Review: ONE PIECE PIRATE WARRIORS 4 Rides An Easy Wave
Picking up the anime, One Piece, isn’t a simple task with its hundreds of episodes and a massive cast. However, One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 gives a greatly truncated version of many arcs of the anime while allowing players to smash through hordes of pirates just for the fun of it. This game won’t challenge players with hyper intense combat, strategy or gripping, emotional stories, but it will provide an entertaining number of hours that have some surprisingly good story bits and fun combat.
Like I mentioned before, instead of having a brand new story or journey to embark on, players go through fast paced arcs from the anime/manga. It is actually impressive and a little overwhelming how much is presented in every chapter, but it sure does keep things interesting and moving well through the whole game. I would have liked maybe some more strong, cohesive and character driver story, but this is fine for a Warriors game.
I thought that the visuals for the game were going to bother me because of the over-the-top anime design, crazy animations and hundreds of silly pirates all seemed too crazy to be taken seriously. But it is exactly those three things that actually made me really enjoy the visuals. Each character has a distinct fighting style, which leads to very different visuals and animations making playing new characters a thrill. The world of One Piece comes to life beautifully in this style. The bright colors, odd body shapes that match the anime look both odd and appealing. The smooth textures, hyper expressions and well detailed textures actually make this game look really great compared to the other Warriors games.
Combat is a lot more of what we already know and expect from this type of game; run from point to point with thousands of cannon fodder enemies and a handful of tougher enemies. One Piece has a natural over-the-top attitude and style, so it is very fitting to have characters slice through 30 enemies in one, easy attack. I would have hoped for a lot faster progression or more playable characters earlier on, but the game’s leveling system and pacing are alright, but not good.
This is my main issue with the game. Even though it has players fighting alongside the Straw Hat Pirates from the beginning, players have very limited options for too long. We should be able to play a vast number of characters much quicker to keep things fresh and better serve the fans.
Whether it is big guns, slashing swords or stretching punches, One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 is a fun game that can be a great gateway into the world of One Piece while still well entertaining the fans. There may be a lack of real depth and there may be some player progression issues, but players can still enjoy the game in a number of ways.
