is a 2010

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and Role-playing video game, role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games empha ...

developed and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

. It is the third handheld installment in the '' Monster Hunter'' franchise. Like its predecessor, '' Monster Hunter Freedom 2'', ''Portable 3rd'' is an original title that adapts the core content of '' Monster Hunter Tri'' into a new single player campaign, adding supplemental original content. The game introduces regions, monsters, and a revised Felyne combat system. A high definition remaster, the first of Sony's " PSP Remasters" series for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

, was released in Japan on August 25, 2011. The remaster's features include enhanced HD graphics, 3D support and shared save support with the PSP.

Gameplay

As with previous installments, the player takes the role of the titular monster hunter, sent from the hunters guild to Yukumo village (Japanese : ユクモ村) to undertake quests which range from slaying creatures to harvesting/gathering different items. The player starts with weapons and armor that is given to new hunters, but is able to craft better equipment by using the materials obtained from mining, gathering and carving slain monsters. Quests are divided into two main branches, villages quests obtained from the village chief and guild quests from the hunting guild hall. There are also additional quests given by the drink vendor to expand the menu of drink players can purchase to apply a buff before a hunt, as well as

Downloadable Content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

quests.

Reception

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' gave the PSP version a score of two tens, one nine, and one ten, for an almost-perfect score of 39 out of 40.

Sales

The game was number one in the Japanese sales chart of 5 December 2010, replacing '' Gran Turismo 5''. Within two weeks of release by December 20, ''Monster Hunter Portable 3rd'' sold 2.58 million units in Japan. According to the game's publisher, ''Monster Hunter Portable 3rd'' was "now the fastest selling PSP title ever in Japan" and "the fastest selling game in Capcom's history." By June 2011, the game's sales in Japan had reached 4.8 million units; making it the third best-selling PSP game of all time.

Notes

References

External links

Official site
(Japanese) {{JGA GOTY 2010 video games Action role-playing video games Japan Game Awards' Game of the Year winners Monster Hunter PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Portable games Role-playing video games Video games developed in Japan Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Video games with stereoscopic 3D graphics