"Ya yo, ya yo ya yoooo uh ohhhhhh, hooray for One Piece!" There are times I can actually sit down and enjoy an episode of this goofy pirate action show, even with a hero having arms and limbs that stretch beyond speakable means. Likewise, I indulge in a little bit of brawling from time to time with Grand Battle for the GameCube, which I gave a glowing review to last year. But, dare I say it, even a boiling kettle has to cool down sometime. The show's slightly lost some energy, and, oddly enough, so has One Piece: Grand Adventure, a follow-up that arrives not even a year after Battle.

It's not like the game sucks, by any means. It introduces a highly stable fighting engine similar to that of Capcom's Power Stone games, where characters freely move around 3-D environments and use their own fighting techniques and a variety of weapons to beat their opponent. No, the problem is that we've seen this engine before, and to only see a smattering of improvements kind of left it with a slightly stale feeling.

The game's not completely lacking in new features. To Gunbarion's credit, it did include a new Adventure mode, where you start off as Monkey D. Luffy (the main character) and maneuver from island to island in your pirate ship, beating opponents and completing other mini-games. As you continue on your quest, new members join your team, and you can choose particular members and teammates in different quests, all tying in to the legendary One Piece treasure.

The Adventure mode is drawn out pretty well, and I like the idea of moving around islands to get to objectives. But this also leads to way more repetition than I would have liked. One island has a bunch of goons you beat up, and then you go to another island and fight a single baddie. Move about, fight. Move about, fight. There is the occasional event that breaks it up a little bit, like racing or shooting, which is nice, but mostly it's about how quickly you can fling about your weapons and limbs in a short amount of time. Even then, some combos stretch a little too far, leaving you wide open for an enemy attack. This area could've used less monotony and more variety.

There are some new characters introduced in the sequel, both playable in the main roles and secondary. By summoning them as secondary characters, they assist you in battle and brawl with opponents while you try to keep your concentration on the main foe. This leads to some unpredictability during fights, but it also points to another problem that Gunbarion failed to address- multiplayer. The game is fine when you have two players, and the amount of strategy with the secondary characters and various items scattered in the area can change the results pretty damn quickly. But, really, a game like this is built for four players, guys. Count with me now- ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR. This is why Power Stone 2 succeeded the way it did. The more, the merrier.

Otherwise, the game plays fine. Along with the Adventure mode, you can also engage in Grand Battle, where a series of modes are at your fingertips. You can practice with various characters as you unlock their super moves, combos, and grab attacks in Training mode; challenge a number of foes in one shot in Arena mode; or just head right to Versus mode and get into a typical brawl. The options are nothing new, but they're welcome when you have a good fighting engine like Grand Adventure has. Still, not much has changed about it, aside from the ability to play as new characters. It would've been dandy to see some super move evolving or even some counters.

The presentation seems a bit recycled as well. I guess the logic of using an already-working engine got considered, but some touching-up would've done wonders. The graphics are relatively close to that of the show, aside from a touch of slowdown here and there. The character animations and cel-shaded looks will please anime fans, but more facial expressions would have been appreciated instead of just "open mouth, close mouth, wink". As for sound, the orchestral music fits right in with the TV soundtrack, but some of the voice samples get annoying, especially if you hear the same one eight or nine times in a match. How many times must Zolo say, "No good!" before you realize that he misses an attack? Of course it's no good.

Your need to put One Piece: Grand Adventure in your game library relies on whether you already own Grand Battle. If you already picked up that game, you're not missing much here, aside from the Adventure mode and some new faces. However, if you're a die-hard anime fan or, on the other hand, haven't bought a One Piece game yet, Grand Adventure deserves some consideration. What it fails to provide in originality and four-player options, it delivers with some unpredictable fighting and an above-average presentation. I just hope that Gunbarion goes all out for the third round. Remember, guys, count to four.