One Piece: Pirate Warriors

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.