One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
Above: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 is coming out in 2020.
This was one of the wild games that’s very Japanese, from the “action musou” genre that developer Koei Tecmo has made popular. I think that means the game has a lot of cannon fodder that you can shred with impunity.
I played Nami, a female character who wore a bikini top in the middle of this action-oriented fantasy world. Her attire was not very practical, but since this game has the No. 4 after it, I figure the developer knows what they’re doing.
I went through a long set of dialogue prompts and found I had to rescue a character named Luffy on an island. We landed on an island that was like an anime world. I had one sidekick and found I had to go up against hundreds and hundreds of enemies, which were knights holding pikes and swords.
I wasn’t super-sized, but I found I could swing my weapon like a scythe through the enemies, stunning a dozen at a time with the first blow and then knocking them out with the next blow. I could also summon a powered attack to blast rows of the enemy. Talk about a power fantasy. But I could never rest because there were so many of them.
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Every now and then, I found a boss character to chase down and attack. But many of them disappeared under a timer, so I had to be fast. The island had a mini-map that showed me where I had to run to rescue Luffy.
The game is coming out on the PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC this year. Up to two players can play offline, and up to four can play online.
One Punch Man
Above: One Punch Man
In this game, you play as One Punch Man, a hero that nobody knows. And yes, this is another game where I had no idea what I was doing.
But I was the hero that this world needed. With the help of Saitama, the strongest hero in the universe, and Genos, his faithful student, I was put to the test, wearing my big red gloves.
I was thrown into a dynamic fighting experience, in a modern world where I had to run to different mission spots to take on characters. Fortunately, there was a good tutorial where I learned to punch and dash.
Then I was ready to join the Hero Association and fight the monsters and villains in the world. The game features dynamic 3-vs.-3 fighting. You have to deal with things like meteors, a giant, other heroes, and more.
As you fight, you level up and upgrade skills, purchase costumes, go on quests, and learn more about the One Punch Man universe. Spike Chunsoft is developing the game. It debuts on February 28 on Steam, Xbox One, and the PS4. It will be out in Japanese and English.
Sword Art Online AIicization Lycoris
Above: Sword Art Online AIicization Lycoris
This JRPG is based on the Sword Art Online anime. You play as the protagonist Kirito and immerse yourself in “Underworld,” a mysterious virtual world set in the anime’s Alicization arc.
Lycoris is a species of flower found in the South of Japan which symbolizes passion, sad memories, reunion, and self-reliance. You’ll experience these themes as you dive into the game’s storyline. At least I think that’s what happens.
Kirito has awoken in a mysterious yet somehow familiar virtual world where AIs behave like humans. In this world, Kirito meets a young man named Eugeo. They make a promise where their destinies will soon become entwined. To keep that promise and stay together, they must venture onwards.
Playing as a busty female named Medina, I led a group of four characters into a nest of spider-like creatures. We had to make our way through a wilderness, cross a bridge, and fight some monsters in a meadow. We dispatched some creatures with long tails at first, and then we had to take out a big creature that was like the cross of a bird, a dog, a wolf, and a spider — all at the same time.
I hacked at it and ran away, and I did this maybe 20 or 30 times until all four of us brought down the monster. It reminded me of hacking away at a monster in God of War, though it seemed a little sluggish.
You can relive the Alicization with your favorite characters such as Kirito, Eugeo, Alice, Administrator, and many more. Aquira is making the game. It comes out on the PS4, Xbox One, and Steam on May 22.
