Next-Gen Reviews

There is also a lot of combat in the campaign, but it has clearly been simplified right down for the benefit of younger players. The first character you play as - a man by the name of Monkey - utilises his rubbery, Stretch Armstrong-like limbs whilst fighting, and although you can do very cool things like grab enemies from afar and then hurl them at their buddies, you're only really ever hammering two buttons over and over again.

 

This is a pretty shameless button masher at heart; a game where people can stay afloat simply by hammering two buttons. It always looks very nice, but the Nintendo 3DS version (it's also available on Wii U, PS3 and Vita) suffers rather badly from not having a decent control scheme for its camera. The cam controls are placed on the bottom touchscreen, with the L trigger being a pretty vital tool for instantly centring the camera behind you at any point. You'll spend the first hour naturally reaching for the face buttons, and even once you learn to start using the touchscreen instead, you will probably never get used to it: this is a twin-stick console game if there was one.

 

In combat the green gauge on your screen is your health bar, and the yellow is your spirit one: with spirit being filled up via combat, at which point you can then press the R trigger in conjunction with one of the combat inputs to execute a special move. Even though combat doesn't get much more elaborate than button mashing with a few two and three-button specials thrown in, your little raccoon compadre Nukky is always on hand to boost your health back up. This is not a challenging game in the slightest, yet it speaks volumes that it nevertheless remains engaging throughout.

 

There are defensive manoeuvres - always mapped to the A button - which are usable during boss fights, but they are essentially very simplistic Quick Time Events… that said though, they become counters instead of dodges when you're brawling with regular enemies, which is a very nice touch. You spend the entire time you're playing acculmulating collectibles or "spoils" which allow you to expand your quaint little seaside hub hometown.

 

You can build restaurants and factories; you can build taverns - which are essential for taking on certain quests - and you will need to build a pharmacy if you want access to health and boosts. You do almost everything else (including managing your equipment out and saving your game) at the local inn, which is the first thing that you build. Between missions you're encouraged to go scavenging; not only to unlock additional goodies, but also to find materials needed to create your buildings. If you can't find the wood you need to build a new pharmacy, say, you can always head out to the village outskirts and do some fishing or capture an oddball insect or two; selling them afterwards to buy the wood you need. Incidentally, those two systems call to mind the similar systems seen in Animal Crossing and Zelda.

 

Unlimited World RED is very much an extension of the One Piece TV show, and thus it's difficult to fully recommend to non-fans: it is a little bit too jam-packed with references to its source of inspiration. It's also very easy indeed, and sectioned off into (nearly) bite-sized chunks that should make it most palatable for handheld gamers on the move. There are deep customisation options and enough content to keep you going for quite a while, and there is a sweetness to the IP which never stops being inviting. Not bad at all, really.

 

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7/10