So consider this me throwing myself at the feet of the anime gods and begging forgiveness. My sin? Knowing next to nothing about the wildly popular One Piece franchise. I've had friends bugging me to watch it for a while now but it just gets added to that mile high stack of dvd's in my closet labeled “things to watch when I'm not playing/writing about video games”. As it turns out though, I have played a video game or two in my time, so that makes me at least partially qualified to tell you what I thought of Namco Bandai's One Piece: Pirate Warrior when I played it at their Global Gamers Day event in Las Vegas last week.

The trailer they showed for it didn't do much to explain what type of game it was, but it became abundantly clear the moment I start playing it. One Piece: Pirate Warrior falls squarely into the “Dynasty Warriors” sub-genre of 3D beat-em ups. The scenario I played cast me as the series' main protagonist, Luffy, and sent me generous amounts of rival pirate thugs to get rubbery on. Using a combination of weak and strong attack buttons, I was able to unleash some real crazy moves, clearing groups of baddies with ease. Luffy fights like Mr. Fantastic on steroids, contorting his body and stretching his limbs in impossible ways for some really memorable, fun to use attacks. You also have a little power meter that slowly fills as you pummel enemies, and once it does, you can unleash a screen clearing special attack. In Luffy's case, he reared back his arm, turned his fist into something of a giant wrecking ball and swung it in a wide arc in front of him, cutting a huge swathe through the enemy ranks.

I say “in Luffy's case” because I'm assuming there will be other characters to play as in the final game. Maybe “assuming” isn't the correct word, more like “hoping”. Like any game of it's kind, Pirate Warrior's combat is fun and flashy, but short on depth. Most of the entertainment value comes from the sense of power garnered by pummeling packs of jobbers with impressive looking moves. Since this could easily get repetitive, one usually gets to play with a wide variety of characters, and the One Piece universe certainly isn't lacking in that department. Not only could the game quickly grow stagnant with only one character, but it would also be a missed opportunity to leverage a well known franchise.



So far though, the game is doing a predictably excellent job in that department. Much like all of the well handled Naruto based games Namco has published, Pirate Warrior does a great job of capturing the look and feel of the series. Cinematic camera flourishes give the special attacks a real climactic “anime moment” feel, and the well produced in engine cutscenes even have a few quick time events to add a little extra spice. The end sequence of the scenario I played was a great example, with Bartholomew Kuma showing up to wreak havoc on the battlefield. After whittling down his health while dodging an onslaught of different laser attacks, Sanji and Zoro showed up to finish him off in spectacular fashion. As has regularly been the case with Namco's anime based projects, it's clear that a lot of care went into making Pirate Warrior a product that would resonate with fans of the source material.

While I didn't get to see much of One Piece: Pirate Warrior I feel like I already know what it's trying to do, and it's doing it well enough. The action is accessible and entertaining, and it delivers the flavor of the One Piece anime effectively enough to draw fans of the series in. Those looking to take to the high seas and whoop some pirate booty can look for its release on PS3 this November.