One Piece: Grand Adventure
Score: 85% ESRB: Teen Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Games America, Inc. Developer: Ganbarion Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: RPG/ Adventure/ Action
Graphics & Sound: While video game adaptations of anime usually focus more on fan service than excellence in gameplay (for obvious reasons), One Piece: Grand Adventure does both well. Even players who have never seen an episode of this immensely popular show can find themselves having a good, if simple, time with the title. Grand Adventure looks like any faithful anime adaptation does. Cel shading dominates the game’s style; no real shocker there. While the environments could have been made a little more memorable with additional detail and interactivity, what’s there works extremely well. Perhaps what is more important here is the animation. Most anime features a very unique flavor of animation. Crazy directions, melodramatic poses, this is what people want and expect, and Grand Adventure is also faithful in this respect. Your characters battle their way through the One Piece world with fitting flamboyance. Audio is equally important to the experience, with the use of sound effects and voice actors straight from the show being a necessity for a faithful experience. Here too, Grand Adventure delivers.
Gameplay: The story of One Piece: Grand Adventure is essentially the same as its anime predecessor. The young pirate Luffy, leader of the Straw Hat Pirates, sails among the world’s islands in search of the ultimate treasure, One Piece. In Grand Adventure, you will lead Luffy through a quest to gather his crew and then set sail in search of One Piece. Eventually you will also unlock other more sinister captains you can play as, should you choose. Stripped away of its anime influenced visual trappings, Grand Adventure is essentially an arena style third-person beat-em up. Each location on the world map represents a stage, and each stage pits you against either one or many opponents. At first glance, the fighting system seems fairly shallow, but the game system gains extra depth with the inclusion of RPG elements such as levels, multiple characters, a specialized combo system, and a vast array of special moves and support character attacks. Heavy use of throwable weapons which appear during most stages and a multitude of powerups add a final touch of polish. The game’s simplistic fighting system is both its greatest strength and weakness. Though the truly hardcore will find it shallow, the game is deep enough to entertain the vast majority of players.
Difficulty: Any game with gameplay purposefully kept so simple and streamlined is likely going to have an equally accessible difficulty. Anyone from 8 to 80 will find they can pick up One Piece: Grand Adventure and do well. Because the game features RPG elements like leveling up characters, there are a few areas where you might find you need to spend some time raising the levels of a few stragglers. These times are the exception, however, and not the rule.
Game Mechanics: One Piece: Grand Adventure features two primary modes of play. Grand Adventure is the standard play mode, featuring a storyline, non-linear world exploration, item collection, and all of that yummy goodness. Grand Battle mode strips away the façade and leaves you with just the game’s battle system. Choose your game type, arena, and combatant and go head to head with the computer, or against another human, in all out brawls. Surely, if anime style art, dialogue, and sound disgust you in every possible way, then this isn’t the game for you. Conversely, One Piece fans will like the game. As for those who find themselves in-between, I say it’s a good bet you’ll find this game at least mildly enjoyable.
-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche
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