G-Review: One Piece - Part 1

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure
Review by Thomas Newman

After reading Bahamut’s rants about the Wii, I think its time to give a short review of a game I have been mentioning for quite some time, since I reckon its one of the best games for the console.

HISTORY

In case you don’t know what One Piece is, it’s an anime about Pirates, created by Eiichiro Oda, about a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who wants to become the King of the Pirates. I love this anime so much, because it has so many elements to it that make the anime really fun to watch, each episode/arc really pulls me in, with occasional nods and hilarious antics, there is something for everyone. To this day, it has seen (as of 29th June 2009) 548 chapters contained in 54 volumes in manga form, with the anime adaptation crossing 407 episodes, and it is still ongoing today!

One Piece did see an English dub, in the form of the 4kids adaptation, and whilst I admit it was that dub that got me into One Piece, the 4kids representation was just awful, even back then when I never saw the Japanese version until much later, it was painfully obvious what was cut out. It was so awful that they actually lost the rights to produce dubs for that anime, the job of dubbing English One Piece is now in the hands of Funimation, who started dubbing where 4kids left off to not confuse viewers, but have since been releasing uncut DVDs starting from episode 1.

That should be enough of a history for the anime, now as far as game adaptations are concerned, there have been a few, but most of them are fighting games which aren’t really my thing, the first few were actually dubbed by 4kids, but now that we know how much they screwed up, do I really want to buy a game with those voices?

But that’s in the past, and Funimation are now at the helm and are doing One Piece a lot of justice to the point where even when watching the edited version its hard to point out anything they changed. Too bad the DVDs are Region 1 only.

The game I am about to talk about today is a game from Namco-Bandai, an adventure game based on the One Piece franchise, when I first saw the trailer on Youtube, the first thing that caught my attention was the graphics, which I’ll get to later. It was then revealed, the game was to get an English dubbing, using the new Funimation cast, I asked my local game shop to import it, and they gave me a freeloader disk to be able to play it, and I got right into it.

STORY

I already told you about what One Piece is, now here is the story. First thing I noticed when the game began was the timeline, Franky was now part of the crew and they were riding on the “Thousand Sunny” (Their ship), since this is the case, its safe to assume this game is canon to the anime, taking place after the events of Enies Lobby, but before the events of Thriller Bark.

The game begins with a small but sweet scene of the crew getting new costumes, the crew are out of food and water and are hoping to get to a new Island. Luffy finds a mysterious orb, which he activates accidentally which helps bring an Island out of the Water. Once they land on the Island they make camp and decide to look around. Along the way they meet a mysterious creature later revealed to be named Popora who protects the Island, he has been guarding the Island for several years afraid of the Island god that is locked away there.

The Orb apparently gives power to the Island, and once it has enough energy, it shifts the Island to open new paths and crossways to get to other parts of the Island, it can only be upgraded by opening seals located around the Island.

The story is simple, and has a lot involved to keep the player hooked, whilst at the same time not totally clashing with the events of the anime and manga.

CHARACTERS

Since this is the Funimation dub, it uses the Funimation cast, which shall be listed as I talk about them. You first play as Luffy, but eventually you will get to chose between characters to play as, so all 8 Strawhat Pirates are playable. One good feature is that if one character dies, you can select another to take its place, so you wont get Game Over until all 8 characters have been knocked out, so its like having 8 lives, which can be replenished when you head back to camp.

Playing as the characters is a different story, as I will now explain…

Monkey D. Luffy (Voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard): The fearless captain, he is your strongest firepower, since you are able to use his special abilities from his Gum Gum Fruit abilities. He can launch a heavy-load of attacks which upgrade as they level up, when it comes to the bosses, he is your best choice. Eventually you will gain the ability to use “Second Gear”, which depletes your Stamina greatly, but is very powerful when used.

