One Piece: Burning Blood

One Piece: Burning Blood understands what makes the pirate life so compelling in the source material, and is fairly successful in channelling that roguish spirit into its chaotic fights. That flashy, firm commitment to action will feel welcoming to One Piece's biggest fans, but confusing to everyone else. It's great to have something made just for fans, though even Luffy's biggest supporters will be let down by the brief, limited campaign. At its best, this wild and crazy fighter makes for a fun distraction for folks who've been dying for more One Piece games to get localized.

I'm not a fan of One Piece: Burning Blood and it's not because of the unfamiliar source material. The combat here just isn't that fun, and no amount of colorful anime action will change that.

Crunchy and colourful, One Piece: Burning Blood does more than enough to grab the attention of both fans and fighting game enthusiasts alike. While some potential balancing issues dull the brawler's competitive edge and the story mode is more of a slog than it needs to be, One Piece's madcap character roster keeps things interesting. It's not quite the bountiful booty that is One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, but Burning Blood's explosive combat is bound to leave a mark all the same.

Only buy Burning Blood if you're a fan of the series - it's possibly the best One Piece fighter, but one that's still mired in anime arena fighter jank.

One Piece: Burning Blood is one of those middle of the road games that makes game reviewers weep. The fun of praising or decimating a title stolen away without so much as a cheeky card. The game itself does work as an introduction to the series, giving the briefest of glimpses as to why it's so popular, and piling on the fan service with countless playable and support characters. Neither good nor bad, it exists. That will be enough for many fans.

One Piece: Burning Blood is an unremarkable adaptation of one of the franchise's most popular story arcs, and may not even appeal to diehard One Piece fans.

In terms of looks alone, One Piece: Burning Blood has great presentation, as it feels like it came right out of a manga. In terms of gameplay, though, it's just a decent, and relatively unpolished, fighter of no importance.

As some may have expected, One Piece: Burning Blood is a game for the fans. There's not much here to get newcomers interested in the franchise, and the very limited scope of the campaign doesn't make the different perspectives any better to deal with. While flawed in places, the fighting system is still fun to mess around with, since it seems to have better control over its chaos, and the other modes give the title more substance. Since the presentation matches the source material quite well, One Piece fans will be pleased enough with this game as they continue with one of the longest manga stories ever told.

A fun game for the fans who want to relive one of the most exciting arcs of the One Piece franchise. Lack of difficulty and appeal to those outside of the fandom and complex mechanics that can be easily forgotten unfortunately limit the player base. However with a variety of game modes that'll have players coming back for more, this is a must play for the fans.

Visually, this game is right up there with some of CyberConnect2's successful Naruto games, too bad the gameplay didn't follow suit.