One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP Review [3DS]

One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP makes its 3DS debut this week. Whilst the animé-style game series is extremely popular franchise in Japan spanning not only videogames, but also manga comics and a cartoon series too, the One Piece games have failed to attract as large a following in the West. With this in mind, the release of this game on the 3DS came as a bit of a surprise.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this game or its characters, One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP tells the story of  The Straw Hat Pirates and their Captain, Monkey D. Luffy, who all exhibit some form of supernatural power, and who are on a quest to find the so-called 'One Piece' treasure.

The 3DS version is supposed to be a port of two original Wii titles: Unlimited Cruise 1: Treasure Beneath The Waves, and Unlimited Cruise 2: Awakening of a Hero, which were released in Japan onto a single cartridge, under the title Unlimited Cruise: Special Edition. However, the second episode had to be dropped from the European version due to certain 'localisation issues'.

 So, (we hear you cry,) the European version has got only one game on it, but its still a pretty good game, right? The short answer to this is 'No.' Although the game starts well enough with some brilliantly animated cutscenes and some slightly witty dialogue between the main characters, the overall enjoyment factor soon wane the further one progresses through the gameplay.

One of the main reasons for this is that all nine of the game's playable characters (which each have their own special abilities,) have difficult and somewhat awkward moves for the player to perform during battles.

For example, Usopp, has a slingshot which can be used to fire all kinds of ammunition at his enemies, but the slingshot in the game barely seems to make a mark on the enemies and seems difficult to control, which soon becomes tiresome. What's worse, is that the same thing applies to each of the nine characters in turn regardless of their individual abilities.

In addition, progress through the game is slow (to the point of being mind-numbing) and centres around the idea of collecting every single item which has been scattered around the island in order to rid the characters of large, but pointless obstacles, such as a Giant Pillar, so that they can complete the game.
 This activity is then heavily hampered by the constant re-spawning of enemies, who, (despite being defeated the first time,) seem to reappear each time the character re-enters a previously played environment to search for the objects they need.

The game does try to redeem itself through its occasional Boss Battles, but even here, the game ends up being frustrating at best as the main protaganists find themselves at the mercy of several ultra-powerful enemy attacks, which usually results in a 'loss' for the playable character.

In conclusion, although fans of the One Piece franchise may find the sharp 3D environments and witty dialogue enjoyable for a short time, the gameplay leaves little to be desired and will quickly cause players to lose interest. Although we hate to say it, this really is a game to avoid. Overall rating: 3/10.

Review: Spider-Man: Edge Of Time [3DS]

Everyone's favourite neighbourhood Spider-Man swings into action in his very first 3D outing this week in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

What is immediately apparent is that this particular game has at least attempted to build on the success of the last Spider-Man game title, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, which saw Peter Parker's alter-ego split into four distinct personalities from four alternative universes.

Edge of Time has a similarly strong narrative plot, with Future Spider-Man uncovering a plot to assassinate the his past-self with a dose of anti-venom. Nevertheless, actions in one time zone have serious repercussions on the other, can our hero use this knowledge to his advantage?

Nevertheless, where the strong narrative in Spider-Man: Edge of Time could be seen to potentially form the backbone of the game's success, it is more often than not the reason that the game seems static in places.

For example, having two Spideys in the same place but in two different time zones means that players are often be expected to play through the same levels with only minor adjustments to allow for the past/future changes. This can get a little boring at times.

Of course, the main objective of this type of game is to 'get the bad guys as quickly as possible', but even in this task, the game only seems average at best. Enemies are reasonably easy to beat in most of the levels, except during the big Boss Battles, where one would expect things to get a little bit harder.

However, Spider-Man: Edge of Time soon becomes a game of two different extremes, as these aforementioned Boss Battles seem to take the combat to an almost 'impossible-to-beat' standard, with several Bosses having huge energy bars that hardly seem to drain, or weak-points that are difficult to locate. Although this is fun for the first few levels, it soon becomes frustrating.

Nevertheless, Edge of Time does have its good points too. Graphically and audibly speaking, the 3DS version of Spider-Man: Edge of Time is probably the closest representation of the home console version(s) of the game that players could ever wish for.

The game is fully voice-acted and the banter between the characters really does make the player feel part of the Spider-Man universe, which is then further enhanced by some incredibly slick 3D graphics, which are guaranteed to impress all who see them, and rounded off with some pretty solid camera angles.

There are also some really good timed events within the game too, these help to elevate some of the tediousness caused by some of the more static levels within the game. The dramatic tone of the music also helps to build the tension here too, helping to convinced even the most normally calm person that he/she is about to run out of time any second.

Furthermore, the so-called 'Web of Challenges' function has been carried over from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, providing successful players with a new selection of bonus missions and challenges to undertake once the main campaign mode has been completed. This does help to enhance the game's replay value slightly.

Official Debut Trailer

In conclusion, the 3DS version of Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a good visual representation of the home console versions and has some limited interesting features. Nevertheless, the game features difficult bosses and repetitive gameplay, which is likely to bore most hardcore gamers within a matter of hours. Overall rating: 6/10.