One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2

You may have heard of One Piece: Pirate Warriors through the popular anime series of the same name, or this may be your first time learning of them. At any rate, picture a bunch of misfits with crazy abilities in typical Japanese style and you might have one tenth of an idea how zany One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 is.

Like the first One Piece game you play as Luffy, whose body stretches like elastic, which is handy for pummeling enemies. But this time around you can also play as characters from the Straw Hat Pirates and others from the series. One of the first being Nami, the scantily clad, big breasted pirate who swings around a pole to attack enemies. If you aren’t familiar with the previous One Piece games or the franchise itself the opening scenes can be a bit bewildering. Especially as around thirty seconds in you are treated to a generous cleavage shot of Nami’s ample bosom. Ample being the polite way to put it. Not to mention the teeny bikini. Come on, woman, where’s the support?

Jiggling boobs aside, once you launch into the story it has a Dynasty Warriors feel to it, with enemies thrown at you as you button mash and hurl out attacks in an attempt to cut through the waves of them. It’s good, silly fun and the combos never seem to need more than five button presses, so it’s easy to learn them quickly and what combos work best for you.

As your characters level up you can add coins to boost their stats and you can find these coins on the battlefields in chests. Using bingo cards that you unlock and find on the battlefields gain you skills by again collecting coins and matching them on the cards. Line them up and, yes you guessed it, you get a new skill. Progression is simple enough but it doesn’t have the draw that RPG customisation does. Unfortunately this doesn’t help when the game begins to become repetitive.

The campaign itself is a decent length with the option for local and online co-op – the online co-op being the part I enjoyed most. It comes in the form of players sending Rescue Requests for help with levels you have previously mastered. You can send your own requests for players to answer and help you with too. There is no communication between you and the other player, you just help each other kick some butt.

If you are a One Piece fan you are sure to love this game. The visuals reflect the anime beautifully and you can play as around thirty different characters from the series. It feels authentic with the Japanese dub and music.