Since One Piece is one of the longest running manga’s and cartoons on Japanese TV, it isn’t surprising it has spawned a wide array of games. Some of them never got localized, but the last couple of years most of the One Piece games have been released in Europe. The last addition is One Piece Unlimited World Red, which is quite a mouthful and doesn’t say anything to describe what kind of game it is…
Also for people who aren’t fan of One Piece?
The big question is of course whether or not One Piece Unlimited World Red is also suitable for gamers who don’t have any connection with the manga or TV series. The short answer is: Yes! As someone who is barely familiar with One Piece (having only watched the first season of the cartoon years ago and they are now in their 17th season) I can full heartily say this game is for a lot more people suitable than just the people into the cartoon. The story is non canon and is completely bonkers, and is basically an excuse for a long range of boss battles. The way they present it is pretty genius, since it would be impossible to get all of the arcs villains as bosses in a way that would make any sense, they just made a character that can clone them.
What is Unlimited World Red?
One Piece Unlimited World Red can best be described as an action adventure with a heavy emphasis on battles. The game isn’t as linear as One Piece Pirate Warriors (red – Dynasty Warriors game in the One Piece universe) , but the way the fighters battle is in similar. Instead of fighting your way through hordes of enemies, you will only be taking on a couple at a time, in general with quite a bit more intelligence compared to Pirate Warriors. The enemies are a nice departure from the normal cannon fodder and there are some interesting character designs. The boss battles are the meat and bones of One Piece UWR. They can be challenging at time and you might have to grind a bit here and there, but in general the normal difficulty is doable.
Build your own resort
One Piece UWR has a mission based structure and after the missions you return to your hotel. The hostess puts you to work in exchange for free rooms. You get the task of building up the town and you will need to gather stuff during mission in order to build a museum, a bar and various shops. This town building is more important than you would think at first sight and at some point the game comes to a hold unless you progress the town further. Swinging through the town with the flexible rubber arms of main character Monkey D. Luffy feels good and reminded me of the open world Spider-Man 2.
On an adventure
During the missions you really feel like you’re on an adventure. You visit various climates on the same island, which makes total sense in the nonsensical story. Once you go on mission you will have to select 3 characters which you want to bring along. You can even level these characters up in a softcore RPG fashion. Their fighting styles vary from tanks, mages and support classes (without naming them so). The special moves of the different characters are a sight to be seen. Every character has unique abilities and some treasures are only reachable by certain characters. If those aren’t in your party you will be shit out of luck and will have to return later with that specific character to find the treasure. No problem, since in the meanwhile you’ll be able to mine for more materials to build up the town.
Stunning visuals
Visually One Piece Unlimited World Red can count itself amongst the most pretty games on the PS Vita. The cartoon style fits the gorgeous PS Vita screen very well. Where it might look a bit dated on a 50 inch TV, it looks great shrunken down to handheld size. The character animations are fluid and the steady frame rate helps the action. As you might expect from a game based on such a franchise, the audio quality is superb. The voices are a joy to listen to and the sound fits the stages nicely.
Unlimited fun
Unlimited World Red offers more than just adventuring, it also offers a battle coliseum and various online quests. There are also some mini games, which are based on your rhythmic capabilities (and the funds to buy a better rod or net). The package this game offers is very complete, but most of all a lot of fun. The bright visuals, the gameplay, the swinging through the town, everything comes together in this game and it becomes better than its individual parts.
