

Hilariously, the game offers a Bayonetta-esque bullet time mechanic if you're able to precisely time the laggy dodges and blocks. There's no seamless way to transition from attacking to dodging or blocking, so every fight is a war of attrition. Once you're in combat proper, however, it boils down to mashing the attack button, then running away until your health regenerates. In addition, the stealth mechanic (that some missions require you to use, natch) is completely busted, with enemies spotting you from behind cover, or while hanging from a ledge, or from a billion miles away. The camera lock system is archaic, so flying enemies are a huge headache.

The developers, to their credit, did a good job giving Luffy a variety of his signature attacks, and the animations are smooth and crisp.Īctually taking part in the combat is another story. If you watch one of the game's trailers, or you watch your friends play One Piece: World Seeker, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the combat was passable. Plus, with the exception of a few outfits, they're all materials to be used in crafting equipment, a system that is completely ignorable in this game. Sure, there are collectibles, but they're all clearly marked on the map and pretty easily accessible. The map just feels empty, even for how small it is. There are no shops, no minigames, no diversions to be found apart from a few side missions. You'll craft all your materials on the Thousand Sunny, which is also where you'll send your crew out exploring for crafting items. The only place that doesn't feel completely lifeless is Steel City, but there's really not much of a reason to go there outside of missions. The only thing you'll find between points A and B are goons to beat up. The map is small for an open world game I explored the whole thing in my first three hours.


There is none of that to be had in One Piece: World Seeker. In titles like Breath of the Wildand 2018's Spider-Man, half of the fun is in seeing what happens as you're getting from place to place, taking in the world and making your own fun. This reliance on fast travel would be a shame for most games. You'll spend the majority of the game fast traveling around the map to get from point A to point B. The one time the movement options do work, and you do find yourself skimming across buildings, you'll be shot down by a sniper who hadn't even shown up on your radar yet. Nine out of 10 times, the grapple and launch will send you flying into a wall or corner, causing Luffy to bounce off the surface to the ground or water, unable to recover. Luffy has two unlockable abilities that help him traverse the map: a tedious Spiderman-like grapple-and-launch move, and a hover move. In general, movement in the game is sloppy. On-the-spot turns are impossible even when you're not running, so collecting items and opening treasure chests is often a chore marked by skidding around in circles trying to get Luffy to both face the right direction and be close to the target item. The first thing you'll notice is that Luffy handles more or less like a car. The problem is that nothing else works the way it should, at least not completely. You can likely tell from the screenshots here that One Piece: World Seeker's visual style has the classic Bandai Namco cel-shaded look, which helps the game really retain the feel of the show throughout its length.
#ONE PIECE WORLD SEEKER ALL OUTFITS SERIES#
The animations are true to the series, the show's Japanese voice actors all appear in the opening credits, and, thanks to a big title card, it's clear that series creator Eiichiro Oda wrote the story.īut as soon as you touch down on Prison Island, the place you'll be spending the 15-or-so hours it takes to complete the game, things will start to go wrong. One Piece: World Seeker starts with an opening cinematic that, to be fair, is pretty spot-on. The adventure-filled universe of One Piece screams "epic, open-world video game." But after playing it, this title is best left disappointingly dry docked. And besides, the idea behind World Seeker is a solid one.
