Review: One Piece: Unlimited World Red

As a huge One Piece fan, I jumped at the chance to be able to review Unlimited World Red (Wii U) and experience the all-new original story and fully 3D adventure mode.
 
Having played several One Piece titles before, all of which I’ve loved, I dove into the blue sea to see what makes Unlimited World Red stand out, and the first thing I noticed was how well-represented the characters are in full 3D. The Straw Hat crews quirks and loveable personalities translate well into 3D, alongside the over-the-top bosses who are as flamboyant as ever.
 
There’s a new character in the form of Pato, a raccoon-like creature who has the ability to make items out of leaves. This leads up to some fun rivalry with Chopper, who has the ability to transform and thus compete with Paco when the Straw Hat crew requires help. Another fresh face appears in the form of inn-keep Yadoya, and she’ll provide you with side-quests and the means to expand Trans Town.
 
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The Straw Hat crew are thrown into a brand new adventure, where new antagonist Patrick Redmond, also known as Red, has been re-creating previously defeated villains and allies to test Luffy and co’s strength. Both of these characters were designed by series creator Eiichiro Oda, and fit perfectly in the One Piece universe.
 
One Piece games manage to transfer the action from the anime into the game with ease, featuring vibrant colours and explosive actions. Rain down thunder with Nami, create cannons with Franky, sprout extra limbs with Robin or become a stretchy rubber unstoppable force with Luffy. Alongside attacking, you’ll be able to jump and dodge, and all of these can be strung together to perform some spectacular combos.
 
Once you’ve performed a specific set of moves, you’ll access a power boost which can stun enemies for a brief period of time, and do a joint action with your 2 teammates. You can play as all the Straw Hat members, and they all play differently so make sure to take them on an optional quest to level them up and give them a go. There’s plenty to sink your teeth into, including fetch quests, battle quests and difficult bosses.
 
There’s more to the game than action though, as you’ll be able to gather resources to expand the town you’re staying in. This includes opening shops, restaurants, expanding land, etc, and each will bring something new to the table when you go into battle.
 
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Alongside the main story is Battle Coliseum, an arena where you can fight waves of enemy hordes with 2 characters, or participate in one-on-one duels against boss characters. This is a fun way to kill time outside of the story, and can be quite challenging. You’re not penalised for losing, so you can attempt battles as much as you’d like without worry.
 
It’s visually gorgeous to look at, with characters and environments being vibrant and colourful, and passionately re-created in 3D from the anime and manga. Many cutscenes are fully animated and are a joy to behold, especially those that are packing some action. As touched on earlier, characters have been painstakingly modeled to look just like their anime counterparts, even the over the top features such as Nami and Robin’s figures (their tiny waists, what were you thinking?!) and Chopper and Franky’s grand transformations have been left untouched.
 
Other than the Naruto games, I find that the One Piece games best fit the ‘looks like a playable anime’ description. I’m no game creator, but I imagine the process of creating a game to make a game as crazy and exaggerated as an anime is a tough task, but developer Ganbarion do it flawlessly.
 
Sadly, as with most One Piece games, there is no English dub. One Piece has such a huge fan base, even outside of Japan, that I’m shocked that Bandai Namco are still refusing to dub them. Fortunately, the Japanese voice-over is terrific as always and the subtitles have been handled well, although some cutscenes, specifically the opening Battle Coliseum one, have subtitles for people talking and an overview of the tournament being read on-screen and it’s hard to concentrate on reading both.
 
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The soundtrack is catchy and varied, having a different theme for each area such as Enies Lobby and Alabasta, and captures that pirates-at-sea feel. I switched between playing it on my TV and on the Wii U gamepad, as you’re able to swap screens by pressing in both analog sticks, and I ended up using earphones when using the gamepad (don’t want to keep everyone up at night!) and the sound effects are very engrossing. I missed the crunch of sand, the waves of the sea, each attack landing when I played on TV, but I also don’t have surround sound but the leve lof detail that’s gone into Unlimited World Red is astounding.
 
There’s plenty to do once you’ve finished the lengthy campaign, such as expanding the town to its maximum potential and participating in the Battle Coliseum. There are optional quests in the campaign which you can do whenever you like, and it’ll take a while to max out every character. The combat can get a repetitive after a while, but it’s still solid and being able to switch characters helps to shake things up. If you’re looking for a One Piece game that captures the sense of adventure found in the anime and manga, then One Piece: Unlimited World Red will fulfil your needs.

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