Roronoa Zoro (Voiced by Christopher R. Sabit): He can slice enemies with powerful sword attacks, since he is a skilled swordsman that uses three swords. He is like Luffy, only more deadly and is a lot more flexible. He can also be used to slice trees and vines to gain items, which the other characters cannot do, his special moves can damage surrounding enemies with ease.

Nami (Voiced by Luci Christian): The Navigator, some may argue that she is the weakest character you can play as, but she has a good side to her powers. See, Nami is also a thief, and when you dash enemies it allows you to rob them of an item, sort of like in the Final Fantasy games. She can also write in the logbook which saves your game.

Ussop (Voiced by Sonny Strait): The Sniper, he deals in Long-Range attacks, when Luffy and Zoro are close to the enemy its likely you are going to get hit a few times, Ussop is different, since you can fire with the slingshot to hit enemies from afar. He is also your weapons mechanic, give him the right items and he can make tools and weapons, some of which boost Ussop’s own attacks.

Sanji (Voiced by Eric Vale): He deals in Kick moves when in battle, and whilst he is a hard-hitting force like Luffy and Zoro, his Cooking skills is where he is most useful, give him ingredients and he will make food, which you can then give to certain characters to boost their Max HP and Stamina, making them better in battle.

Tony Tony Chopper (Voiced by Brina Palencia): he is a Reindeer who was morphed by the powers of the Human Human Fruit, he mostly stays in his hybrid form resembling a small half human-half reindeer creature (or a Chibi if you will). He isn’t as strong as the others, but he is also the ships doctor, bring him ingredients and he will make medicine, he can make potions and remedies, eventually he will make Rumble balls which boost his powers.

Nico Robin (Voiced by Stephanie Young): The Archaeologist, I reckon she is the weakest playable character, her powers are driven from the Hana Hana Fruit (Hana=Flower), which is the ability to grow arms out of places, her attacks are really hard to control as you need your enemies to be on smooth ground before you can hit them, but once you do, you can beat enemies quite effectively. She isn’t bad, and once you get the hang of it she’s fine, but you really need to spend time with her to get used to the controls.

Franky (Voiced by Patrick Seitz): The Cyborg Shipwright, he is the new addition to the team, and since Funimation are far off from dubbing his debut episode its nice to get a taste of what’s to come, since now we know his voice actor. He is also a hard-hitter but has decent defence and can survive quite a bit in battle. Like Ussop he can build things, but he deals more in building than weapon making (with the exception of his own weaponry, again which unlocks special moves).

So those are the characters, its excellent to be able to play as your favourite characters, they have their strengths and weaknesses, but it gives players the ability to interact with whoever they choose, and once they all come together, it makes the game easier and more enjoyable.

GAMEPLAY

Its actually hard for me to compare this game to anything, because I have certainly not played anything like this before, it’s mainly an Adventure game, mostly involving running around the island to discover paths, collect items, and unlock bosses and shortcuts. I guess you can compare it to the likes of “Zelda – A Link to the Past”, but unlike Zelda, the environments are much larger and in full outstanding 3D, and there are no towns or villages to visit, only your camp can assure safety but everywhere else is covered with enemies, traps, obstacles and mazes.

To upgrade your strength, moves and weapons, items are needed, and as you travel around the Island you will come across Plants, Herbs, Vines, Tree Sap, Nectar, Tree barks, Rocks, Clay, Pieces of Iron, Food, and various items left by enemies. These can be used in so many ways, all of which requiring you to go back to camp. As I’ve said, Sanji can use food and plants to cook food to increase Health and Stamina, whilst Chopper can use Herbs and Chemicals to create Medicine, Ussop and Franky are able to convert certain materials into weapons and equipment.

Ussop will eventually be able to make a Catching Net and Fishing Pole, giving you the option to catch bugs and animals you come across, some of which will rarely drop items when you catch them. Fishing allows you to catch Fish, most of which can help Sanji cook some delicious food, whilst Chopper can make Medicine from the poison extracts of bugs. So as you can tell, there is a lot to do!

