According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of “fun” is: “enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure.” Now imagine turning on your PlayStation 4 console and sitting down to play something that’s “fun.”
As you immerse yourself in its gameplay, your face begins to change; a smile starts to appear, your spirits begin to lift and your feel what only you can describe as “delight.”
This is the power of One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, a retelling of the One Piece Story… yes another retelling.
The series’ next installment allows you to re-live the original One Piece story from Fushia village, where everything started, to the kingdom of Dressrosa, a mysterious island dominated by the evil Donquixote Dofl amingo, known as the “Heavenly Demon.”
From there you will have to defeat the most dangerous pirates, including Dofl amingo and many more…hopefully in a quick fashion, spreading across Marineford, Fishman Island, Punk Hazard and Dressrosa.
In today’s modern gaming world, One Piece might be considered tedious. To be honest, it’s not innovative, you’re not getting impactful moves or an in-depth story. The graphics aren’t the best, and the modes aren’t inspiring. However, just because something isn’t flashy or explosive doesn’t mean that it can’t grow on you…if the game is truly meant for you.
What you are getting can only described as ridiculous fun while controlling Luffy and his band of Straw Hat Crew (the roster of characters now includes Sabo, Donquixote Dofl amingo, Fujitora, and 34 more characters) as you bash hundreds of villains at once, all with the power of your mighty swollen fists.
Pirate Warriors 3 features 37 playable characters drawn to look like the manga and anime it’s adapted from. The colors are bold and bright, while the stylized art works well with the silly nature of the game. Taking a departure from franchise’s previous titles, the visual upgrades are welcoming. While featuring two hundred villains on-screen at the same time, the use of the cell shading really pops when playing on the PlayStation 4, helping to bring out each character and detail the development team worked on.
Just like the Dynasty Warriors franchise, playing the game for the first time is tricky but not because of the controls. While the action is the same as Dynasty Warriors, having over one hundred villains coming at you at the same time is overwhelming and I had a “come to Jesus” moment when a bunch of pirates started chasing me. But once you get a handle of all the controls and various bodies flying over your screen to attack your nibbly-bits, is when the fun starts. To add to the excitement, you can now involve your entire team to jump in on the action at various moments. This comes in handy when you want to kill massive amounts of pirates at once, adding to the thrill of the game.
Unfortunately, once you get over the high of the game, it’s rather all downhill from there. Not much else happens, so you’re basically doing the same thing repeatedly which works if you don’t suffer from Attention Defect Disorder, or like variety in life. However, if you’re not a fan of those things, nor a true die-hard fanatic of the series, the beautiful attention-grabbing graphics can only make you keep playing for so long, which is rather unfortunate since it has the potential to be so much more. Since there were so many missed opportunities, the game brings nothing new to the series and would be a better fit as a DLC.
I found myself becoming bored over time, wishing and hoping for something to change. This never happened and I soon become wary. Longing for something more, each moment that passed went from exciting to robotic, and I no longer put any thought into my actions as my mind began to drift. Webster’s Dictionary refers to this as “boredom,” the feeling weariness because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one’s current activity.
Pirate Warriors 3 will release for PS Vita, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PC via Steam. The game will feature a two player co-for the PS3 and PS4, both offline and online. While the Vita version will feature ad hoc and Wi-Fi support.
