Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is almost here!!!

I am a huge Monster Hunter fan so this post is very fitting. But anyway Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is almost in the United States. And somewhat ironically, this game is coming out one week after my birthday. Doubly ironic is that it is on my least favorite system... Of all time. I don't like handheld systems at all. And this game is 3DS exclusive. My best friend will probably get when it comes out because my best friend is the polar opposite of me. Instead of being a pro at home console stuff he is the KING of handheld gaming. He won't be the king of Pokemon however. That's My job!


LOGO!!!!

Anyway this is a Monster Hunter preview/review/update/thing and not a "I will DESTROY you at a Pokemon battle" thing. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, much like the Japan-only "vanilla" Monster Hunter 4 has a much better navigation system. And when I say that, I mean you can finally do some HARDCORE PARKOUR!!!!!! In case you don't know, parkour is a series of consecutive acrobatic "stunts" to get from point A to point B quickly on foot.


How does HARDCORE PARKOUR work in Monster Hunter? Almost any wall can be climbed, the ability to jump has been added (even though you need a Insect Rod/Glaive to do so), and you can now attack in midair. BUT pretty much any boss monster can do some HARDCORE PARKOUR as well (they climb walls after you).


Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will add two new weapon types: Insect Glaive/Rod (in Asia it's called Rod, everywhere else it's called Glaive) and the Charge Sword/Axe (two weapons at once!). Personally I think the Charge Sword makes a similar weapon, the Switch Axe, obsolete because Charge Sword's can do everything a Switch Axe can do. But the weapon types from 3 Ultimate are coming back.


Speaking of Comebacks, why is Capcom not bringing back....


Jhen Mohran? He was one of my favorite bosses.


Instead we are getting his slightly cooler cousin...



Daren Mohran! But I think Jhen Mohran has a
better design and is the only one of the two that has
a subspecies (as far as we know). Also he is the
tutorial boss (a role that was once held by a giant
chicken)


But since they are both Elder Dragon type monsters (even though they look more like whales than dragons) Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's final boss is possibly the largest monster in Monster Hunter history.



Dara Amadyura!!!! A Giant Snake!!!


My only complaint about this boss is that Dara Amadyura (the official name is unknown so I will use the Japanese name) is only hard (based on what I have seen) because of his power to cause 20+ explosions to occur at once. Alatreon from the previous generation was much tougher as a boss due to using literally every element in the game to his advantage. That and that fire tornado is a instant kill move no matter what. Dara Amadyura is much easier (he hits just as hard as Alatreon, but is much slower and more predictable) but at the same time has a better design and is much bigger. It IS the single largest monster in the entire franchise.


And with a new game must come a new mascot (every monster hunter game has a mascot monster that plays a crucial role in the story by the way). Enter the new "???" type monster Gore Magala!!! NOTE: THE JAPANESE NAME IS "Goa Magara" SO IT IS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME IN JAPAN.




Goa Magara!!!



Sure, he is not as big as say a Uragaan or Gravios
 but this thing is a BEAST!!! Never stops moving,
slings de-buffs like there is no tomorrow (so to speak)
and can mind-control pretty much any previous generation boss.



Oh, and when angry he grows horns and the wings/cape
transform into a pair of arms ending in large, SHARP
claws



Oh and SPOILER ALERT!!! Goa Magara has a bigger stronger cousin who currently does not have a English name so once again I will use the Japanese name because the Japanese names are the most... Available? I guess?



Boom. Shagaru Magara!!! Basically Goa Magara
painted gold but has a brand new move-set (like making 50 something explosions everywhere at once).



Monster Hunter 4 has a VERY obvious focus on the story more than the series staple of just preparation. In fact the tutorial boss is the big old Daren Mohran (see WAY above). Basic analysis of the story from what I know (I watched special videos that translated the entire game) is that a captain of a travelling caravan is searching the world for the origins of a bright gold gem (SPOILER ALERT: It's actually a scale from Shagaru Magara) while basically using your hunter as a gun (or sword. or Gun-Lance, or Insect Rod, or Switch Axe, depending on your taste in weapons) for hire.



Oh and ever wanted a weapon to absolutely prank/troll a boss monster with? Now you do! NOTE: THE NEXT TWO IMAGES ARE FROM THE WIKI. DOUBLE NOTE: THIS WEAPON IS BEYOND CUTE.



This is the concept art of the cutest weapon ever!
The Emperor's Speech!!! It's a Hunting Horn, so
unless you are playing with friends chances are this
weapon will make fights tougher than they actually are
(Hunting Horns are the only weapon type designed
specifically for co-op missions. Though going solo is still
possible).

