One Piece- Unlimited Adventure

It's a little hard to talk about this one... I'll explain the basis first, so those of you who don't know about One Piece can sort of catch up.

     One Piece is a Manga series that follows the adventure of the Straw Hat crew of pirates as they quest to accomplish their dreams.

The Crew

In the crew there is Monkey D. Luffy (written and spelled that way, but since it is from Japan, his name is actually Luffy) a man who ate a devil fruit strain called the gumgum fruit, which made him a rubber man, but took away his ability to swim. Luffy is the captain of the straw hats, but really only by title, considering he doesn't do much to lead them beyond motivation and power. Luffy is hunting for a treasure called One Piece to become king of the pirates.
     There is also Zoro (not the one you're thinking of. This one wields three swords and has green hair. He is called Zolo in the 4kids dud of the show, probably to avoid copyright.) He mostly came along with Luffy because he saved his life, and because he wants to become the world's best swordsmen.
     Then there is Nami, a master thief and navigator. She loves money, even though she is technically free from her need to collect it (story arc near the beginning of the series, I shall not spoil it.). She has weapons that allow her to manipulate the air around her, creating small thunderclouds.
     Then there is the "second in command" Usopp, a master marksman... with a slingshot. He's a joke character.
     Next, the chef, Sanji, a ladies man and rival to Zoro (the two don't get along, they aren't rivals in swords in the slightest) who is of the school of thought that a chef mustn't use his hands to fight, and instead uses incredibly strong kicks.
     There is then Chopper, a reindeer that ate a devil fruit that allows him to move along the sliding scale of anthropomorphism. He is normally in a tiny reindeer-chibi-human form, that has increased intelligence. He is the ship's doctor.
     Next there is Nico Robin (and this is at the point where I don't know the characters as much. I watched mostly the 4kids dub (surprise, I was it's target demographic.) and later the funimation dub on Toonami. When One Piece was canceled, it was at the Skypeia arc, meaning that I do not know the story of Robin, Franky, Brooks... or any other character that is a part of the crew now. I know the basis, but that's it.) Nico Robin ate a devil fruit that allows her to sprout arms and hands from any location (I do mean any location) and control them.
     Lastly, (at least where the game is concerned, there are more that were added later.) there is Frankie, a cyborg Shipwright surfer dude.

The Story

     Because this game was actually made for the fans of the series, it assumes that you've seen it or read it enough to understand everything. So the story is actually much larger than what is contained in the game... Except the game may be non-canon. Non-canon means that the story that takes place does not actually occur in the story proper. It's like a "what-if?" scenario.
     The story in the game itself is this: The straw hat crew land on a strange island. Luffy finds a magic orb that allows him to open seals on certain parts of the island. The seals are protected by magic, which takes an enemy (or ally) from the straw hat's memory, and brings it to life to stop the seal from being destroyed. These seals are what keeps a gate deep underground shut, to keep an evil from escaping and endangering the world. After the straw hats break all the seals, they defeat this evil, saving the island. Then when they leave, the island changes into a lush paradise in the shape of Saturn.
     Pretty simple story, but it doesn't really need to be longer and more complex... I managed to get over 80 hours on it, simply trying to collect things. The actual story, if you try to avoid unnecessary delays, might take 5-20 hours on average. But, being a Japanese adventure game, beating the final boss is only 50% of the total game. To get the other 50%, you need to beat the optional bosses, beat all the bosses again (including the optional ones), build everything, collect every bug and fish (the bugs are insanely hard. While the fish you can try over and over again, certain bugs only appear in one spot, and if you get too close they run away, and only come back if you leave the zone and re-enter, making getting the super rare bugs a real chore.) Adding more story would've just felt like padding.

