climbing monsters themselves), and possibly some sort of sub-weapon.
Did you notice anything we didn’t in the trailer below? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Ustream (video captured via Nintendo Everything) with analysis help from Milo
Tags: 3DS, capcom, Monster Hunter, Monster Hunter 4, Nintendo
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 at 12:02 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:40 am
Adam Anania says:I gotta say, it does look pretty cool. Although as I was saying on Twitter, I don’t get the escaping part quite. I know what you were saying about running being a big part of MonHun, but it seems like the area was specifically built for the purpose of running away. So I kind of wonder if they’re going to force you through “escape segments” before the fight can begin. That’d suck.
I’m also a little down that it’s on 3DS. I loved playing on the Wii, even though I know portable MonHun does better. But until Nintendo announces a new 3DS model with the second stick built on (and hopefully better battery life), I just dunno if I’ll grab it. Not to mention that Vita will probably get Portable 4th with even more content.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:06 am
Jesse Gregory says:A couple things:
I think they just did the running to show off the more destructible nature of the environment. I bet if you aren’t being chased you can jump to those pillars without them falling most likely. And it looked like even if everything crumbled, you could still get up to higher areas by the main, undestroyable rock wall that contains the crumbling pillars.
I don’t think you will ever be “forced” to run at all. Fight the Tigrix in the pit, or on that first ledge before the pillars. I don’t think the game will prevent you from doing either of these things.
This is, of course, all speculation on my part.
That said, the first time you run into a Tigrix in Freedom 2 there’s not a chance in hell you will win, but you can choose to fight it anyway if you want. I did… and died horribly.
September 13th, 2011 at 6:21 am
Adam Anania says:I see what you mean. And I read somewhere (maybe Andriasang) that what was shown is just a concept. Which makes sense. I mean, it’s just Monster Hunter 4 right now. Not Monster Hunter Quatro or something.
I think the nature of the preview manipulated my take on it. It’s clearly engine footage, not pre-rendered. But the way the camera switches around gives the impression things are scripted.
But yeah, I really hope there’s nothing scripted about the new thing. That’s what has made MonHun so good so far.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
Sensui says:I liked it. I got more hyped for this than TriG. Of course, my only problem is that how the games will do is up in the air. The 3DS is selling better now, but to put both games on one system, that they’ve never been on seems like too much of a risk in my opinion. Still, I wish it the best. Regardless, I’m more worried about a western release for the game. We haven’t been that lucky with 3rd and it’s HD brother.
Only time will tell though, so here is to hoping for a western release.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:01 am
K.E.I says:LOL…
1:52
Spiderman Rules!!:D