Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Review

I haven't done one of these in over a year, so I though I should do one again. Mostly this is just for my personal writing practice and for fun, but if your interested, Great! I'm sure some of you will disagree with me, and I welcome your thoughts, critiques, and ideas.
I've only gotten the game fairly recently, and I've already sunk almost 200 hours into this game. I've also known people who have played over 1000 hours.
In this game you basically, well, hunt Monsters. There is other stuff as well, like making weapons and armor, playing minigames, and talking to people. To hunt a monster, you talk to a person wit a little speech bubble over their head, they tell you about their specific monster problem, and then you go fight said monster. When the hunt is done you forge some armor/weapons, and then go fight another monster.
Some people might call this game a button masher. Those people are stupid. There is a lot of depth and strategy involved, especially in online multiplayer mode. You have to learn a monster's attack patterns, then attack when its recovering from an attack, then get out and go on the defensive for a while. With the new feature added to 4U , mounting, if you perform enough aerial attack on a monster you can mount it. Successfully mounting a monster will topple it over, leaving it vulnerable to attack for a while. Often the monster will leave the area, forcing you to track it down continuing the hunt.
When you kill a monster, you can carve of pieces of it to make armor and weapons. Each weapon type has so much depth and detail given to it, that I can't go into it here. Within each weapon type, (There are 12) there are many different weapons. Each varying in different areas, like affinity, element, defense boost, jewel slots, skill points, status effects, raw power, and of course, looks. That's the thing, all of the armor and weapons are well designed, and amazing looking. I had the red Khesu armor, which made me look like a robed assassin, or The Shagaru Magala set, that made me look like an angel. Also each armor set give you certain skills. There are so many of these skills, it fun trying out different armor set to see what they do.
There are so many monsters, and all of them pose a serious threat. No monster is going to be super easy, unless you get to the endgame, and come back to your first quests. The monsters are all well designed, and given attacks that fit said design. There are lots of giant dragons, but plenty of birds, beasts, lizards, amphibians, little mini mammoths, two-legged sand fishes, a lumpy crocodile T-rex thing, and many variants of said monsters, to add more diversity and challenge. The armor you get from each monster looks like them, and looks awesome, but my favorite is the DLC armors, for you and your palico. You can dress up like Link, Samus, and more, but only if you beat the Hard DLC quests. You can then show off your cool, MegaMan palico to your friends.
There isn't much story in this game, but there is more than any other monster hunter before. You are on the trail of a mysterious artifact, but then the mysterious frenzy virus shows up. There are also little mini story arcs, that I won't go into here, because of spoilers. The story isn't great, but it doesn't have to be, the real reason your here is to kill monsters, and do you even need a reason other than you just want to.
The graphics in this game are good. You get a good character creator at the beginning, and can change your armor color anytime when in your house. The graphics are smooth, and all of the item gathering points stand out from the rest of the area, so you know where you can get items. The monsters also look amazing, and ferocious. I'm playing on the 'New' 3ds with the nubbin/C-stick. This is very helpful for camera control. The only time I had trouble, was when I was against a wall. Then the camera comes close up and all you can see is your character. This can be a bit annoying when trying to avoid a monster in the area, but it doesn't happen often.
I'm not the sort of person who really notices music when playing games, unless it really annoys me. This music never once got repetitive or annoying. There are also music cues for when a monster spots you, starts attacking you, gets angry, or leaves the area. These music cues are helpful, but I never needed them, and I would have been fine if they had not been included, but they add a nice little bit of polish to the game.
Where this game really shines is the multiplayer. Up to four people can simultaneously hunt a monster, or do other quests. The connectivity is great and I have experience very few issues. Never any really bad ones, just things like monster teleporting short distances in one area. I attribute this to my slow internet connection though. There is so much to do in this game. When you think you're near the end you're only just beginning. There are a tons of quests, monsters, and monster variants. I don't think i'll ever get it finished.

There is so much to this game. More than I could go into here. Things like Guild quests, Expeditions, palicos, the monster hunters minigame, talismans, melding, all of the many monsters, and so much more. This game is a well made, extensive, fun and engaging masterpiece.

Score: 9/10
I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting stuff, as this is a massive game. But if I remembered it I would have put it here. Hope you enjoyed this, and hope that it maybe somewhat helpful to you.