One Piece Unlimited World Red Review.



By Sam Coles:

One Piece Unlimited World Red is game that I wouldn’t usually touch with a barge pole but I’ve been making more of an effort at the moment to play and review games that I wouldn’t usually play. The reason why I wouldn’t play this sort of game in general is because it’s weird, now don’t get me wrong I do like the weird and wonderful but this goes over the line  and wears dilly boppers and runs in a circle.

This game is based upon a well-loved anime and manga and it concerns in this story a swash buckling crew of pirates known as the “Straw Hats” for the very obvious reason that they wear straw hats. Everything is very well they arrive in a new town after hours of sailing where they go shopping, drinking and eating. Things are well until everyone mysteriously disappears and you must go and find your friends.

 I must say with the cutscenes they are well directed and the animation is spectacular and the reason why I say this is that I didn’t play this on the PS3 or Vita I played on the 3DS and that system is not known for ground breaking graphics.

All the animations run as smooth as butter, but the main problem that I had is that the subtitles (because the dialogue is all in Japanese) are really small and very hard to read sometimes, and no I don’t own an XL before you ask, and yes I do wear glasses.

The game visually is a very beautiful and colourful experience all the areas and levels are varied with interesting locales; you could be in a tranquil village one minute to a dangerous lava filled no man’s land to a desert that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see. Overall the visuals are not the same with each area you visit there is always something new to see on your treasure soaked adventure.

The gameplay consists of a brawler style of controls, but adds that Final Fantasy style of play that you’ll get into battle transitions. The only difference compared the Final Fantasy series you actually control the character and attack them rather than standing there waiting your turn like your waiting in a McDonald’s line.

Like your standard brawling action you’ll be give your light attacks and heavy attacks but if you hold the R button you have access to special attacks like a powerful super move for you’re the character you control or a co-op attack where you join forces and unleash a world of pain for your enemies. Alongside the combat mechanics you’ll gain access to some special words and this act as a boost to your stats or they can help access certain areas which were blocked off before which can be opened by using the words.

When you finish a chapter you’ll be brought back to a hub town where you can store and sort your loot, save your game at the inn or maintain build new structures. I like this hub especially the way you can get around it because it has a free run feel to it you can make the main character Monkey D. Luffy stretch his arms and get across town at speed rather making him do it the boring way of walking.

Overall this game is a fantastic swash buckling adventure with great music, characters and beautiful visuals I would recommend this game to take a break from the serious nature of games to light up your life and the colours from main stream gaming.