One Piece Mansion

Pros • Lots of little ambient animations • Never-ending challenge	Cons • The graphics • The music • Mechanics seem more a chore than a game
Bottom Line If it were currently 1993, One Piece Mansion would hold a place of honor among action-oriented puzzle games: It ain't; it don't. It’s a Manager’s, Manager’s, Manager’s, Manager’s World FYI: For supreme irony, there's no version of "It's a Man's World" quite like that sung by Johnette Napolitano; it's hard to get out of your head...and in any case, it's a damn sight better than listening to the aural fare provided by One Piece Mansion, an eclectic and relentless puzzle-game that puts players in the unenviable shoes of an apartment building manager charged with maintaining harmony between his various tenants.

OPM players are presented with a cross-section view of an apartment complex; each apartment's occupant is visible, along with his/her habits and, more importantly, the effects of said habits on any adjacent neighbors: Quiet, lovey-dovey tenants will exude peace and love to surrounding neighbors, while other weird, noisy or otherwise jackass-intensive occupants will give nothing but hassle and general stress to those around them. Such effects on neighbors are not normally symmetrical to begin with (The Love may emanate in only certain directions, while other directions may receive only aggravation), so you'll have to constantly monitor the effects of each tenant upon his/her neighbors, and rearrange their accommodations accordingly by instantly switching the locations of occupants. In addition--just like in real life--certain residences have a tendency to explode when their Stress levels reach a certain point, said detonation fundamentally altering the entire arrangement. And, just like in real life, you’re given the opportunity to queue up new prospective tenants to move in, with an eye toward their particular habits and likely effects upon the extant neighbors.

All this is happening in real time, you understand, with the stress-levels of your various tenants building to critical mass the entire time. In addition to the mere tenant-swapping duties, you have the ability as manager to freely roam the halls of your building, blowing the whistle (literally, blowing a little whistle) on members of a marauding crime syndicate prowling the corridors of your building and making mischief for your more-respectable tenants.

Graphically, One Piece Mansion is extremely old-school, and at a glance might look like one of your favorite less-crunchy SNES titles. The less-than-brilliant graphical presentation isn't the problem, though--the problem is, the raw mechanics of the game are simply quite the logistical chore, with very little chance to even sit back and enjoy the otherwise-entertaining detail animations which might lend some humor to the game; even the Story mode, with its operatic tale of a kidnapped sister, brings no vibrancy to the experience. Oh sure, if anybody tells you OPM isn't challenging, don’t let them walk away without a limp...but once you've kicked their butt, you might not want to celebrate with a rousing session of One Piece, you know what I'm saying?

Only the most determined, squinty-eyed action-puzzle enthusiast veterans need bother here--if you prefer your action-puzzle fix a little more lighthearted, check out Capcom's Toki Tori for the Game Boy Color; a bird in the handheld is worth two in the...apartment complex...yeah...

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