Wii U Review: One Piece: Unlimited World Red

The latest One Piece game comes to the Wii U…

I must confess I’ve never heard of the One Piece series until now; I must have been living under a rock as it’s the 4th game in the Unlimited series and it’s an enhanced port of the 3DS/Vita version. The Wii U gamepad can be used to see the game instead of on the TV, which is a rare but welcome treat for the console. Here’s a quick summary of the plot:
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The Straw Hat Pirates encounter and befriend a cheerful yet mysterious raccoon named Pato who possesses a shadowy power to create anything drawn onto a leaf. In order to help their new friend, the Straw Hat Pirates agree to assist Pato on an ambiguous mission “to meet someone;” Pato then leads the crew to the Forgotten Island where all the Straw Hat Pirates except Luffy are successively kidnapped by a wicked pirate named The Red Count, who had escaped the lower depths of Impel Down two years ago. With Pato’s help, Luffy must fight to recover his crew from the enemy’s grasp and find out exactly what The Red Count’s evil plots are…

The game handles like a fighting anime with exploring elements, as well as being able to get a friend to help or go fishing, bug catching, battling, cooking, mining, exploring together. There is a lot of replay value to be found here and the lifespan is pretty huge too, I barely scratched the surface in the time I’ve had. If there’s any issue, it’s that the game’s combat feels clunky and unresponsive. But if you can get to grips with it, you’ll find a great adventure and one that fans of the series will definitely enjoy…even though I have no idea what is going on story wise, I did enjoy it.
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Visually, One Piece looks amazing on Wii U. It looks crisp and the anime is incredibly detailed, just be warned that if you are planning on getting this from the eShop that it’ll set your memory back about 11+GB, so make sure you have plenty of spare room! Voice-acting is a mixed bag but clearly fans will enjoy what’s here, while the presentation does impress with some great locations, varieties of enemies and memorable moments.

The Verdict

One Piece: Unlimited World Red is a great enhancement of a 3DS/Vita game to Wii U. It looks amazing and has truly great moments, but the combat is hit-and-miss and the story will only really appeal to fans of the anime. There’s plenty to see and do, but I can’t see anyone other than those curious about the anime or fans enjoying this.

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