Every anime fan out there knows about the hit series One Piece, created by Oda-sensei. The video game Unlimited World Red is the fourth title in the Unlimited sub-series.The game was originally released on 3DS, but eventually made itself known to other platforms on later dates. One Piece Unlimited world Red follows the same game play as previous Unlimited series games, luckily, the bad bits have been vastly improved on.
One Piece Unlimited World Red puts you in control of the Straw Hat pirates. The story takes place in Transtown after the Punk Hazard arc. However, as always for the Straw Hats, not everything is simple. The story is solely based around Luffy and co trying to stop the notorious pirate Red, who was on par with both Whitebard and Roger back in their prime.
The game begins with Red escaping during Blackbeard’s raid on Impel Down. The scene then cuts to the Straw Hat pirates approaching an Island of Promises with Pato; a pen that can become a tanuki and has the ability to create any object he draws on a leaf. Stuff goes down and you find yourself having to pick up the pieces.
The game is broken into two sections: The main story (including side quests) is built like an RPG, giving you free reign to complete the designated quest and collect items to boost your stats. There’s also a collisum: just several rounds of fighting different enemies, the sole purpose is to become the champion. Be the best you can be.
The gameplay is fairly simple, with a standard combinations that inevitably become button bashing, mainly repeat moves that each character has used previously and we love them for. Each of the Straw Hat’s have 4 specials and one of the specials is a combined attack for you to use with teammates.
Everyone loves power-ups; Strong words, also known as ‘custom words’ which power up the Straw Hat pirates, increasing Max HP, attack, resistance and so on. Those items you bled over in the main game can be used to upgrade the words. The other type of power ups come in the form of item words. These abilities have a cool down time and allow certain characters to have extra abilities for a certain amount of time. For example, Nami is willing to sacrifice her health so the rest of the team can re-fill their SP gauge, or Robin gives up her entire SP gauge so the team can re-fill theirs.
The campaign is a little stunted at around 8 or 9 hours, but the side quests can bulk that out a little. Once the campaign is finished the player can play an extensive Battle Coliseum, which is based on the Doflamingo Coliseum in the newest One Piece arc.
The Battle Coliseum gives the player the chance to play as other characters such as Ace, Jimbei, Crocodile, Doflamingo and even the new admiral Fujitora. You don’t have quite as many combos to play around with, but it makes an interesting change.
The graphic’s don’t fall too short, although there is the odd frame rate slip or smeared pixel. But, overall the beautiful colour and vivid battling system make it feel like we are truly in control of the Straw Hat pirates. Absolute power.
The game also offers a multiplayer system, allowing friends to complete the side quests together. The handheld consoles are able to have a team of four on quests. Unfortunately for non-handheld players, the PS3 and Wii U versions only allow up to 2 players.