Monster Hunter Freedom 2 arrives on Sony's PSP, offering gamers the chance to track wild beasts and slay them in a most brutal fashion. The game feels a bit too familiar, copying its predecessor instead of offering new and innovative features, but it still provides a quality play experience.

Players hop into the game and roll through a series of monster-hunting quests, facing off against foul beasts while building an inventory of special items and essential survival goods such as food and "hot drinks" (handy for those colder levels). The game has plenty of MMO traits, as players tackle each task by themselves or with the help of three others through AdHoc (multiple copies of the game are needed). Oddly enough, the game promises downloadable quests but doesn't include any kind of Infrastructure play.

Graphically, the game provides tons of eye candy. The environments look fantastic, spanning as far as high-up mountaintops all the way down to seaside villages. Furthermore, the sequel offers an outstanding "pre-load" option, where these huge levels load up without hindering the pace of the game, a problem that holds back the original Freedom. Character animation looks great, particularly with the many creatures that the hunters run into. Kudos to the cats working in the kitchen, too -- it's almost like they put on a show to go along with the hunters' meals that churn out. However, the monster encounters lead to one of Freedom 2's bigger problems -- the camera. During a battle, players have to manually manipulate their view during the fight to keep an enemy in range. Why Capcom didn't program a lock on system.. we'll never know.

The game has RPG-like qualities, particularly when building up the characters. The countless quests, both available and downloadable, deserve mention as well. However, the general gameplay hasn't changed at all. Hack, slash and strike at enemies with only so many moves -- and then go back to do it all over again with the next monster.

Because of the missing online play, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 feels restrained -- ironic considering its title. However, that's not to say the game sucks, because it doesn't. Fans of the previous PS2 and PSP releases will still find hours worth of content, either alone or with fellow hunters. Just be sure you have a big enough wall to mount these suckers.