One Piece: Pirate Warriors

I've never really paid attention to Dynasty Warriors, as Chinese history usually isn't something that grabs my attention. Besides, I didn't think that I was missing much more than a whole lot of button mashing. Then Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei announced that they were making a Dynasty Warriors game based on One Piece, Shonen Jump's anime/manga franchise about a stretchy boy trying to become the next Pirate King. Most anime-licensed games tend to be forgettable, but early footage looked surprisingly fun, like it could capture the energy of the source material.

Though plenty of anime games get passed over for localization, Namco Bandai actually decided to release One Piece: Pirate Warriors, albeit without an English dub. Fans should feel lucky the game is being released at all -- One Piece's popularity outside of Japan is far lower than other Shonen Jump properties like Bleach or Naruto. But is the game worth playing, or is it just Dynasty Warriors with cel-shading and stranger characters?

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