This weapon was the Europe winner in a contest Capcom made to make and name your own Monster Hunter weapon and the two winners would have their creations put in the game. This is the other winner



Clockwork Contraption!!! It's a Insect Rod
so it's going to be a fairly popular weapon.
And it's a THUNDER element weapon so it
would be perfect for Rathian/Rathalos fights.


For more on Monster Hunter 4 please go to the wiki I found or the website.

Plants vs Zombies Revisited!!!!

If you are a die-hard fan of my blog you would know that I did a post covering Plants vs Zombies a VERY long time ago. Well there were a few updates and some free DLC (that you already paid for because the DLC isn't DLC at all because it was pre-installed already but only opened up recently).






If you have not read my ultra old coverage on this game, here it is in a nutshell. Concept: Family Friendly Shooter with walking plants and (paintball) gun-toting zombies. Game play: The three original modes were team based showdowns between plants and zombies. One mode, Garden Ops, has up to four plants try to survive ten waves of NPC zombies. The next mode, Gardens and Graveyards, is a sort of Capture the Flag type mode where the zombies need to capture ten or so gardens guarded by the plants, followed by the Zombies trying to complete their secret main objective (blowing up a lighthouse, raiding a mansion, defusing a nuclear bomb, etc). The final mode, Team Vanquish, is simply a twelve-on-twelve death match (arguably one of the more chaotic modes).



Chomp Town at night!!!


The first thing added was a new map called Chomp Town (see above). This is one of the smaller-ish maps in the game (this game is famous very large map/locations to play in). It works very well with a game mode added with it titled Gnome Bomb (see below).



Gnome Bomb!!!


In Gnome Bomb, the plants FINALLY stop playing "defend the base" and try to plant a garden gnome holding a bomb to one of three graveyards. However, zombies can do the exact same thing. Whichever team blows the most enemy bases up wins. But they have to do in FIFTEEN (15) minutes. To carry the bomb to the enemy base a plant (or zombie) needs to walk over the bomb, and they pick it up automatically. Just run up to the base (it's marked on the HUD) and Fire & Forget!!! NOTE: It takes a whole minute for the bomb to detonate and during that one minute the zombies (or plants) can defuse it, reset the countdown and "return to sender" so to speak. So protect the bomb until it goes off.

It also added new characters and I never bothered telling you about the character variations in the old post. They add different projectiles to the Class in questions primary weapon (I won't spoil them here though because they are much better than default but must be bought in the in-game store, though which one you get is completely random).

The next update added another map called Cactus Canyon. This map is the smallest course in the entire game (so small that in Gardens and Graveyards the zombies only need to capture four bases instead of nine). It's a canyon/desert type place that leads straight to a golf course. How many times do YOU see Plants and Zombies gun fighting at a GOLF COURSE!?



Cactus Canyon!!!

It also introduced a sub-mode for Team Vanquish: Vanquish Confirmed. Same Rules: 12-on-12 team based death-match. First team to get 50 collective kills (or vanquishes as they are called in the game) wins. But there is a twist with this sub-mode. Your team does not get a point straight away when you score a kill. Upon defeat a player controlled character will drop a Crazy Orb. Grab the Crazy Orb to score a Point. But if a player from the opposing team grabs the Crazy Orb, Your team will Lose a point.



Example of Vanquish Confirmed. This is on
the Jewel Junction map.


This update also added a VERY large map called Jewel Junction. The entire map is Old West themed. And loaded with Easter Eggs and hidden shout-outs to other games

I am going to say that all updates add new characters for the eight base classes so keep that in mind

Yet another update added a cool game mode for all those PVP pros out there. Suburbination Mode!!! In this mode, team Plants and Team Zombies compete for control of three neutral bases. You get coins for capturing these bases. The bases in turn give points to your team automatically. First team with ONE HUNDRED points wins. NOTE: COULDN'T FIND ANY PICTURES SHOWING OFF THIS MODE.

The next update and the most recent (being a few days old at the time of this post) adds a new game mode called Taco Bandits. In this game mode Zomboss, leader of the zombies, wants three tacos for dinner. Because he is a total jerk and too lazy to go fly his blimp to the taco store literally right outside his house, he sends his army of zombies to the local taco store (located right outside Zomboss' house). Which is owned by Zomboss' arch-nemesis, Crazy Dave.



Crazy Dave's Taco Shop!!!

In Taco Bandits the Plants have to guard Crazy Dave's Taco Shop from the zombies while the zombies have to grab EXACTLY three tacos and carry them back to the zombie team spawn point (where Zomboss the jerk is waiting in his UFO). If The Plants have at least one taco left when the 5-minute timer hits zero they win. But if the Zombies get all three tacos within five minutes, the zombies win. Oh and zombies cannot use abilities while carrying tacos.

This concludes my revisited coverage on Plants vs Zombies. If you want to know more about the eight playable classes please go to the wiki.