Usually, if you're an anime fan, you can simply look to Bandai for all of your anime game needs. Just about every series known to mankind has somehow fit under the wide umbrella of the company, and, well, One Piece: Grand Battle fits quite nicely under there with the rest of them. Moreover, One Piece shares a similarity with just about every other Bandai anime game created in the past couple of years: it's a fighting game.
I was extremely skeptical of One Piece: Grand Battle at first; it appeared to be just another button-mashing game that required little thought at all. Likewise, the super-deformed characters alienated me a bit, and I wasn't really sure if I even wanted to play the game. Nonetheless, I dove into the game, and I'm happy to say that I not only came out alive (and not in game-induced coma, either), but I actually-and I can't believe I'm saying this-I actually enjoyed myself a little.
The super-deformed characters may take a while to get used to, even for the regular watcher of the popular anime series (which now airs on Cartoon Network). The game, however, features all of the favorites: Captain Kuro, Buggy the Clown, and yes, even that weirdo that can stretch his body like rubber. I, of course, picked Buggy, since he's just absolutely the greatest thing since sliced bread, and proceeded to my usual process for fighting games: first, I attempt to learn the controls, then I fail miserably, and then I begin mashing buttons in a panic-stricken frenzy.
While I mindlessly mashed the buttons-and believe me, I nearly broke the buttons right off the controller due to my severe mashination-I noticed a few really cool ideas that Bandai cooked up. First, nearly every part of the environment was interactive. In one level, which took place on a sinking ship, there was a broken mast that was moving back and forth across the area. If I so pleased, I could unleash a flurry of punches against he mast, resulting in an insanely cool-looking combo, and send it barreling toward my opponent, knocking him down. Of course, he could simply jump over it or punch it right back at me, but sometimes it would go all right with me. Actually, that's a lie-my opponents defeated me many, many times due to that mast. Also, on another level I could even interact with cows that seemed to be almost randomly scattered around.
Another feature that impressed me somewhat was the ability to "summon" something I would almost call a pet in the middle of a battle. Each character had a unique summon; for instance, Buggy the Clown summoned a gigantic lion creature named Ritchie, and Kuro could summon his right hand man Jango. Additionally, each summon had unique ability. Jango, for example, can, to a certain distance, put anyone to sleep instantly. The summons certainly added a level of depth that I wasn't anticipating, and I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
Although there were some kinks to work out with the camera and some glitches with collision detection, One Piece: Grand Battle, which I'm told is due out sometime around Fall 2005, looks to be a promising game that any fan of One Piece should definitely check out.
Well, where to begin? As far as likes go, I’m a jellyfish with very few. I like to destroy AOL trial disks as soon as I get them, and I really like sniffing those markers that smell like different fruits; however, as far as gaming goes, I’m relatively diverse. But I’m not just going to spill the beans just yet—let’s go over some of what I can’t stand first. I gotta come clean.
I can’t stand horror games, and the only real-time strategy game I’ve ever even come close to enjoying was Starcraft. There’s just a certain something in those two genres that I will never be able to like. I’m also fairly averse to games such as Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and Tomb Raider—games that usually fall within the “Action” genre. Fighting games might start to get on my nerves after a while, but that’s usually because I’m too clumsy to get the insane combos done in some of the more recent ones. Just give me Mortal Kombat 2 and Street Fighter 2 and I’ll be set for life.
As for genres I do like, I’m completely crazy for RPGs. I own just about every Final Fantasy game released here in America (including the terrible Mystic Quest for the Super Nintendo and Adventures for the Game Boy). I also can’t resist a good multiplayer puzzle game like Bust-A-Move or Tetris Attack, and, even though I look absolutely silly playing it, Dance Dance Revolution is one of my favorite games.
Oh, and I also watch lots and lots of anime.