If some items are of no use, you can either discard them or feed them to the Orb, yeah the Orb can consume items, its hard to explain but in order to unlock paths the Orb must have enough energy to unlock it, and you give it energy by allowing it to consume items, what items it consumes affect what kind of powers increase. At certain points in the game you will come across glows in your path, this is where you get to use the Orb, and once used, it opens a path for you to cross.

ENEMIES

The normal enemies are mostly stock, Marines and Pirates are out to hunt you, they are easy to take down but are strong in packs, in certain points you are locked in a room with them and cannot escape until you defeat them all. Eventually you will come across Island Creatures, which look like colourful statues that fly around and hurt you, they are unique to the game and are a lot harder, there is one big guy that transforms into a Train that knocks you down, so its not just hit-and-run you really have to focus and think on your feet, which make the game very challenging.

The real threat to be watchful for are the bosses, now the Orb also unlocks the minds of those around them, and the Seals become enemies from the past which you have to defeat. Since the enemies are illusions meant to represent people from the past, who do you think ends up being bosses? It’s basically the best excuse in the world to have you fight bosses from the anime and manga series!

The first boss in the game is the Marine Captain “Smoker” (Voiced by Greg Dulcie), and even though he is an illusion he is still able to use all of his familiar moves, in this case Smoker is able to use his powers from the Smoke Smoke Fruit. Since these are boss fights they are very challenging, usually involving you to use all 8 characters to take him/her down.

There are a total of 18 bosses, 6 of them are optional, all based on characters from the anime, each more challenging than the last, some of them need to be taken down twice, such as Eneru (Voiced by J. Michael Tatum) who after beating him easily once, he uses his Rumble Rumble ability (Power of Lightning) to get back up, but the worst example is Rob Lucci (Voiced by Jason Librecht), he has the power of the Cat Cat Fruit Model Leopard to turn into a Leopard hybrid after beating him in human form, and when he becomes the Leopard he’s harder to take down.

Some Bosses need skill to be beaten, such as when you face Aokiji (Voiced by Bob Carter), he creates small Ice fragments, which will damage you when attacked, so you have to beat him from the side. So with each Boss Fight it adds a new level of challenge. The End Boss is the Guardian God of the Island (Voiced by Christopher R. Sabit), who has two forms you have to beat, each with powerful moves that are hard to dodge, but once you defeat him then it’s over.

But the worst boss of all, is one of the optional bosses, which require so much to unlock its scary, but once you face him it’s another story. It turns out to be Captain Whitebeard (Voiced by R. Bruce Elliot), his special attack is basically a One-Hit-Kill which is practically unavoidable, his attack and defence are harsh, it took me so many tries to beat him, but once I did, by that point he was the final boss on the Island which helped unlock more features.

So that’s enough about enemies, they certainly make the game challenging, and its fun to face enemies seen in the anime, my jaw dropped at just the sight of them, and since Funimation have much to go when dubbing One Piece, this actually helps us get a glimpse of who is going to be voiced by who, the only voice I am not fully happy with is Don Kreig (Voiced by Andy Mullins), basically it’s the only time where I actually prefer the 4kids voice, I just think Marc Thompson’s deep voice fitted him better but that’s just me.

GRAPHICS

Three Words…

Oh-My-God!

Not even the PS3 would be able to match the colourful and extremely detailed environments and characters added in the game, all characters rightfully match their anime counterparts in such a delivering way, its like with the Homestar Runner games but with so much more added to it, the grass and mountains really do look like grass and mountains, shadings are very well done, reflections look stunning, and its certainly made the mark as the most beautiful anime-based game ever made.

Also, when the characters use their fruit abilities it really looks authentic, such as when facing Crocodile (another note-worthy boss fight, voiced by John Swasey), he uses the Sand Sand Fruit, so when he attacks you really believe that is sand being blown in your face. The Graphic designers really did an outstanding job.

