One Piece: Pirates' Carnival

Kids probably won't mind much, and they're definitely the target audience here. Pirates' Carnival isn't spectacular in any one sense, but the solid mini-games and well-used license are enough to put it near the top of the distinctly uncompetitive party game genre.

With more polish and a wider variety of mini-games, One Piece would make an excellent addition to any party. Unfortunately, it falls just too short of its mark to appeal to any but the most die-hard of One Piece fans.

If you and your friends are fans of the series, as popular as it is, Pirates Carnival would be a great way to kick back and have a friendly competition with each other. Those who are not familiar with the series or are a little older may not find the premise or even the gameplay itself all that interesting and not quite the party they were expecting.

The board game concept is novel, and perhaps with a few less randomization events, it could have been more engaging, but with AI that's absolutely relentless on the upper settings, mini-games that fail to deliver the basic premise on the first play-through, and a general sense that things were rather slapped together, Pirates' Carnival lacks the kind of fun you'd expect when you put those two words together.

Despite cramming in a respectable amount of licensed material, weak minigames and a plodding pace mean this ship bilges on its anchor.