One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is the type of game that I just don’t get. It’s well made, I enjoy myself while I’m playing it… but still, I just don’t get it. That goes for all of these Warriors games — even Hyrule Warriors. To make it more confusing, Pirate Warriors 3 condenses the entirety of the One Piece anime (over 700 episodes at this point) into a single game.
In essence, this title is directed towards a very specific market. Fans of the Warriors style of gameplay and fans of One Piece. I can’t recommend that those who are interested in One Piece, but are yet to watch it play the game. There’s just too much going on and too much squeezed in for it to be worthwhile. That being said, fans of One Piece might be turned off due to just how much is squeezed in.
Not that I’m an expert on the subject, but when a TV show has over 700 episodes and the entire story is being included in a game there are bound to be elements left out or glossed over. If it’s obvious to me — a total One Piece amateur — then super fans will definitely notice.
The cutscenes are also obnoxiously frequent, long and interrupting. I can’t even count how many times during my playthrough that cutscenes popped up, in the middle of the action, for some crazy, story based exposition and totally ruined the flow of the action. Which is pretty good by the way.
If you’ve played Dynasty Warriors or any of the Warriors titles you’ll know what to expect. Hundreds of enemies on screen at once are all demolished with ease by your characters, who are able to team-up for special combo attacks. It helps reenforce the whole pirate crew element of the narrative and is a huge joy to see hundreds of enemies dispatched at once.
Aside from the main story mode there’s a Dream Log, which is a random assortment of missions which allow you to level up your character without having to play and replay the story missions over and over. In Dream Log you’re able to select from any unlocked character which is a a nice novelty and helps you sharpen your skills as they all have a slightly different style and weapons to experiment with.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is worth playing, but it’s a little hard to recommend for either fans of the anime or newcomers. The story is so condensed that neither camp will appreciate it fully, but there’s definitely merit in playing. The action is slick and the cel-shaded visuals are gorgeous 3D representations of anime. If you’re a fan of anime and the Warriors franchise then definitely give it a go.
Review: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
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