Monster Hunter Tri - A step up for Wii online multiplayer?

It's always a pleasure when a game raises the bar for a system in a particular area. In terms of presentation, the Wii title Super Mario Galaxy, unarguably achieved this. The game displayed unprecedented levels of presentational detail, quality gameplay, responsive controls and musical score - not much a surprise for a game of its reputation, being Nintendo's flagship intellectual property since the 1980s. No doubt Super Mario Galaxy 2, due for release June 10th of this year in Australia, will raise this bar yet again. However, due to their nature, both of these titles do not grapple with one of the most disappointing aspects of the Wii- the online component. Enter Monster Hunter Tri.

You need not look further than this screenshot, to see how much detail has gone into Monster Hunter Tri.

Developed by Capcom, Monster Hunter Tri is the first of the series to make it to Nintendo's Wii, with various titles on both Playstation 2 and PSP. The basic concept behind the game is that the players visit various towns and cities to obtain "kill quests" - essentially bounties placed on dangerous monsters that roam the land. Upon killing these beasts, players are naturally rewarded with monetary sums which can be used to upgrade the player's gear. However, forging unique weapons and armour leads to much greater bonuses to stats. This is accomplished by salvaging the corpses of fallen monsters for valuable materials. This is obviously a unique method of character progression, but is a nice break from standard experience and level systems.This is essentially the heart of the gameplay found in Monster Hunter Tri, but those curious will find a more detailed explanation from IGN and GameTrailers reviews (see footer). However, whilst Monster Hunter Tri shines in both presentation and gameplay, it's its advancement in online mulitplayer that sets it apart from equally impressive titles on the system.

4 player online multiplayer: No more friendcodes, wiispeak and usb keyboard support? Aw yeah!

It can't be understated. Monster Hunter Tri is the industry standard for an online Wii experience. When players take their Monster Hunter Tri experience online, they'll find what is essentially a MMO, minus that first "m" (massively) as the game is limited to four players at once. This might not seem impressive, but despite this limitation, everything about the online experience is perfected. To begin with this game utilises the peripheral unit Wii Speak, making it only the 4th (and for us Australians, only the 3rd) released game to implement it. Considering the peripheral has been available for over a year now, it's quite poor that only 4 titles have managed to utilise it, when it should be a staple in Wii online game design. However, not only does Monster Hunter Tri provide audio communication for players, it also provides visual, with USB Keyboard support. This means no matter who the player is, or how they prefer to communicate, they can take down legions of monsters with gaming associates in a sensible, effective and co-operative fashion. Something that even The Conduit (the seminal Wii online FPS experience) didn't quite achieve by implementing the idea of player proximity, which was not universally praised. Yet even with all this, Monster Hunter Tri does not hold back on creating the ultimate Wii online experience. Capcom have managed to persuade Nintendo to negate the need for friend codes - that's right, they don't exist in Monster Hunter Tri. Rather the player is given a 6-digit "Capcom ID" to act as the online account. However players can instantly add each other to their friend rosters when online, without the need to register each other's codes, thus lifting one of the most painstaking and restricting elements of the friend code system. Fellow gamers, welcome the new industry standard for Wii online interactions- Monster Hunter Tri.

Monster Hunter Tri Online: Get excited!

References
Wikiepdia (Monster Hunter Tri)
Wikipedia (Wii Speak)
IGN - Monster Hunter Tri Review
GameTrailers - Monster Hunter Tri Review