One Piece Pirate Warriors 2

One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 is a title which attempted to replicate the atmosphere of the incredibly popular manga cartoon franchise, and actually did a stellar job with building a familiar environment. Sadly, the lacking range of combat, repetitive battles and disruptive interface drag down the title’s success among fans and gamers alike.

Semi-Entertaining Combat Progression

Combat within One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 begins slowly with simple mechanics, though the scale is anything but small. Battles are large and loud with tons of enemies to take out, even giving players the power to eliminate upwards of 50 enemies with a single move. On the other hand, the combat can be a bit underwhelming in terms of a challenge since basic combos are often enough to blow through opponents without much struggle.

Predictable Battles

The setup of each battle seems to become more predictable as players progress. There are a handful of components to each battle: gaining control of enemy bases, defeating mini-bosses, and then the major battles with more prominent boss fights. An overwhelming amount of available missions entail helping out a member of the crew, or defending an NPC, which can lose its luster after a while. The idea that companions can fend for themselves is basically nonexistent since these friendly NPCs tend to go down quickly, resulting in constant reviving for team members and less direct combat. One aspect that mixes up the repetition of combat is unlocking additional characters with varied play styles. This helps to mix the game up a bit and break up the more tiring aspects of gameplay in One Piece Pirate Warriors 2.

Cumbersome Interface Unfriendly to U.S. Gamers

A confusing interface is made more complicated for U.S. gamers with subtitles to translate the Japanese voice-over. Many American anime viewers prefer subtitled viewing for TV, though this plays out differently during gameplay. The interface is easily cluttered with translated battle updates which need to be read, often in the midst of battle, taking focus away from the objective at hand. This makes it easy to miss crucial updates such as when a crew member needs assistance, or when an objective has completely changed, wasting time for players.

Bottom Line

Concerning the narrative elements of One Piece Pirate Warriors 2, many loyal fans of the manga-turned-TV franchise may find the story’s buildup to be annoyingly slow-paced. In the broader scheme, the gameplay does stay fairly true to the franchise, though the entertainment of combat can feel stale after knocking out the first few thousand foes. Cutscenes also seem to appear without notice and abruptly interrupt high-octane battles and the interface can pose confusion even for super-fans of the series, hindering the learning curve for gameplay.

Similar Titles

For similar titles to One Piece Pirate Warriors 2, the gameplay style matches that of Dynasty Warriors, Bayonetta, and YAso Warriors with similar visual appeals to boot.

Pros:

• Satisfying narrative, after a slower buildup
• Fitting environmental design for loyal fans of the franchise

Cons:

• Repetitive combat settings with predictable battle elements
• Shallow set of combat abilities
• The interface can be confusing and chaotic at times