One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (Xbox One)

At the time of One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4’s release, both the One Piece anime and manga were in the midst of the Japanese-themed story of the island of Wano. While adapting many past adventures would no doubt make for a good game concept, it was likely people who would pick up the game would want to see some of the fresh material inside the game but there wouldn’t be quite enough content in the Wano story to tell a full narrative. One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 ended up taking an interesting compromise to have its Wano areas and characters, inventing its own conclusion to the arc while also providing plenty of classic One Piece adventures in the package so it’s not hinging all of its success on the newly invented course of events.

 

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 aims to adapt quite a lot of the incredibly massive One Piece series’s story, the over 1000 chapter manga and similarly long anime ripe with creative settings and characters for this action game to explore. At the core of the story is the affable pirate Monkey D. Luffy who sails through the many islands of his world with his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates. All across this world though other pirates are far less carefree and kind, Luffy and his friends ending up not only coming into conflict with a variety of colorful characters with unusual but mighty powers but also having to fend off the Marines who try to create some semblance of order despite their organization having its own bad eggs. The One Piece series has an incredibly detailed and interconnected world where small events can have enormous payoffs down the line and minor characters can suddenly be upgraded to pivotal players, so trimming it down in adaptation is not only a necessity but a bit of a daunting task. One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 attempts to bring in as many of the major moments from the series’s ongoing plot as it can and makes a few wise decisions in how it picks and chooses which ones to leave out. The early days of smaller fights where Luffy was just beginning to recruit crewmates are barely addressed in favor of the much larger and bombastic plots that better fit a game where you end up facing huge armies and battling with incredibly powerful individuals.

One Piece fans will find familiar stories to fight through like the liberation of the Alabasta desert kingdom from Crocodile and his sand-based powers, the push against the World Government both in relation to fighting their undercover CP9 organization and later in the enormous Paramount War battle at Marine Headquarters, and fights with the emperors of the sea like the absolutely enormous Big Mom who rules over islands made of food she’s given souls to. Some areas that could have provided interesting battles like the islands in the sky ruled over by a self-described lightning god are unfortunately left out, but what makes their exclusion a tiny bit rougher is the game’s efforts to recap the entire One Piece story as much as it can despite many parts of it not being playable. The narrator will sometimes at length describes swathes of stories that would be hard for a new fan to keep track of and remind those who know what is being discussed on what they’re missing out on, but the selection of what is kept and represented still feels like possibly the best option beyond of course making the game larger. Some small alterations are made to help it flow a bit better as well like having Luffy’s brother Ace appear in the story earlier or replacing bit players who still had a role in the story with generic units so as to not distract from their one important action, but the only things it truly invents for its plot is a conclusion to the Wano arc. Starting off with what was available at the time, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 has Luffy’s crew land on the isolated island with hopes of defeating Kaido and opening the borders, but he’s not called the Strongest Creature in the world for no reason, his massive dragon form allowing him to capture Luffy. From there the game needs to invent some story and it is remarkably simple compared to what came before, focused more on bringing in tons of characters from other points in the plot for a gigantic clash between all the characters involved. It still has a solid climax, but here it’s clear the plot is more to provide big and involved battles over getting too creative with where the developers believed the Wano story could go.

 

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 lets you play as a incredibly large amount of characters, 43 of them available in the base game and each one having a unique ability set. For the story mode you will be locked into specific options for specific chapters, but the game only occasionally demands you play as a singular character, usually at least giving you three or more so you can try them out and learn which fighting style you like best and want to invest in upgrading. A battle in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 takes place across a large battlefield where plenty of troops are fighting for both sides, each individual soldier quite weak though and the characters you play as can easily decimate large groups of them without being in any real danger while doing so. It’s not uncommon for a level to end with your KO counter hitting a couple thousand, but that’s because the regular troops aren’t really the opposition you need to worry about. Battles have specific goals you need to achieve that involve fights with a little more thought put into them. Oftentimes you’ll need to face off against tougher foes, such as the commanders and captains who are essentially tougher troops who can take a few hits and have a better chance of actually hitting you. However, the more challenging foes will often be the named characters, the player facing plenty of characters they’ll later get the chance to unlock no matter if they’re good, bad, or morally grey. Some characters with unique movesets are only available as villains such as the gigantic Jack who turns into a woolly mammoth or CP9’s Blueno who can create doors in midair to travel through, the battles able to have an even wider roster of foes with special powers to make for more interesting battles.

