One Piece: Burning Blood
By Marc Saltzman,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Brawler offers fun, but complex, mature story.
Add your rating
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this game.
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
One Piece: Burning Blood
Community Reviews
Based on 1 parent review
Good for fans of One Piece
What’s It About?
While the story is difficult to follow, ONE PIECE: BURNING BLOOD is a new Japanese fighting game for multiple platforms. Based on the One Piece franchise, which tells of a band of pirates who face off against evil, this over-the-top anime and manga brawler lets players choose from a huge cast of more than 40 playable pirates (and 60 supporting characters) and select from many solo, multiplayer, and online game modes. Variety is one of the hallmarks of this game. Fighting consists of melee attacks, such as punches and kicks, traditional weapons, such as spears and swords, and magic attacks including the ability to set enemies on fire or blast them with an ice blast. The game looks like an anime cartoon, but you don't have to be familiar with the animated One Piece television series, or cast of characters, to play this game.
Is It Any Good?
This fighting game is fun, but it's not appropriate for young kids due to its loads of mature content. If you forgive the convoluted story, the game has many interesting and well-balanced fighters to choose from, so a good chunk of your time will be going through trial and error with each to see what they're capable of during battles. The many tutorials and simplified controls means it's easy to pick up, even for novice gamers. The multiple game modes are worth calling out for the same story being told from different perspective in the Paramount War Mode, as well as the ability to rack up bounties in the Wanted (Versus) Mode, to fight against a sibling or friend beside you in Free Mode, or to log online to battle others in Online Mode. And it's not just for solo fighters, either, as you can join a pirate crew and battle for territory against other crews in Pirate Flag Battle Mode. New downloadable content (DLC) will add even more material to this game.
Along with a hard-to-follow story, the game's artificial intelligence (A.I.) isn't the best. Therefore you can often figure out what the fighters are going to do and easily defeat them in the single-player mode. But overall, fans of fighting games and anime/manga -- and especially those who like the One Piece franchise -- will enjoy working their way through the meaty One Piece: Burning Blood.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in the game. Does the over-the-top, cartoonish nature of the fighting make the violence any less influential to your behavior?
Discuss the values of friendship and working as a team. How can people with diverse backgrounds and talents come together to form bonds of friendship and overcome obstacles?
Game Details
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita , Windows , Xbox One
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Bandai Namco
- Release date: June 20, 2016
- Genre: Fighting
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Sports and Martial Arts , Friendship , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires , Pirates
- ESRB rating: T for Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco, Violence
- Last updated: March 16, 2020
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
Where to Play
Our Editors Recommend
Anime TV for Teens and Tweens
Best Action Games for Kids
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate