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One Piece: Unlimited Adventure Review for the Nintendo Wii

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure Review for the Nintendo Wii

Straw Hat Pirates: Proceed with Caution

One Piece has never been a franchise that has lent itself to great games. To its credit, it has never really churned out really bad games either. But most One Piece games have just fallen in that slightly below or slightly above average category. The newest entry in the series, at first One Piece: Unlimited Adventure looks like it will continue the series’ trend of skimming along right around mediocrity, but as you play and become more immersed in the game you start to realize that there is really some depth to this game. Who knows? You might end up enjoying it. But there are some serious issues with this game as well. So then again, you might not.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure screenshot

In many respects, One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is a big departure from the earlier entries in the series. One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is not an unimaginative two-player brawler like Grand Adventure, nor is it a hodge-podge of barely playable mini-games like Pirate’s Carnival. No, this One Piece is a completely new animal. Instead of giving players a gaming experience in short bursts with little to no story or cohesion, One Piece: Unlimited Adventure goes for a more adventure-type approach.

The story begins with Luffy and co. departing on yet another adventure. But just a few days in, they run out of food and water, probably due to an eating contest between Luffy and Usopp. While the rest of the crew stews over the trouble that these two have caused, Luffy wishes aloud that they would find an island in order to restock. And then suddenly one appears! Once the crew begin exploring the island, they realize that there are some strange forces at work that all seem to revolve around a “mystery jewel” that may lead to ultimate treasure. The plot of the game is definitely formulaic, which may add to an overall feeling of generalness in regard to the game, but I would encourage those interested enough to pick up the title to keep going past the somewhat unexciting story.

In terms of gameplay, the game’s single player mode can best be described as a surprisingly engaging mix of discovery, combat, and skill that is pretty annoying at first, but will steadily grow on you. You can play as any member of the Straw Hat crew, from Luffy to Franky, and each character has their own set of moves and special abilities. The game offers little to no tutorial mode and doesn’t outline the goals or specific missions that you have to accomplish. This is probably the worst facet of the game because it is very frustrating to try to figure out what you’re supposed to do when the game gives you no hints and every other turn seems to be a dead end. However, this could be a good thing, if you are up for the challenge. But if you’re like me and frustrate easily, you have been warned. This title will work on your nerves something fierce. But instead of throwing my Wii-mote at the television when times got tough, I stuck it out, and I’m happy I did. Because behind the frustrating discovery element of the gameplay, there are some positive discovery elements included as well. One Piece: Unlimited Adventure has a semi-open world where you begin in a hub and you have to unlock different areas of the island. Different areas can be unlocked via activation areas, which expand on and react to the power of the “mystery jewel” that Luffy has come into possession of. Different areas will become available as you unlock different components of this strange power, and the whole experience, despite its open world system, feels quite linear in this sense.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure screenshot

One aspect of the discovery aspect of the game that intrigued me quite a bit was the building system. Several members of your party have skills in building (and cooking in Sanji’s case) and you can create useful items using materials you can find in the various stages. Usopp generally handles the toolmaking, while Franky working on heavier construction projects. Some projects, such as Franky’s Bridge and Usopp’s Pickaxe will be vital to your success in the game, but others will be optional stat enhancers that will require some pretty intense ingredient-hunting, but will pay off with an HP or attack boost in the end.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure screenshot

In addition to the discovery elements of the game, there are also combat gameplay elements as well. As you run around the various environments you unlock, enemies of varying stature will attack you. Each character will have a standard attack to start off with, and the more you use them, their attack roster will grow in size and strength. Attacks are carried out via the A and C buttons, as well as short gestures with the Wii mote. You can level up your characters quite a bit, but it is quite possible to max out your characters fairly early on in the game, which is kind of a drag. Enemies are also a tad on the boring side, because depending on what enemy they are, their attack patterns are extremely similar, which leads to some really repetitive button mashing and Wii-mote waving. Boss battles are also quite repetitive and are not challenging unless you have completely neglected your characters’ growth.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure screenshot

Visually, this game starts out great. The opening cinema scene is one of the best that I have ever seen on the Wii. Characters are smooth and polished, and environments look remarkably lush. However, once you pass the opening scene, the graphics take a pretty steep downturn. The polished and lush graphics are replaced with blocky and textured visuals, and the whole thing becomes a real disappointment. There are also considerable framerate issues throughout the game, especially in areas where the scenery is quite varied. The framerate drops rather abruptly which results in noticeably shaky action during some intervals of the game.

Sound is generally inoffensive, with some mediocre tunes accompanying the majority of the action. All of the American voice actors do an excellent job reprising their roles for the game, and the dialogue is deliver fairly well. The only real problem I have with the sound is the repetitive nature each character’s battle noise. This is probably at its worst with the character Zoro, who yells “Oni-Giri” so many times it will drive you crazy.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is certainly not a bad game. But its formulaic story, repetitive combat, and poor graphics prevent it from achieving success as a great game based on the One Piece franchise. Perhaps if they take the basic formula of this game and rework it a little bit for an Unlimited Adventure follow-up we might finally get that one great One Piece game. But until then, we’ll have to settle for the slightly-above-average One Piece: Unlimited Adventure. It may be the series’ best offering to date, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a completely worthwhile title.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.5 Graphics
Starts off extremely strong – YouTube the opening if you don’t believe me. But they fall fast and hard. 3.9 Control
General hack n’ slash works well with button mashing and short waves of the Wii-mote. 4.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Fairly good, until you start fighting. Then the repetition of the character’s 2-3 battle cries gets annoying. 3.0

Play Value
Once you play through various levels, it is difficult to revisit them, even if you need to gather items or do extra missions.

3.5 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • For the first time in the U.S., the fans of the show can finally assume the roles of their beloved characters! Witness the beautifully rendered heroes and villains from the world of One Piece set in full motion right out of the TV show!
  • While controlling your favorite character of choice, encounter both newly introduced characters and familiar characters from the show as you uncover the mysterious plot that lies ahead in this exciting adventure!
  • Conquer the treasure island in Wii style: Shake, push, pull, wave, turn, and swing your Wii remote and Nunchuk controller to battle your enemies, catch valuable insects, fish, blend and modify obtained items, and much more!

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