One Piece: Pirate Warriors continues the repetitive formula of the musou genre in a mediocre game that does little to innovate this age old formula.
If you’ve played one Musou game odds are you’ve probably played them all and One Piece: Pirate Warriors developed by Tecmo Koei, of Dynasty Warriors fame, and published by Namco Bandai for Playstation 3 does little to innovate this tired genre.
The game is based upon the critically and commercially successful manga and anime series One Piece which focuses on the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy who accidentally eats a forbidden fruit to gain supernatural powers and his eccentric crew of pirates known as the Straw Hats as they sail the world.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors is like every other action-adventure brawler: get from point A to point B taking out hordes of enemies in your path and ultimately defeating the boss. It does however stand out from the rest with its gorgeous cel-shaded animation style and lavish menus which feel fresh and give the game a very polished look overall. Character animations are also very smooth and the hilarity of Monkey’s attacks lends the game its own personality, but sadly this novelty doesn’t last long.
