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AUGUST 2015 JB Hi-Fi
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visit FEATURE GAMES
One Piece:
Pirate Warriors 3
B ased on the successful anime One
Piece, which follows Luffy and his
pirate crew on a quest to become the
Pirate King, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 allows
you to relive the original story from back in
Fuschia Village, all the way to the nefarious
Donquixote Doflamingo's island, Dressrosa.
In Pirate Warriors 3, players travel
with and gather every member
of protagonist Monkey D. Luffy's
Straw Hat Pirate crew, and enjoy
the beloved tale's epic landmarks
and battles.
The game's 'beat-em-up' premise
is perfectly suited to the ludicrous
nature of the One Piece franchise.
Assuming the role of Luffy and
his friends, players must fight
thousands of enemies and rally
their own gangs to control points
and take out adversaries.
The third instalment in the franchise retains
the gameplay of the previous entries, whilst
improving on the smaller things. Luffy can
now use any Haki on command, and Straw
Hat member Zoro can choose the amount of
swords he uses, allowing for more adaptive
gameplay. A welcome new addition, however, is
the ability to perform a Kizuna Rush. This move
summons another character alongside whoever
you're playing, to perform a combination
attack. Up to four players can be summoned
in this way, and the final attack becomes more
and more powerful with the more players
involved. In addition to the main story, there is
also a Dream Log mode, in which characters
and items are revealed and unlocked as the
player progresses through the mode's many
battles. You can then use the characters you've
unlocked to revisit the story chapters later, in
what is called Free Mode.
The game features a decent amount of pre-
rendered and animated manga cutscenes, with
fully-voiced character conversations to help you
get a grip on each level's story arc.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is a welcome
return to the Pirate Warriors series. On PS4
[what we played it on] it offers a faithful visual
representation of the One Piece franchise.
For those who spent hours on end smashing
through the first two games, you can now
embrace and indulge in Luffy and co.'s lunacy
on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita from
August 27.
Luffy and friends have finally brought their pirate antics to
PlayStation 4, replete with arm-and-leg-slinging chaos, witty
one-liners, and lots and lots of dead baddies. By Alesha Kolbe