I wanted to like One Piece: Grand Battle from the very beginning. Cel shaded graphics and presentation quality that hearken to the anime make for a great experience for fans of the series. Environments, characters, the music--everything comes together to make the game much like what any fan of the series would want. What could go wrong?

...and right after I asked that to myself, the gameplay answers. One Piece: Grand Battle has some great concepts taken from various sources--dynamic environments that allow for fully 3D movement and combat, regenerating items throughout levels, and a partner system that allows you to call a sidekick into battle to help you on command. All of this is good and well, but is overshadowed by the fighting.

One Piece: Grand Battle's fighting system is unorthodox and simplistic to a fault. The game is obviously built as a pick-up-and-play title with accessibility to anyone who wants to play, making it almost like a party game instead of a fighter. The fighting engine feels about halfway between Super Smash Bros. Melee and the Dragonball Z: Budokai series, as it employs very simple button combinations for special moves, with some more damaging attacks thrown in with a button pressing minigame for some variety. However, with some attacks being almost completely ineffective and some being shared between characters, the options you have in battle are very thin.

With a horribly simplistic combat system and the promise of more games that will only build on the admittedly solid foundation of One Piece: Grand Battle, I can only recommend that people hold out a couple of versions untili a more complete One Piece fighter comes out. The current game is lacking in one key place, and even diehard fans of the One Piece storyline won't find much enjoyment out of this mediocre offering.