One Piece: Burning Blood Reviews
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.
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.
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 a game for the fans who are able to appreciate the vaults of lore and huge roster of characters. It may look pretty, but It's just far too harsh on newcomers — prioritising style over substance with a combat system that feels grossly unfair.
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.
One Piece: Burning Blood is far from perfection, expecially if you are a fighting games lover. Much better if you like Rufy and company. In this case, you will find one of the best representation of One Piece's characters in a videogame.
Review in Italian | Read full review
One Piece: Burning Blood is a great example of a licensed videogame, and it gets so much right, bringing the characters of One Piece to life in spectacular fashion. It's a shame that the limited and unwelcoming narrative scope and unnecessary difficulty spikes take away from what is otherwise a great arena brawler.
While I do remember shouting, without irony, "I despise this game" during the crazy difficulty swings, looking as critically as possible it's not a terrible way of spending a few hours. (Though for reference, I haven't used that many taboo words in short, angry bursts since I learned the words being used.) If you're a fan of the show or manga, you'll surely find something to like in Burning Blood. If you're only a casual fan or have a friend who is, after some adjustments to the battle system, you should have some fun as well. Just remember that the story is an exercise in abuse: it'll give you a win before pushing your face in the dirt, and not always in the fun, big-kid-who-doesn't-know-their-own-strength kind of way.
While the combat and variety of game modes can be a lot of fun, along with beautiful cel-shaded cutscenes that recreate the fan favorite Paramount War arc, jumping into a story that takes place more than halfway into the nearly 750 episode anime series makes One Piece: Burning Blood one that might be best left to just the most hardcore fans.
As far as licensed anime fighting games go, this is one that your friends probably won't refuse to play with you. Despite an incomprehensible retelling of the story, the majority of One Piece: Burning Blood is accessible enough to be picked up and learned in a few minutes. The chaotic action really pops with sketchy cartoon visuals — I especially loved the visceral satisfaction of knocking my opponents into background objects and watching the debris fall. This isn't as tight or polished as some of the other stuff out there (Naruto Shippuden's latest installment comes to mind), but it's well-worth a look if you're a One Piece junkie or just a fighting game fan looking for a little anarchic fun.
One Piece: Burning Blood is enjoyable even for those unfamiliar with the anime, but the game is at its best for those who already have some knowledge of the story's events. Some of the fights are brutal, making it increasingly difficult to progress the story, especially if the player isn't proficient at fighters and making combos. There are also some balancing issues that can make fights more difficult than they should be. Outside of the campaign, other modes add a nice variety of gameplay, and players can fight alone or with a friend both locally and online. Overall, this is a fun title but is not a completion for the faint at heart.
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.
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.
While One Piece: Burning Blood may look pretty, offer some nice content and a bizarre cast (including a cross dressing pirate based on Rocky Horror Picture Show's Frank N Furter), it wasn't enough to keep me interested. I can't even imagine fans of the anime would get much out of this release, especially as this is just the latest entry in a long line of games based on this franchise.
There's joy to be had in One Piece: Burning Blood. It's initially fun and colorful fighting fare that evokes the feel of the anime series superbly. A lack of nuance in the combat, extreme difficulty spikes and the growing sense of repetition all conspire to strangle that joy right back out of the game.
Visually, this game is right up there with some of CyberConnect2's successful Naruto games, too bad the gameplay didn't follow suit.
It looks like Burning Blood has been conceived for the original series fans to to have thrilling challenges against the CPU, in which they can appreciate the the great number of special moves and spectacular techniques. The game presents a rather concentrate main mode and not so interesting secondary options.
Review in Italian | Read full review
One Piece: Burning Blood does a solid job of adapting such an important story to a video game, but doesn't do a great job at letting newcomers know why it matters. Die-hard One Piece fans will get some enjoyment here, but there are better fighting games out there.
If you're looking for a fighter with a solid, interesting roster, then One Piece: Burning Blood is right up your alley. But, if you seek story and new insight from your anime-based games, you will be left wanting.
One Piece: Burning Blood is a great experience for fans of the One Piece Series. Those who are familiar with One Piece will be excited to see their favorite characters in a faithful representation of a pivotal story arc. However, there is not enough happening in Burning Blood's fighting mechanics to spike the interests of those who are either unfamiliar with or new to the series.