Hey all! Andy Aben here!

It's come to my attention that some of you have noticed I've been a little...scarce lately. Yes, I am still upset about the loss of the world's greatest pitchman, but in his memory, I plan to open all of my blogs as I just have. But anyway, that's not the only reason I've been out of it. I'd gone camping this past weekend with a friend and some of his friends from college. 'Twas great fun, and I took about 100 pictures, most of which can be seen here if you so desire: [link]

Anyway, that's not what I want to talk to you about today. As the title implies, I'm talking about a popular game for the PlayStation Portable. That game is Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

This game alone practically sold the PSP to the Japanese market, literally doubling sales of system. A port of the sequel to a PS2 game that nobody played, this game seems to have come out of nowhere.If we were to 'judge a book by its cover', or title in this case, one might assume it is just another Pokemon/Digimon/Monster Rancher-type game. If that's the case, be prepared for a surprise. The game is actually an action RPG, more akin to the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts than anything else. While you can capture monsters in the game, you only use them for battle in the most morbid of ways; carving up their corpses to make new weapons and armor. Speaking of the weapons, there are several different classes of weapons, so if you're not a fan of hacking and slashing, or if you lack sufficient defense for a particular quest, you can select a ranged or support weapon.

Plotwise, there's nothing too intellectually stimulating. You've been hired by a small village to serve as their new hunter, who's role is to not only supply the village with food and supplies but to occasionally destroy the terrifyingly powerful monsters that threaten the village. Half the population of the village is composed of vertically-standing cats called 'Felynes', some of whom you can hire to cook for you and even join you on your quests. The setting of the game is...different from what you'd expect. Civilization seems to be organized into hunter/gatherer tribes, yet they've got the technology to make sniper rifles. Despite the dragons and dinosaurs (and cats...) everywhere, it seems to avoid the deep fantasy setting of games like World of Warcraft; the only humanoid creatures in the game (so far as I've seen) are actually human, and there's yet to be any "magic". This leads you to think the game takes place either long ago or after an apocalyptic collapse of civilization. Either way, I can dig it.

Visually, for a PSP title, this game is BEAUTIFUL. The environments can be pretty large, and are often incredibly detailed. The player character models have realistic, fluid movements and animations. The monsters are mostly awesome in design (my favorite being the Tigrex) and for the most part they avoid palette-swapping. The customization options for the weapons and armor seem near-endless, and again they mostly avoid palette-swapping. The audio, if plug in some headphones, is fantastic. The music is all brilliant, and all of the monsters have unique, realistic cries.

Still not sold? Here's a few pieces of information I haven't mentioned yet.

First, it's made by Capcom. They make bad games all of...how often, again? Rarely, if ever.

Second, and arguably THE selling point... The game THRIVES on its wireless multiplayer cooperative play. That's right, you and a few of your friends can go on monster-slaying quests virtually anywhere at any time. From firsthand experience, this is a blast. Formulating team dynamics and strategies on the fly can be a ton of fun.

So, does the game live up to the hype set forth by its record-breaking sales in Japan? I'd say so. If you have a PSP, you have no excuse not to give this game a shot.