Monster Hunter
At a 68 Metacritic score with 37 reviews, this one hurt especially, given how beloved the Monster Hunter series has become for both critics and fans over the years. Developed by Capcom Production Studio 1 and released in 2004 for the PS2, the first Monster Hunter was initially part of a drive to release online-focused games for the console. As such, it presented an altogether different style of combat from games at the time, one that was slower and more methodical, and that consisted of hunting select targets as opposed to hordes of enemies. As an online title for consoles, it was compared to titles like Phantasy Star Online and criticized for its combat, lobby system and controls.
However, Monster Hunter would become a big hit, selling over one million copies and being praised by fans for its challenging monsters, the deep variety of its weapon trees and unique approach. Despite issues with the online lobby system, it was still fairly popular with PS2 servers running in Japan until July 2011. Monster Hunter G would expand on the base game, releasing in the West as Monster Hunter Freedom and garnering average reviews overall. The sequel would release only in Japan but Monster Hunter Tri received a worldwide release, garnering strong praise and selling 1.9 million units on the Nintendo Wii and 2.6 million on the 3DS. Of course, the rest was history and now Monster Hunter stands as one of the most respected action RPG franchises.
