Once destined for release sometime in 2008, but held back because of legal issues, One Piece: Unlimited Cruise finally makes it's way to western shores (Unlike it's predecessor, Unlimited Adventure, which was promised as a release title for the Wii, held back by similar legal issues, and eventually cancelled in the west) and (here at least) at a wonderful budget price of £24.99.

Presumably this is because very little has been done to the game, it has gone through a simple translation and otherwise features the same content seen in the Japanese version (They havn't even changed the screenshots in the manual, you can clearly see the japanese version of the game in the screenshots)

Now, while others might be annoyed by this, I was incredibly relieved because it meant that I would not have to suffer any of the 4Kids bullshit name changes or censorship and could enjoy the franchise as it was originally intended, this pleased me greatly as although several One Piece games have made it to the west, they had all been under the 4Kids flag and featured the same horrible voice actors and name changes as the western dub of the show. As well as having several characters removed (either because 4Kids cut them from the series too, or because they had not been introduced yet)

Anyhow, ranting aside the game plays rather well, a simple third person action adventure that sees you running about 4 different islands gathering items, fishing, fighting enemies and simply larking about as is traditional for the Straw Hat crew. Every item you find on your travels serves a particular use, you can cook, craft weapons and upgrades, as well as medicinal items. In addition to this you have to find or make certain items in order to progress in the storyline, this is the only part that particularly irks me, although (so far) it does not seem quite as bad as Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, it can still be pretty jarring to make it to a new island only to discover that you need to spend the next couple hours grinding out items in order to open up the next boss fight.

Which brings me to the bosses themselves, most of the enemies from the manga/series return here (with a decent enough excuse as well, they appear in the context of the storyline without breaking the universe) and they are all true to their original characters (and voiced by the same actors too) and for the most part, the fights are difficult but not frustratingly so. Although they can be somewhat unfair, Moria for example will send his shadow bats, and his own shadow to attack you and there seems to be no way of avoiding them. Likewise you must fight Don Krieg and Captain Kuro at the same time, which can be an incredibly frustrating fight unless you level up your skills. Each character has a series of skills they can learn which range from button presses to motion controls (or a waggle) and special moves which have different effects for each of the characters, most of the key moves from the series are intact although i've not unlocked them all yet I doubt any of the ridiculously destructive moves are present as they might break the game. Brooks moveset seems a little dead though, but then so is he! SKULL JOKE!!! YO HO HO HO!!!... *clears throat* Uhh, sorry.

Fortunately as I intended to spend most of my time adventuring and exploring, i've not yet become tired of collecting and producing items, and having just unlocked the fishing rod (because i'm a dunce and missed it earlier haha!) i'm having a blast and would reccomend the game to fans of the series and/or fans of action/adventure games, however if you don't know the series at all you may not get some of the jokes, and may find some of the character interactions a little odd, especially the villains the game gives them no introduction and you are expected to know who they are. 

I've been meaning to play this for the longest time, it's been reccomended to me by almost every JRPG fan I know and the opportunity has arisen to play it multiple times but until now i'd never made the leap. When it reared its head for 400 points, with achievements on XBLA I snapped it up with the points remaining after (the dissapointing, imo) Fallout 3 DLC Point Lookout.

At first glance the game seems unplayable by todays standards, even the games "How to Play" section that XBLA games are required to have gives you no information about an of the different skills or items, or how to navigate the menu system or other useful hints. However, this has often been the case with JRPGs in particular, they can be rather punishing and it is often something their fans (including myself) relish on occasion. So I stuck to it, I loaded up an FAQ so I could see what all my new skills did (because the game doesnt tell you) and I marched on through the first few dungeons.

I have to say so far i'm enjoying myself quite a lot, for such an old game the animations and sprite detail are quite high, the enemies are interesting and incredibly varied, and the storyline is quite an interesting one, i've been spending a lot of time levelling up as I find it quite therapeutic so as a result i'm finding the game rather easy, although having gotten used to not seeing them (last game I played with them was Lost Odyssey) random battles are beginning to fray the nerves a little, which is odd as I quite like them. Though, not when exploring.

The game features a large variety of characters and skills, and as a result offers a large degree of party customisation, unfortunately each new character you gain begins at level 1, so you have to spend a long time levelling them up if you wish to use them.

For 400 points, i've already put something like 10 hours into the game and even if I don't finish it i'd say it was well worth the cash and having enjoyed it so much I now intend to put some time into other Genesis/Mega Drive RPGs I missed (Which would be all of them except Shining Force II)

I've played a handful of other things this week, Point Lookout for example, some more HD Remix/SFIV, and some Bully: Scholarship Edition (which i'm also enjoying, but doubt I will go back to now i'm enjoying these two so much) but none of them I felt compelled to write about. So how about you, what are you enjoying this week? Or not enjoying?