There is a term used in Japan to describe the bevy of licensed anime and manga games released every year: "kyara-ge," an abbreviation of "character games." The term carries some negative connotations, since it's generally presumed that the quality of the game itself will be subpar compared to its non-licensed peers. But as kids who grew up with classic series reach adulthood and get jobs developing games themselves, there have been marked improvements in kyara-ge: when you have genuine affection for a licensed franchise, you feel a lot vested in the quality of the product. It's still exceptionally rare to find kyara-ge on the level of something like Batman: Arkham City, but these games are often at least mildly enjoyable--a category that Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers falls into nicely.

Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers is a one-on-one 3D fighting game based on Saint Seiya, a Japanese anime and manga franchise that began in the mid-'80s. Many kids growing up around that time period, especially from France, Italy, and Latin America, have fond memories of Knights of the Zodiac, which had a following comparable to that of The Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in North America. Previous Saint Seiya games have actually been localized and released in several of these territories--including a Warriors-style PlayStation 3 action game--but this is the first time Namco Bandai games has released a Saint Seiya game in English.

Fights against human foes are considerably more fun, simplistic as they are. You can use characters and variants you've unlocked through story mode, as well as customize your characters with status-augmenting orbs you can purchase with currency earned in-game. Online play supports both player and ranked matches, and features fully functional lobbies for the latter. The game features a staggering number of character and costume choices, many of which are unlocked in-game, though there is plenty of downloadable content for devoted Saint Seiya fans to download and add to their collections.

There's no denying that Saint Seiya has had more effort put into it than a run-of-the-mill licensed anime game. It expertly captures the look and feel of the '80s anime, and gives fans the means to feel like they are in control of a hyper-powered character launching all manner of crazy attacks. And once you've got a fair number of characters unlocked, you can have simplistic fun going up against other players. But with its limited depth, Brave Soldiers can't hold its own against more technical fighters on the market, and the tedium and lackluster presentation of the story mode won't give anyone who's not already a fan of the series much of a reason to become one. But if you were one of those kids who grew up with this series--or perhaps discovered it many years later when the English editions finally began rolling out in the early aughts--then you'll find a lot of nice fan service to enjoy here.