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One Piece Unlimited World Red

Score: 71%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc.
Developer: Ganbarion
Media: Cartridge/1
Players: 1 (2 - 4 online)
Genre: RPG/ Adventure/ Action

Graphics & Sound:

There have been quite a few One Piece games in the past and now we have the new One Piece Unlimited World Red. In it, One Piece has been turned into a full RPG with plenty of areas to explore in whatever way you want.

While I was not pleased with the graphic quality on the PS3 version, on the much smaller 3DS screen they look fine. It’s not a mind-blowing visual experience, but it’s not noticeably bad either. There are no 3D graphics (even though the box has the normal 3D warnings), so if you’re looking for that, then you need to skip this game. Otherwise the appearances are just fine for you to enjoy this new game story, which was written just for this game and never featured in the anime.

Your characters look and sound more or less like you’re used to seeing in the show. Since this is a new story, I was worried it might not fit in with the normal stories, but everyone acts perfectly canon. The new character, Pato the raccoon, fits in well too. The overall look and feel will please you. All of the music and voices fit in quite well too and I enjoyed the background music as well. It wasn’t something that I will put in my car to listen to, but it works perfectly for the game.


Gameplay:

In One Piece Unlimited World Red the Straw Hat crew, led by Luffy, are about to get into an impromptu adventure thanks to a new friend, Pato the raccoon. They rescue Pato at sea. When the crew returns Pato to his home island, they are all captured except Luffy. Luffy will have to go rescue them, which doesn’t take long. After they’re all back together, the rest of the story unfolds. Amongst finding his companions and beating up bad guys, Luffy needs to help rebuild the town. You start out small, a tavern, then a factory and pharmacy, then things just snowball. I highly recommend you build up your town and explore. There’s a whole lot more to the town than I thought there would be. They put some effort into giving you a full-scale town to explore. You can also explore the "dungeon" areas as much as you want. You do choose which one to visit when leaving town, so there’s no wandering around in-between areas, but I tend to get lost in-between areas, so I don’t miss that kind of roaming. As is typical Straw Hat policy, just keep wandering around and Luffy will figure it all out, mostly on accident.

Your map will be a handy guide as to where you need to go and what you can (and need) to do. The map has things clearly marked. You will see a big ! on places where you need to go. These will usually advance the story or unlock something that you can do. You will see in your town the various places, like your tavern, garden, and mini-games marked on the map as well, just to make them easier to find. You will also find that you can go fishing at many spots on the maps. You will have to press the right buttons at the right time, very much like a rhythm game without the rhythm part. You can upgrade your fishing rod to get better fish. You’ll also find that there are various insects and other things that you can catch with your bug net. It’s a bit different mini-game, but you’re still pressing buttons when they come up on the screen. You can also upgrade the net at the factory. These things mostly aren’t necessary to beat the game, but they’re a fun addition.

You can also choose to play in the Battle Coliseum. Here, you will choose one of your characters to play as and battle against the rest of the crew and other competitors. It’s pretty much just a battle to the top to see who is the strongest.


Difficulty:

Due to the fact that I fumbled with the controls a lot, I think that I found One Piece Unlimited World Red for the 3DS to be more difficult than I think it should be. I tended to get hit a lot more than I should have because I was facing the wrong way. The game gives you quicktime prompts as to when you need to press a button to dodge or heal. I didn’t like them on the PS3 version, but I had to pay attention to them on the 3DS for survival, which was quite frustrating. I also noticed that the bug catching and fishing felt harder on the 3DS for some reason. I’m not sure why, but it just felt harder to get their energy down to zero.

If the game is too hard for you on the default setting, you can go into Options from the Pause Menu and set it to Easy Mode On. This will make your normal gameplay easier. You need to remember that it will not change the difficulty of the quests. You can make these easier by playing them online with others. You can have up to 4 people playing together across the wireless communication. This can make the quests much easier, if you’re having trouble with them.


Game Mechanics:

When you start up the game, it’ll tell you what to do with the controls. Personally, I didn’t find the controls as easy to work with as I would like. Specifically moving the camera was way too difficult. To move the camera, you have to tap on the controls on the touch screen. That is way too difficult to do while you’re also trying to press the buttons to fight. I found that I just used the (L) button to re-center the camera behind whatever character I was controlling. That more or less worked but was too clumsy, especially when you’re trying to do things like gather all the balloons in town or rocket wherever you need to go.

Overall, I have enjoyed One Piece Unlimited World Red, but the DS version is my least favorite simply because of the controls. I just couldn’t get a handle on the camera angles and it made fighting, and even going the right direction at times, more difficult than it really should be. It is handy to be able to take the game on the go and the graphics look much better on the small screen, but if you’re debating which version to go with, I recommend the PS3 or PS Vita version rather than the 3DS.


-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl

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