EXTRAS

So once you beat the final boss is it over? Not really, as there are still optional bosses to fight and once all have been defeated, you can defeat them again to gain a special bonus from each. All creatures and fish needed to be caught, then you need to unlock all recipes for Food, Compounding and Developments, and find all the hidden treasures and treasure maps and level up every character’s attacks to the highest level, so there are loads to do. Eventually you will create a dressing room, which will unlock alternate costumes and being able to make special costumes when finding certain items.

Along with these special extras, there is also the inclusion of Pandaman who, whilst doesn’t contribute anything to the game still hides in really weird places, he is basically the One Piece equivalent of the Number 9 man from Futurama, hiding in places in the Manga and Anime, its funny to just find him and watch him move, pointless but funny nonetheless.

There is also a VS mode, which is basically a fighting game where you get to fight with other characters, its cool in a way because it lets you play as the bosses you fought in the game, there is also a Time challenge where you have to beat enemies as fast as possible, and whilst a satisfying side-game, its not necessary.

So it will take a while to actually complete the game, its certainly enough to keep you entertained, and will have you hooked for hours on end.

WEAKNESSES

I will admit the game can be quite dragging at times, and whilst satisfying once accomplished, the Fishing and Catching can be quite a chore. When Fishing its not certain what you are getting until you succeed in catching it, so getting something specific takes time. Also, along with energy you also need items to open certain areas, some of which require you to make certain food or supplies to bring with you to open them up which need materials.

Speaking of Materials, if you know what you need and you can find it then its not so much a chore to get them, but when there are items you haven’t encountered yet that you need, then you are spending a lot of time just figuring out where you can find it, for example if Sanji needs a certain fish you haven’t caught, then the hard part is finding out which Fishing spot to go to and how rare its going to be.

One last gripe, when you dash it takes away Stamina, now some of their attacks require you to Dash, and if you are pulling off a pattern of attacks and you run out of Stamina, then your going to struggle with combat, so you cannot waste Stamina unless you have recovery items to spare, so most of the game is going to involve walking. This is especially true if you need to dash to make it over gaps, which can also be annoying.

OVERALL

There is just one thing bad to mention, it’s a US Exclusive, so I had to import my game from a shop that does imports, who gave me One Piece and Super Smash Bros Brawl in US port, with a Freeloader to run it. An Update for the Wii has denied me access to this Freeloader and therefore denied access to the game, and now that this is so, I can no longer play it.

Which is a crying shame since this is by far one of the best games I have ever played, I have played this more than Brawl, which really shows you.

Now for the Pros and Cons…

Pros
- Beautiful 3D Graphics
- Superb English voice acting by Funimation
- A Sneak peak of who Funimation is casting for certain characters
- Gripping Gameplay
- Clever building system that makes items
- The ability to play as all the main characters
- You don’t die easily with 8 characters to use
- Memorable Boss Fights
- Replayable
- Lots of Fun to play
- One Piece Fans and Casual Players will enjoy it

Cons
- Stamina is Gold and must be used wisely
- Because of the above, pulling off combo moves can be difficult
- Some items are hard to find, and needed for certain developments
- Robin is hard to control
- Fishing can be a chore, and getting certain Fish requires Luck
- If all 8 characters die, it’s Game Over with no Continues
- Expensive and US only

Overall, there is no denying it, One Piece is simply the best game I have ever played in my life, its challenging, fun, hilarious, beautiful and has so much to offer that it keeps me hook and has me coming back for more, if it wasn’t for the failed freeloader or had the game been given a European release, I’d gladly play this game again.

I have talked endlessly about this game to others for some time, this is all built from memory from when I was playing it, and I still say it is the best game for the Wii console, there will never be a game to match it, I recommend checking it out sometime.

Tune in another time, because a week ago I managed to get a hold of the European Edition of the sequel game “One Piece Unlimited Cruise – Treasure Beneath the Waves”, this is a 3-part written review, once I have finished with the story line of the new game I will be talking about it, and there is no doubt I will be buying the second when it comes out in August, until then, One Piece will always be one of the best Manga and Anime series of all time, its now also the best Wii game ever played.

A Perfect 10/10