Six Games That Won't Be Worth The Hype

Today's hyperbole, tomorrow's 7/10? Kikizo runs a cynical eye over some of the biggest upcoming console releases.

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Monster Hunter Tri
Wii

What they've said about it:

"We are about to set our feet in a new hunting world that no other man has ever seen." - Capcom-Unity site

"There's a lot of pressure to make it succeed, and I'm sure there will be a lot of shocked gamers out there when they see just how good Monster Hunter Tri looks." - Keiji Inafune, Head of Research & Development, Capcom (Top Secret podcast, official Bionic Commando site)

"They'd have to turn it into a party game and make it Balance Board compatible for it to sell well in the west." - Nitro, Kikizo forum member

The Monster Hunter Freedom games on PSP are easily my favouritest games ever times a million: I played the second one obsessively for six months, carefully assembling raw materials for the most devastating weapons and equipment, meticulously planning out my assaults on the fearsome menagerie. Which is why it pains me deeply to suggest that the Wii threequel will be anything but sheer perfection in Rathlos-scale armor and a loincloth.

Let's start with the aquatic hunting, probably the central new feature. It looks rubbish. Monster Hunter has always turned its nose up at the dictates of realism, of course, and some would say this is part of its charm, but the poolside antics which grace the third iteration leave our suspension of disbelief in tatters. A bloke swinging half-a-ton of T-Rex jawbone around like it's a croquet mallet I can take, just about. But a bloke doing the same thing while floating underwater?

It's not just a question of waning credibility, though - the swimming feels clunky, with the camera frequently getting stuck the wrong side of the surface, and the dodge move that is amongst the series' most essential mechanics apparently AWOL.

And then there's the question of host hardware. We're not too bothered by the idea of a motion-sensing control scheme, but we are concerned that the game appears to be technically on a par with its PS2 ancestors. This is the seventh console generation, Capcom - I want to see individual ringlets in my character's chain-mail boxer shorts, damn it. Failing a noticeable jump in technical potency, the developer might at least have rethought Monster Hunter's well-worn art design. How about some cell-shading?

Probable appalling reviewer's quip: "Must tri harder, Capcom"

Likely score: 15 "Wolfshead" II Long Swords (+150 Ice; Poison Attribute) out of 90

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