The Gameplay

     The gamepaly in One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is pretty simple: it's a brawler, meaning you press different buttons to do different attacks to beat enemies. However, the game does make pretty good use of the fact it is one the Wii. Certain moves involve shaking the Wii Remote (you don't have to aim it though, thankfully.), and items like the pickaxe, fishing rod, and bug net all make use of the motion sensing function of the Wii remote (some more accurate than others, but it is somewhat forgivable.)
     Every attack you use in the game has a level. You simply have to use them on enemies to level them up, and as they level up you get more abilities and they become stronger, up to the max level, 10.
     Your health points and your Special points (used in special moves, and when dashing) are leveled up through cooking. You gather ingredients to make dishes, cook them, and then give them to the character of your choosing. You can level up your favorite to an unstoppable level (though if they die you are SOL) or divvy out the food equally to make them all stronger.
     At the camp, you can cook, make medicine, build tools (and improve on existing ones) save, and store items (some problems with that, but I'll bring it up later).
     The final thing of note about the gameplay: the enemies. The enemies are quite diverse, each with their own abilities to attack you with and cause damage. There is a good range of enemies, from weak to severely strong, and some that are rather broken. The best thing however is that every enemy can be identified by it's silhouette. You can easily tell at a glance what type of enemy you are facing, and know what strategy to use to beat them.
     The bosses are also fantastic as well. It's a bit like playing an All-star game, as all the enemies are recognizable characters from One Piece. They fight like they did in the books/show, and are fun while also being challenging (except one... but he was just really annoying.)

But now... the bad.

Problems

     The game is a collectathon. Meaning, through out the game you're going to be collecting a lot of items. Problem is, you have a limited inventory space. But, you have a storage at the camp, surely that can hold everything right? Nope, the storage is just as large as your inventory, and is actually 9 spaces smaller (active item slots. You have them, the chest does not). So while you have to collect a lot of stuff to cook, make medicene, and build items... you can't hold a lot. meaning that instead of going on a long and grand adventure, ending in a calming period of making the crew stronger and preparing for the next adventure... You're constantly running from zones back to the camp to clear out your inventory to make room for more stuff, only to find that an item you needed you dropped or were unable to pick up because you needed room in your inventory. Worse, items have stacks. This isn't terrible, as some items stack to quite high numbers... But items like bugs and fish do not stack, and thus take up a space in your inventory for every one you catch.

     Speaking of bugs, the bug catching is insanely annoying. You have a very narrow range for catching bugs in, and if you miss, the bug flies off. If you get too close, the bug flies off. If you make noise by rustling leaves when trying to inch closer to the bug, the bug flies off. This is incredibly annoying. It should've been that the bugs are flying around an area of the zone, and to catch them you just have to find them, chase them down, and catch them. As it stands, catching bugs is like one of Dante's levels of hell!

     Navigation is also a big problem... There is no minimap to help you navigate, so you're stuck pausing every few seconds to look at the map to figure out where you are. It is pretty much impossible to memorize every bit of a map. Even in the one map I traversed so much I did map it out in my head (Fossil Beach) I would still find things I didn't remember! The zones are a bit like the designers let a monkey draw on a chalkboard, and used it's scribbles to make a map. (The zones are beautiful though. Hard to navigate, but beautiful.)

      One last thing. This is more of a nit pick, but it is a concern: Enemy health. You never have any idea how much you've damaged an enemy. You don't know if they are near death or far from it. The reason this matters is that after using certain attacks listed to the side, you get something called a break, which when used on an enemy, sends them flying. If they survive the attack, nothing happens because of the break. But, if they are defeated, they drop health and SP balls, which helps to extend the fight and the adventure. But, this is hit or miss, considering you never know if an enemy is near death, or if using the break on them would be a waste.

But, beyond those concerns... It is a good game. If you manage to get past the bug catching, the collecting, the navigation, and lack of enemy health bars, this game is a load of fun. You could probably just spend hours fighting enemies!

I fully recommend this game for One Piece fans, but I do also recommend it to people who might want to get into one piece, as the game does at least try to make entrance for newcomers easy.

This has been Fixer Sue with the first Game review.

Oh, I forgot... There is a two player mode, where you can play as any character/enemy/boss and fight your friends, with the same combo system. Wasn't necessary, but good addition!