Thankfully, Monster Hunter Tri came out yesterday. I squeezed in some time to check it out, and there have been a lot of nice improvements while keeping the core game intact. It almost felt like coming home when I powered it up.
There is now free play in addition to quest zones. The game changes between day and night. Clouds cast moving shadows. You can swim. An owl flew right by me. It was awesome.
Unfortunately, Tri is only for Wii. Don't tell my wife, but I only agreed to get a Wii after I found out it would be getting MH3.
