One Piece: Pirate Warriors

If you're a One Piece fan or someone looking for something just a little different from your standard Dynasty Warriors title, One Piece: Pirate Warriors gets a heavy recommendation. Just keep in mind that "different" is the key word, for both better and worse. Your money buys a whole lot of content, so it won't be wasted. The Main Log, while mostly enjoyable, takes a bit of patience, but the other modes are worth the price of admission all by themselves.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors is a gorgeous game oozing with production value. There's plenty of content on offer, and while gameplay fails to differentiate from the Dynasty Warriors formula, it's hard not to enjoy such a mechanically sound, visually impressive adaptation.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors is not the typical musou. Nice visuals, a light but effective RPG side and a good amount of content make the latest game from Omega Force a nice surprise.

The new combat system is smoother than in other Musou games and the good graphics turn this title into a must buy for every One Piece lover.

The gameplay is deliberately kept simple, but offers enough depth to sink your teeth in. A combination of light and heavy attacks doesn't surprise anyone any more, but Luffy and his buddies move in such an enjoyable way it kept us entertained. [October 2012, p.74]

A playable anime, that's what this One Piece: Pirate Warriors is. A must-have for all Luffy fans around the world that comes exclusively to PlayStation 3 with a gameplay that pushes the boundaries seen in Dynasty Warriors to bring not only fights, fights and more fights, but also platform and puzzle mechanics with coop offline and online too. But its far from being the supreme One Piece game, because there are story arcs that the game doesn't include and the music and enemy AI are not at the same level that the visual part. A good game anyway, but a little too short even with its different modes.

Definitely not the best anime adaptation, but also not the worst. There's a lot of fun to be had with One Piece... if you're willing to overlook the annoying camera and an incomplete story.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors isn't the game of the year but it's probably the best game in the series. Some can say it's just a Dynasty Warriors-like, with all the problems that come with it, but it's a good one. The use of Quick Time Events is clever and brings some kind of renewal to the gameplay. Most of all, Pirate Warriors is the most accurate episode and it will be no problem to convince the fans.

A greatly polished, different game that relies on a well-known mechanic. If you're a fan of the anime and enjoy hack 'n' slash games it's fully recommendable. Also it's worth considering if you like either the series or the genre, but if One Piece or hack 'n' slash games are not your first choice, make sure you try it before you buy it.

All in all, I did enjoy playing One Piece: Pirate Warriors there's a lot of love in this title, but some awful too. If you can overlook the warts, you've got a good game.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors is a fan's dream, until they encounter the boring combat and one-dimensional gameplay. It's one of the better 'Musou' titles out there, but this style of beat-em-up needs some renovation.

If you are a One Piece fan then this is the best game to come out in the UK for the franchise and should satisfy anyone's craving for a bit of Monkey D. Luffy and his peculiar cast of friends.

Pirate Warriors offers a decent summary of the story for newcomers. Veterans will enjoy the enthusiasm the game is overflowing with. The shallow gameplay keeps the game from being great, however.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors may seem like your standard hack n slash game based on an anime, but with the online co-op, it really makes things fun and keeps things fresh in what is, essentially, an automatic "you win" game.

There is little doubt that this is game for long play sessions, thanks to the possibility to evolve and fight with each character. At the same time, is a highly accomplished representation of the One Piece universe, with many of his characters presenting speeches and moments worth noting.

For a Musô-inspired beat'em all, this On Piece will probably delight the fans of the manga. Visuals are top-notch in terms of cel-shaded fidelity, boss combats are epic, and the gameplay solid enough, except maybe the QTE sequences which, quite quickly, become repetitive and annoying.

There's something strangely uplifting here. [Issue#224, p.78]

One Piece license make the game appealing, but the same old musou formula is still there to let us down.

QTEs and button mashing for Pirate Warriors only.

Given the lack of polish and execution, the price might be a stretch for those unfamiliar with the franchise, but for loyal fans of the series, or Sh'nen manga in general, One Piece: Pirate Warriors is bursting at the seams with rich content, and is probably one of the better anime influenced games to come out in awhile.

More variety in the usual Musou gameplay structure isn't really enough to differentiate this title from other games in a genre that really hasn't evolved at all in years. Developers should really start considering what's wrong with the genre, and try to make it evolve. Pirate Warriors is not the right answer to the problem.

One Piece and Dynasty Warrior diehards will find plenty to love; anyone else will be bored after about two missions. [Holiday 2012, p.76]

Despite being a beautiful cel shaded game that stays true to the manga original in every way, One Piece: Pirate Warriors just isn't fun enough to play and it also sure could be more user friendly.

But make no bones about it,: this is Musou by the numbers. You can't get more risk averse than a Dynasty Warriors clone with an anime license attached, and it plays as derivative as it sounds.

Attacks are doled out with three face buttons and although there's a tights fistful of combos to learn and modifiers on the shoulder buttons for variety and occasional defensive manoeuvres, we literally took down a clutch of enemies by bashing the controller against our butt. No joke. [October 2012, p78]

In the end, it's quite a shame, because whenever you think you've seen enough of One Piece: Pirate Warriors all of the sudden Ruffy and friends make your belly ache from laughing again or dazzle with superbly choreographed special moves that fit the Dynasty Warriors formula quite well. I'm not usually one to judge a game on basis of what it could have been. But this material just begs for a title in which you get to live the actual adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates, instead of just their battles in a solidly playable but ultimately mind-numbingly generic fashion.

Sadly the repetitiveness of the gameplay, despite team attacks and unlockable special moves, gets tiring long before the charms of the world. And so, ironically, Luffy just doesn't quite have the legs

It's a good title for fans of the franchise looking to play their favourite chapters from the on-going saga. Unfortunately, its poor localization, repetitious 'room clearing' level design, and shallow multiplayer mode make it hard to recommend to a wider audience.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors partly unsuccessful capturing the heart and soul of the One Piece franchise. The dialogue is funny and the Straw Hat Pirates are well animated, but the gameplay is repetitive, and unless you're a true Dynasty Warriors fan this button mashing title might end up disappointing.

Unless you are a diehard Dynasty Warriors fan, I can't promise you intriguing gameplay, but there is a fun story locked behind all the repetitiveness. Maybe one day we'll see the One Piece game that this story deserves. Until then, I think I might just search out some episodes of the anime and see how they stack up.

Zany flair puts a bit of wind in its sails, but One Piece: Pirate Warriors is still a shallow, tedious game.