Monster Hunter for PS2
 

It's a shame when such a genuinely fun game goes unnoticed the way this one has. It recieved fairly poor reviews from both Gamespot and IGN, but I gave it a shot anyway, and I'm glad I did.

Basically, you are a hunter in a land with very large dinosaur type beasts, and you take missions to hunt them or to gather and forage materials. You use materials you gather from foraging and from carving hides, scales, etc. directly off the animals you kill, to make new armor and weapons and items. Eventually, you get to go on hunts for some really huge dragons, and I do mean huge, and along with those hunts are some of the most tense and exciting videogame moments I've had in a long time. The graphics are excellent, the scenery is gorgeous, and you'll find yourself creating that new armor just to see how it looks on your guy. You can also go online and hunt with groups of four, which is really where this game stands apart.

It's a very simple game that has some moments of pure Japanese quirkyness, and some moments of brilliance. It's definitely not for everyone, and it has it's flaws, but if you give it a chance it can be really fun. Am I the only one here who has tried this game??

I've played it. The controls are hard to get used to, certainly, and the camera could use some work. Also, the offline game has nowhere near the depth of the online game. However, all in all it's a pretty cool game. It also has a lot of the advantages of an MMO-style game without some of the downsides (like paying to play, and lack of offline content). You still get to level up, get better equipment, join groups to take down tough monsters using tactics, and all sorts of cool stuff.

I don't like the fact that all the monsters are basically dinosaurs until you get further on, though...

Bingle

I just recieved Game Informer, and they also gave it a bad review. It was on my list of games to rent/buy, but I'm not sure now. I might give it a chance, the concept seems very interesting.