News

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G gets release across Europe

Now we can see what all the fuss is about

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G gets release across Europe

Capcom has announced that - finally - it will be releasing the several-million selling Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G across Europe under the new name Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

The game is scheduled for release across PAL regions in Spring 2009.

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G has been phenomenally successful in Japan. It's the fastest-selling third-party portable game ever there, and has shipped 2.4 million copies since its release earlier in the year. The Monster Hunter series meanwhile has sold over 7.8 million units since its conception, and has become almost a social phenomenon with players hosting festivals and seminars based around it. Yes - entire festivals just for Monster Hunter.

With over 500 hours of gameplay (does anyone actually have a spare 500 hours?), and previously unreleased monsters, weapons and missions, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is the biggest game in the series so far. Over Ad-hoc, you can meet up with up to three friends for some multiplayer monster slaying.

There are also a whopping 2000 armour sets, 1500 weapons and 400 missions.

The new European game will feature a few extras not seen in the Japanese version too. Firstly, a customisable AI Felyne companion who accompanies you on quests and gathers extra resources for you. You'll then be able to share your companions with other players through 'felyne casting', which lets you transfer data through the PSP sleep mode.

Also new for the game is an improved media install option which eliminates the problem the game had with long loading times. The game can be saved onto a memory stick and it then loads from that memory stick and the UMD simultaneously, making for faster loading.

Data saved from Monster Hunter Freedom 2 will also be transferable to the new game.

So finally us Europeans will be getting a chance to experience the insanely popular Portable 2nd G and it's about time too.

We'll bring you news on a firm release date as soon as Capcom announces something more specific than 'Spring'.

Kath Brice
Kath Brice
Kath gave up a job working with animals five years ago to join the world of video game journalism, which now sees her running our DS section. With so many male work colleagues, many have asked if she notices any difference.