User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Velocidrome(4th Gen)/@comment-5020152-20150316212905

VELOCIDROME

Concept: A big Velociprey. Moving on. 1/10

Design: Overall, V-drome actually has a really nice design. First of all, he's lithe and sleek, a far cry from the cumbersome Great Jaggi. His bright blue scales are also a nice touch, with stripes added presumably for camouflage purposes. Distinguishing him from his Velociprey brothers and sisters are his scarlet crest and sickle claws. With a body plan very reminiscent of a Velociraptor, you automatically know that this monster is a formidable killing machine. 8/10

Sound: A range of chirps and screeches, again a far cry from Great Jaggi's barks and howls. Unfortunately, they're nothing more than slightly deeper versions of the sounds Velociprey make. In terms of music, V-drome shares Seltas' theme, whose frantic tune kind of fits the way V-drome jumps around erratically. Kind of. 4/10

Gameplay: V-drome is a lot harder than Great Jaggi or Seltas. For one, he's incredibly agile and likes to hop around, meaning that scoring a hit is hard. The speed at which his attacks come can be unexpected at first, and the strength behind them is insult to injury. If you aren't prepared, V-drome can rip through you easily. In past games, his antics were a huge annoyance at best, but now I feel that he's a bit less irksome and more challenging. 7/10

New Stuff: V-drome missed out on all of the new mechanics introduced in MH3, so he gets them all now in MH4U. V-drome becomes enraged when enough damage is dealt, he limps when close to death, he can lose stamina and restore it by eating, and his head crest can be broken. He also has two new attacks to add to his otherwise meager arsenal of "bite, forward bite, pounce", and one of those is a pinning move. Finally, his textures and colors have been improved, and what was once flat blue in MHFU is now a wonderful, gleaming cerulean. All of this has helped V-drome become more of a boss monster and less of (as I have stated multiple times already) a big Velociprey. 9/10

Equipment: The armor gives decent physical defense and skills at the beginning of Low and High-Rank, even more so if you upgrade them with Armor Spheres and decorations. The weapons... are okay, I guess? Honestly, I don't know, since most of them seem to upgrade into better equipment anyway. The Sword + Shield has a pretty groovy design, though. 5/10

Cutscene: V-drome runs with his posse through the forest as they track the wandering hunter. The two minions attack, then V-drome sneaks up from behind. He pounces, misses, and then calls for reinforcements. Nothing really special if you ask me. 3/10

Summary: A big Velociprey. Nah, just kidding. That's what V-drome used to be, but now he's different enough to be considered his own unique monster. He's perhaps the first monster in the game that could give a newbie a real challenge, with his jumping around and fast, powerful strikes. I think he has improved drastically with the coming of MH4U. Overall 5/10