 

Taking down these major characters, clearing out troops to claim areas of the map, completing limited time objectives like finding hidden foes, defending certain allies and areas, and other objective types will be what tends to demand your attention and ensures you aren’t just mindlessly clearing out the little guys with no opposition. Outside of the main story in the extra modes you can even encounter battles with special conditions like trying to beat tough foes to raise the bounty the marines have out on your character to a certain level, the fight growing tougher as people show up to try and claim it. The story levels won’t prove too difficult save when the Wano levels start to crank up the number of characters present, but the Treasure Log content and its story-free mission designs adds not only much more to do after the plot but plenty of the more challenging mission types that are unafraid to throw together huge groups of powerful characters or test your ability to manage a busy battlefield as allies and areas all around the space need constant attention from you. You can play with other players to ease some of this difficulty, but generally you are meant to invest the spoils of battles into strengthening characters. The main form of progression are the island-themed upgrade screens where you purchase power increases and new abilities with the cash and booty acquired from fights, some of the upgrades universal while others are character-specific. Notably, there are passive and attack abilities to consider, attack abilities able to give characters new techniques in a fight while passive ones can be accessed by all characters no matter whose upgrade screen they came from and providing a useful variety of choices. You can equip passive abilities to increase after-battle spoils, power up basic attacks a little, enable things like a passive heal in a game that is fairly stingy with recovery otherwise, and you can find certain abilities that gel with character-specific powers such as those who might favor aerial attacks more than fighting on the ground.

The 43 playable characters are definitely what make this game an entertaining army-fighting adventure. In the world of One Piece the main forms of power come either from Devil Fruits or Haki. Devil Fruits give their user a specific power like turning into an animal or harnessing an element, but rarely is it so straightforward. The main character of Luffy is able to use his rubbery body in many ways, stretching limbs, inflating himself, and reshaping his body in many wild and wacky attacks. Chopper, a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit, is able to mix how much of a human and how much of a reindeer he is at one time, able to even take on different human shapes like a bulky fighter or a quick runner. Robin’s power allows her to manifest limbs anywhere in sight allowing for powers like enormous legs stomping on people of gardens of arms rising up beneath them, but you also get powers like the Marine Admiral Akainu’s magma powers that provide simple satisfying power. Haki allows for normal people to potentially keep up with these fruit users, so while the swordsman Zoro does rely on blades alone, he can channel internal energy into flashier attacks on top of already wielding them in a unique way by fighting with three blades, one of which he holds in his mouth. The wide range of abilities on show allows for some very diverse fighting styles and abilities. Usopp battles from afar with a slingshot mostly and feels quite different than someone like Bartolomeo whose barriers protect him mid-attack but can also box in enemies in the middle of his combos. Characters are sorted into the classes of Power, Speed, Technique, and Sky to help you know at least how they like to fight, a character like Smoker who turns into clouds of smoke handling aerial combat much better and thus designated a Sky type character. Technique tend to be the quirkier power sets, Speed can dish out rapid fire attacks, and Power is a bit self-explanatory but tends to also include the giant characters. Big Mom and Kaido are both absolutely massive and can hit a huge group of enemies in front of them with a basic swing, the game not afraid to let you use that power once you’ve unlocked them and still able to whip up fights that can challenge these capable but not all-powerful juggernauts.

