There was a time, back in the late '90s, when geeks and doe-eyed adolescents would accept anything from Japan with open arms. It was a time when DragonBall Z, Final Fantasy and Hello Kitty were in their prime, and a time when Japan-crazy teens would pay top-dollar for Pocky, just so that they could experience a sliver of the culture. Times have changed, and "Big in Japan" is not the game-selling bullet point that it used to be. A perfect example is the Monster Hunter franchise, which, despite its runaway success in Japan, has never really taken off in the West. Nevertheless, its latest title, Monster Hunter Tri, has piqued the interests of many American Wii owners asking the age old question: "Can I start with the new game, or do I need to go back and play the first two?"

Luckily for newcomers, there is almost no story to the Monster Hunter franchise, so you can throw any trepidation about prior plot points out the window. The games act more as a simulation of the day-to-day life of an average, dinosaur-slaying wage-earner, trying to make a living by taking whatever temp jobs he can get. Tri gives hunters a little more motivation than previous titles, by putting players in charge of restoring a fishing village that has been ravaged by earthquakes and sea monsters. From time to time, you might check in with villagers or deliver some resources to fix up the farm, but that is about as deep as the story ever gets. Don't expect for a villager to recall something that happened in Monster Hunter 2, because nothing happened back then, either.