One Piece by Eiichiro Oda is a title that is known to most manga and anime fans. The adventures of the pirate crew of straw hats at the moment include about 100 comic books, over 900 animation episodes and a dozen films and games. With such a crowd, you can start to wonder if it makes sense to create another production based on the same characters, and more importantly, the fourth game based on the same scheme? The answer is: if the result is to be works like Pirate Warriors 4 – it’s definitely worth it.
What is spinning off here? And where am I supposed to look?
Despite the fact that this production is my next meeting with musou, I still needed a moment at the beginning to grasp all the possibilities given to me by the creators. The first choice concerned the way of the game (story mode, local co-op, online multiplayer and Titan Mode, in which we fight the giants). The main campaign consists of 34 missions in various locations from the world of One Piece. During this mode, we learn about selected events from the adventurous story of Straw Hats. The pattern of completing the mission is constant. We choose a character (or characters), participate in a briefing, during which we find out what are the conditions for passing and which are losing, we get to know the map of the area and develop (if we have financial resources) our character (FIG. 1). Then we move to a specific place and fight with successive waves of enemies (and there is, believe me, enormity!) By completing the main quest and, if we want – side quests. During the fight, we are attacked by hordes of not very strong opponents and their leaders, as well as bosses that require more commitment. After the fight, we get a score for the quality of the fight (FIG. 2) and the currency with tokens that we will need for the mentioned character development.
Sanji I choose you! Or not…
When it comes to heroes, we can fight not only with the standard crew, i.e. Luffy’s team, but also with many side characters (and if you want to play with fashion, there is also an option to change outfits). Depending on individual preferences, we can choose between strong, air, fast and technician types, but regardless of which one we choose, each one has a series of basic and special blows. In general, the controls and the way of fighting are very simple, and additionally, if you do not have memory for specific combinations, you can always press something quickly (you probably won’t defeat the boss right away, but the pressing crowds – yes).
It’s nice to watch, it’s nice to listen
Graphically, the game definitely pleases the eye. Heroes, backgrounds in which fights are fought, story scenes or even menu screens have been refined practically in every detail. Everything is extremely colorful and definitely reflects the atmosphere of the One Piece world . The only downside noticeable for me were the story scenes displayed in random moments of the fight, because they interrupted a specific combination many times. The Polish translation is not offensive with blockiness, and the original Japanese dialogue track, left in the background, will please fans of the original language of this production. The music itself complements the game pleasantly (with each mission there is an option to change the flying track).
Quarantine doesn’t have to be boring
Pirate Warriors 4 is both a great game and a perfectly compiled essence of One Piece . Thanks to it, the player can not only remember a lot of the fights that are crucial for this pirate team, but also participate in them. Many hours of entertainment and the release of emotions through an intense infusion guaranteed!
