The Carnival Has Sailed
Into stores, that is. New One Piece game ahoy!
Published: September 12, 2006
"One Piece: Pirates' Carnival brings players all the comical antics of the One Piece characters in a party game that everyone can enjoy," kicks off Namco Bandai Games America VP of Product Development Naruo Uchida. "We have created a title that is easily accessible and filled with a great variety of mini-games that fits well with the adventures of the Strawhat crew."
There's a good chance only half of what Mr. Uchida just said there made any sense -- hell, we only really got half of it, but then we're not the target audience for a board game/mini-game mash-up based on a insanely popular Cartoon Network series. This talk of Strawhats and One Pieces hasn't stopped us from enjoying an early preview build of the game, though, and it's likely it won't stop you either.
See, it's all based on a cartoon depicting a crew of pirates with funky powers, led by a straw hat-wearing captain by the name of Luffy who's in search of... well, a big ass treasure, but what else are pirates usually after. Apparently the best way to do this is to play out a series of over 30 mini-games on a bunch of board game-type activities while earning cash and prizes. Should you, as the player, tire of all the "strategy" involved in trying to complete the board game sections, you can always play the games on their own, but where's the fun in that?
The game has officially shipped to stores, and we've goofed around with our review copy all weekend, so expect a review in the next days -- maybe even hours, ho hoo! In the mean time, you can make do with these new screens and hold out for our review, or just rush out to the store and pick up a copy. It should be there by tomorrow if not sooner.
There's a good chance only half of what Mr. Uchida just said there made any sense -- hell, we only really got half of it, but then we're not the target audience for a board game/mini-game mash-up based on a insanely popular Cartoon Network series. This talk of Strawhats and One Pieces hasn't stopped us from enjoying an early preview build of the game, though, and it's likely it won't stop you either.
See, it's all based on a cartoon depicting a crew of pirates with funky powers, led by a straw hat-wearing captain by the name of Luffy who's in search of... well, a big ass treasure, but what else are pirates usually after. Apparently the best way to do this is to play out a series of over 30 mini-games on a bunch of board game-type activities while earning cash and prizes. Should you, as the player, tire of all the "strategy" involved in trying to complete the board game sections, you can always play the games on their own, but where's the fun in that?
The game has officially shipped to stores, and we've goofed around with our review copy all weekend, so expect a review in the next days -- maybe even hours, ho hoo! In the mean time, you can make do with these new screens and hold out for our review, or just rush out to the store and pick up a copy. It should be there by tomorrow if not sooner.