 

The battle system is pretty easy to understand and utilize as well. Your basic X attacks are quick strikes that link together into a solid combo for rapid damage no matter who you play as, but by pressing Y at certain times in the attack sequences, you can start executing attacks with more character-specific advantages or extra effects. Inflicting status effects, trapping enemies briefly, or covering wider areas tend to crop up as aspects of these stronger attack types, and they can end up playing a vital role in how you wear down other named characters. Important enemies will always take damage from your attacks but also have guard meters that will weaken how much they receive until you deplete them properly. After they’re depleted you’ll have a brief moment where the enemy is often reeling and will take enhanced damage, so you can pick attacks before the guard is broken to start chipping away at it before unleashing the stronger stuff when their defenses are down. You also have a set of special moves you build up energy for that tend to deal heavy damage, have guaranteed effects, or can power you up so you attack incredibly quickly and hit harder for a time. These can be customized before battle and some characters can have quite a range of options to pick from after you’ve bought the right upgrades, but you have a wide enough set of attacks to ensure facing off with powerful foes has some strategy involved despite the mindless but satisfying troop smashing you’ll do on the way to those big conflicts.

 

One unfortunate little blemish on the fighting though is the way the game handles its camera angles. Your view of the fighting is typically fine and can be controlled with the right control stick, but in areas with many important enemies you may be tempted to lock onto one to try and focus your attacks and camera on them. With some characters like Luffy himself this can be pretty useful as he will launch himself about a fair bit while fighting and ensuring he does it towards your desired target helps the battle go smoother. However, locking in means you surrender all camera control and the game doesn’t do the best job of keeping up with where your enemy is. It can sometimes be preferable to just manage the camera yourself even if your character might throw themselves off track with a lunge because of it, but losing track of what you’re even doing because the camera can’t keep up is the less preferable option. It’s not like the camera will be the death of you ever, but a game with fairly fluid combos and combat like One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 certainly needed a more accommodating camera to let you enjoy the fast-paced action and the impressively animated and creative attacks you unleash.

THE VERDICT: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 puts together a wide assortment of characters with creative and satisfying move sets that can be upgraded through a fairly good set of story missions and the expansive Treasure Log challenges that provide deeper action for those looking for tougher fights. The story does struggle a little to adapt so much material and settles for a finale more about who is present than what is happening and the camera control issues at times interrupt combat that otherwise has a nice sense of flow, but it hardly holds this game back from providing enormous battles that can still have the types of objectives and strong opponents needed to guide the action in between satisfying simple moments of clearing away crowds of weak minions.

 

And so, I give One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 for Xbox One…

A GOOD rating. While playing through a greatest hits collection of One Piece’s best stories is a fine idea and one the game mostly pulls off well, its Wano ending does stick out a bit next to them and probably should have been more deeply considered than just using it as a way to toss in a bunch of characters for a grand finale. However, from a gameplay perspective those stages provide some of the most interesting fights of the main story and the kind you’ll find plenty more of in the more complex Treasure Log missions, the action able to grow into something that asks for smart play and attack choices at key moments while still allowing for simpler moments where you let off steam fighting easily steamrolled armies. The 43 characters are almost all fairly good choices, the swordswoman Tashigi comparatively simple but then you have characters like the bunny girl Carrot with her lightning paws or Jimbei the whale shark fishman who can fling water around with his karate so creative variety is hardly lacking. In fact, a simpler character isn’t as bad since being less off the wall makes them unique in such a wide arrangement of powers and expressions of those abilities that are much more imaginative than something like the the massive pirate Whitebeard’s seismic powers only being used for earthquakes. The camera controls are the game’s biggest drawback, but perhaps having a greater focus to its story rather than trying to throw in everything and weakly recapping what it can’t might have made for a more compelling story mode as well. As it is you’ll get an adventure with familiar locations for fans and a fighting style enjoyable even beyond its franchise context, the island-themed upgrade system giving you something to constantly work on as well so a sense of growth accompanies the ability to push into the deeper and more challenging trials awaiting those who delve into the Treasure Log more thoroughly.

 

At the time of this review’s publishing, One Piece has finished its Wano story and predicting its course would have likely been difficult with what little the development team of One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 had on hand at the time, but that didn’t hold them back from making an enjoyable army-fighting action game. Their little imagined version of how Wano unfolds will be an interesting curiosity for future players of the game to look back on as well, but the game didn’t just hinge on the current events of the series and is able to provide an exciting variety of characters with unique skills in large scale battles that don’t become stale, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 ensuring it will still be enjoyable no matter how it designed its alternate Wano finale.