One Piece: Grand Battle

"Why did they release this game outside Japan?!"

No, no. I'm not a Japanophile. This game outside Japan is rather mediocre, and there are lots of reasons why, which I will state in this review.

Graphics: The graphics for the introduction, menus, characters, and ending are in well-drawn anime form. When fighting, the characters and background look very good. The things added onto the characters for texture and depth look kind of bad, though.

Gameplay: The gameplay is similar to that of the Powerstone games (from way back). Two characters fight on a 3D map with some interesting backgrounds. The combos are nice and simple (which is a plus for people like me that don't want to memorize combos for every character), and they have super and secret attacks as well. Pretty much all of the characters are balanced, although the secret attacks are a bit game-breaking. This is kind of bad, as I can beat my friend into a pulp, and then he runs away (we turn time limit off) and spams his secret attack, which drains me from 70% health to 0%. This is incredibly annoying, although it helps destroy the AI, by getting yourself almost dead and spamming your super.

Multiplayer: This is one of the best part of the game, in my opinion. In games like this, single player can get boring, but fighting with your favorite One Piece characters against your friends is very fun! And if your skills are about equal to that of your friends', battles are extremely fun. And with the broken secret attacks, you have to always be on your edge!

Sound: The music in this game is pretty good. Although not not memorable, they match the stages very well and what's happening in the battle (secret attacks). The opening song is kind of bad, but at least you can skip it... The attack sounds are nice, and they can help you know what's going on when you can't see it, like a ship firing cannons at you. The voices, for the most part, are decent to good. Sanji and Usopp drag it down, however.

Other Notes: You may think, "This game doesn't sound bad; it actually sounds really good!" It is... somewhat. When you quickly unlock everything, you'll notice that... your character roster is only a mediocre 16. That's right. And the stage selection? A mediocre 7. This is not enough for a fighting game. Even the original Super Smash Brothers can compare to this. And that has 4 players to offer. What was Bandai thinking when they released this? They simply took the JP version, edited out the things too far ahead of the series in America (although this was developed first), and gave us the remnants. No added things to compensate (except one super attack). Even while the secret attacks are way ahead of where the series was in America, they gave us a half-assed game. If anyone's wondering, the JP version has a borderline decent 19 characters and 9 stages, which is already only decent.

Overall: The game is fun, especially with friends, and it's pretty good. However, outside Japan, the mediocre character roster and stages to choose from make this game rather mediocre overall. This game won't really last that long because of this. Even if you're a One Piece fan, this game will probably be a miss for you, unless you import.

US/EU: 5/10. 16 characters and 7 stages.
JP: 7/10. 19 characters and 9 stages.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/05/07