"Help work on a flag"

• Graphics: 8/10
• Sound: 4/10
• Gameplay: 8/10
• Replay Value: 5/10
• Overall: 6/10

While it isn't as bad as many licensed games, One Piece: Grand Battle still suffers from some glaring problems with story, artificial intelligence and multiplayer modes that make it hard to enjoy. If you can get around those problems, though, there is a simple but deep fighting game that might give you a few hours of amusement. Fans of the anime will be pleased to see the characters and environments they love from the show faithfully recreated.

A lot of licensed games are absolutely horrible. Developers and publishers know that fans of the property being made into a game will buy it based on the characters on the cover, so they tend to throw these characters into the most derivative, cheaply-produced game they can make as quickly as possible.

One Piece: Grand Battle does not fit this pattern. There is actually a decent game underneath the anime-licensed shell. But this only makes it more frustrating, as every good element seems to have an accompanying annoying flaw that keeps the game from being anything more than an aggressively average fighting game.

Take the character design, for instance. The developers did a great job recreating the strong visual style of the characters and settings from the anime in three dimensions. Bright, primary colors and smooth, expressive animations make the game seem like a three-dimensional version of the cartoon, which is only fitting.

Despite well-rendered three-dimensional models, the characters become nothing more than two-dimensional plot devices in the completely forgettable story mode. Instead of pairing up characters against their natural opponents, the story mode inexplicably pits friends and crewmates against each other in a battle royale. This means that the story interludes set up increasingly inane reasons for two characters to fight. Some examples of reasons why people fight include: stealing food from the fridge; wanting to borrow some tangerines; and fighting for the right to "help work on a flag". I wasn't expecting Shakespeare from a game based on a children's anime, but these totally implausible setups really take away from the impact of the fights.

The story mode, and the game in general, isn't helped by what is probably some of the worst voice acting I've ever heard in a game. Fans of the anime will be happy to know the American voice cast returns for the game. People who have never seen the show will wonder how people with such wooden delivery and grating accents got work as professional voice actors.

Surface features aside, the game actually has a lot going for it. The controls seems relatively basic at first - two attack buttons, plus jump, block and throw - but the buttons can be strung together in dozens of combinations for a large variety of different attack and defense patterns. This depth doesn't come at the expense of simplicity either - a few minutes in practice mode are all it takes to become pretty adept at all the various combos. The controls are responsive and forgiving enough to make performing combos and dashing around the playing field a pain-free experience.

It's too bad that this simple-but-deep fighting system is wasted on some totally inept artificial intelligence. In general, computer-controlled opponents range from horribly inadequate to unfairly difficult with no comfortable middle ground in between.

In the easy and normal difficulty modes, opponents will often stand around and wait for you to attack them. These opponents also have a severe weak spot for any jumping attacks. I was literally able to beat countless opponents in "normal" difficulty using nothing but one jumping attack, repeated over and over with minimal dodging in between. This tactic worked with a number of characters against any opponent the game could throw at me. I know this game is targeted at a younger, less-experienced audience, but this kind of simplicity is just insulting.

Then there's the hard difficulty, in which the computer characters suddenly become incredibly good, pulling off amazing combos faster than would seem humanly possible. Beating characters in this mode is possible in practice, but it just doesn't feel like a fair fight when your opponent has what seems like a preternatural advantage.

Luckily, you don't always have to fight the computer - there is a passable two player mode that makes it easy to fight competitive battles on a first play-through. But this just makes the lack of a four-player mode more glaring. A quick-action, pick-up-and-play fighter like this seems to be screaming for it, and the well-designed levels seem perfectly capable of handling the increased action without a problem. It's a shame, because this one feature alone would greatly increase the game's appeal as a party favorite.

Extras like mini games and character art are also a mixed bag - a five second video clip from the cartoon seems like a pretty useless reward for beating the story mode.

Considering how much worse licensed games like this usually are, One Piece: Grand Battle was something of a surprise. The game just can't compete, though, when compared to other action-fighting games like Super Smash Bros. Melee or Power Stone.