Review for One Piece Grand Cruise. PlayStation VR game, the video game was released on 22/05/2018
One Piece, like Naruto, Dragon Ball and many other leading manga and anime, has obtained a huge amount of videogame transpositions. Sometimes these are mediocre titles, created in the hope that fans will buy the article with their eyes closed; at other times, however, we find real video games with a capital V behind which a thorough job has been carried out. After Pirate Warriors 3, now also released for Nintendo Switch, and Unlimited World Red, the time has come for the strongest pirates of all time to sail the seas in virtual reality. PlayStation VR therefore hosts One Piece Grand Cruise, title for sale at € 10 which, from the description, will allow us to experience unforgettable adventures together with our favorites. Will it really be so?
Marina and Kraken on the attack
As soon as we put the viewer on, the game will put us in front of the choice of facing one of two different adventures that make up the entire videogame offer of One Piece Grand Cruise: Attack of the Navy and Attack of the Kraken.
Selecting Navy attack, a Lumacofono will welcome us on the Thousand Sunny introducing us to the members of Luffy's crew and then let us choose whether to visit the Kitchen or Nami's bedroom. Our decision will lead to a short chat (mostly a monologue by Sanji or Nami, respectively) dedicated to just seeing our favorites talking to each other face to face. After this quick parenthesis we will find ourselves on the deck facing a navy ship that has just flanked the Thousand Sunny: the crew members will position us in command of one of the ship's guns along with a series of other NPCs displayed as simple silhouettes that will help us . At this point the navy ship will start throwing everything from cannonballs to barrels, up to anchors and large chunks of meat. Moving the DualShock 4 will result in a 1: 1 movement of the cannon in front of us, so that we can aim in the most accurate way for each shot fired with the X button. Hitting the targets thrown by the navy will lead to the acquisition of points, which they will then compare with those scored by the opposing "team" of NPCs, positioned on the opposite side of the ship.
Interspersed with a short intermission in which we can choose Zoro or Sanji as rescuers of the ship from a giant cannonball, the mini game lasts only a couple of minutes and then ends with a simple count of points to decide the winning team.
With the'Attack of the Kraken the choices become more varied and interesting. As for the first mini game, at the beginning we will be able to choose a place to visit, this time between Kitchen, Nami's Room, Pier and Infirmary. Here the characters will have different things to say to us than the first time and they will also ask us questions that we can answer yes or no. Inside the rooms there will also be several objects belonging to the members of the crew: we can only choose one and this will determine who, at the end of this game, will compliment us in first person. After the monologue in one of the rooms, the mini game will begin against a Kraken that has just attacked the Thousand Sunny: once again we will be driving a cannon and the controls will be identical to those of before.
The aim is to hit the Kraken's tentacles, scoring more points by attacking those who are about to attack the ship. Once again we will take a couple of minutes to complete everything, however after the defeat of the sea creature we will be attacked by surprise by Don Quixote Doflamingo. At this point we will observe a brief fight between the member of the Shichibukai against Captain Luffy, and only at that point we will witness the epilogue where we will be warmly greeted by our favorites.
Qualquadra not what
Immediately after completing One Piece Grand Cruise, we will not only be left with a sense of total dissatisfaction caused by the brevity and insipidity of the experience, but we will feel a sense of discomfort and perplexity due to several things that clearly do not add up. Why is it that we propose a game in which we challenge anonymous figures in a points challenge which then does not give any follow up besides the immediate results? Why simulate a race with allied and enemy teams when we will be unable to play with friends or other people, be it locally or online?
We did a quick search and found that in reality this game was part of a quick virtual reality experience that was offered in Japan to the patrons of a One Piece themed event, where there were shows, exhibitions and more. During this event, of course, many patrons had the opportunity to play together in these VR challenges, having fun and teaming up in teams to try to score more points. What we find on the PlayStation 4 is instead a mere port of what was proposed at the time, with the consequent uselessness that derives from it.
If this were not enough, trophy hunters will not have an easy life due to the compulsion to start all over again for dozens of times in order to score a lot of points total in the mini games or to be greeted in the final by every single member of the crew. Of course, every single section of dialogue or animation cannot be skipped in any way, so we will be forced to put up with several minutes of dialogue each time interspersed with one or two minutes of mini-game.
Tits close at hand
Technically One Piece: Grand Cruise it is not badly done. Virtually non-existent soundtrack, but pleasant graphic sector: it seems to be in front of the heroes of the series within an episode of the anime. When you are in the company of Nami or Nico Robin, moreover, it is obvious a forcing of their movements or their positions to make the player inevitably look at certain points. The dubbing is obviously entrusted to the original voice actors, who do a great job as always.
Apart from this good-natured parenthesis, it is impossible to give praise to a game that lasts only a minute, it hurts its native multiplayer work, has some problems with aiming and, even, it presents a bad adaptation.
One Piece Grand Cruise is meant to be a VR experience on One Piece, but it was handled in the worst way. After the initial impact, full of fun and surprise in being face to face with your heroes, the rest of the game is a disappointment from start to finish. If it cost 1 or 2 euros, it would have had its reason, but 10 euros for a minute of play and a few monologues of the characters is clearly a theft. Too bad, because being in person on the Thousand Sunny pier is certainly a great feeling. We hope that sooner or later a One Piece VR game worthy of the name will be created.
► One Piece Grand Cruise is an Action-type game developed and published by Bandai Namco for PlayStation VR, the video game was released on 22/05/2018
