Heroes and Villains Among Us.
I know nothing about manga or anime, so it comes to no surprise that I had no idea what ‘My Hero Academia’ was before playing ‘My Hero One’s Justice’. The new 3D fighter is based on the apparently-popular manga series which debuted in 2014. It takes place in an alternate version of Japan where most people have superpowers called quirks. This leads some to become heroes while others try their hand at being villains. The story’s protagonist Izuku is neither as he has no superpowers – that is – until the world’s greatest hero ‘All Might’ sees his potential and enrolls him in a hero-training academy.
Price: $59.99
Platforms: PS4(reviewed), XB1, PC
Story woes
My Hero One’s Justice has a Mortal Kombat-type campaign that has the player playing as different characters throughout a narrative. Unfortunately, those who know nothing about the manga’s characters and background will have no idea what’s going on. The characters, along with their motivations and relationships were continuously befuddling to me. Names and places are thrown around like they’re common knowledge while story related subtitles appear during gameplay, which will go largely unnoticed in the heat of battle. It’s a lot of reading and not in a presentation that makes it easy to follow along.
Luckily the actual fighting during the campaign was enjoyable enough. Trying out the various characters and learning how they work was fun, as was getting better with the characters I was enjoying the most. Switching up characters is no problem due to a very accessible control scheme that is also universal across the roster. The moves for characters are different obviously, but the inputs remain consistent.
Chaotic Combat
The action is very fast-paced and twitchy due to the ability to instantly lunge towards the opponent from any distance, at a fast pace. This frequently creates situations where characters are fighting and dancing around in the air, which was a new type of fighting that I hadn’t experienced before.
Blocking and dealing damage fills a meter which can fill up to three times. Meter can be spent, resulting in an amplified ability that will either consume one, two, or three meters, to the player’s discretion. While it’s not a tag-team fighter, in many instances the player can choose 2 other characters who can help out during a fight in the form of low damage attacks that can interrupt the opponent.
The arenas are surprisingly destructive, and even when it doesn’t look fantastic, it’s crazy and stylized enough to add to the experience. Much of the destruction is a result from launching enemies into walls, which will sometimes have them bounce off and sometimes leave them pinned into them for a short time. Both of these leave open opportunities to perform extended combos.
Wrap-up
Between the story, other single player missions, local play, and online play, there’s a lot there, but not enough depth in the gameplay or hooks in the progression to keep the interest of the average player for long. The absence of a comprehensible campaign is the chief disappointment though, because if I actually grew to like the characters and world, everything else around it would have an extra shine.
My Hero One’s Justice is not a poor offering, just a thoroughly uneven one that only the hardest-core Manga fans will be able to immerse themselves into. I enjoyed the fast-paced, accessible fighting with an art style that looks great in action, but everything around that gameplay leaves things to be desired.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
