My Hero Academia: All's Justice was provided by Bandai Namco for review. Thank you!
My Hero Academia is a great anime series. Following the adventures of Midoriya and Class 1-A as they become heroes, and learning how to master their quirks, is so entertaining, and it makes sense why it's so popular. There have been a couple of games so far in the My Hero Academia universe, and soon, another one will be joining the fray. My Hero Academia: All's Justice evolves on what the previous games have done, adding some new elements, tons of original content, and a huge roster that makes this feel like a must-have for fans of the series.
The one thing I never felt was lacking in All's Justice was content. It felt like there was something waiting around the corner for me to try out. With Story Mode, we follow the final battle between the heroes and Shigaraki, Team Up Missions brought me into a virtual world to experience a unique storyline created for the game, Archive Battles allowed me to play through the biggest battles throughout the series, and Hero's Diary lets us play through some original mini stories from those in Class 1-A. We also have the usual free battle for offline 1v1/2v2/3v3 fights and online combat, but I loved how much original story content there is, especially with the great voiceovers.
Even when all of that content is finished and done, there is still a wealth of customization options for each character, ranging from costumes and victory poses to voice lines and banners, and even some UI elements during battle. The amount of customization to make our extensive list of playable characters look and act the way we want to is just wonderful. I spent a good chunk of time making almost everyone look different. It is a little unfortunate that some characters have significantly more options than others, but it makes sense for the most popular characters, like Midoriya and Bakugo, and not others like Present MC and Seiji Shishikura.
Throughout all of the game modes, we will primarily be taking part in combat. Fights are on a larger 3D field, with combat that feels more strategic than most other anime fighters I have played. Instead of button mashing and just straight attacking until the opponent's health goes away, we will have to utilize an assortment of different moves and special actions like counters and boosting up using Rising.
As I mentioned in my preview, I really enjoyed this change to the usual loop. It felt like I had to think a couple of steps ahead for every attack I was going to use, as well as watch the enemy and anticipate their next move. The only other fighting games that make me think this much are the more technical fighters we see in esports tournaments, like Tekken and Street Fighter. Seeing this in a 3D arena fighter was quite nice.
I also like the feel of each fight in All's Justice. It doesn’t feel like we’re sitting on the ground using different combos to knock each other back-and-forth. There are a lot of moves that will bring us into the air, and we will need to adjust our next move accordingly. The verticality and importance of managing it are a nice touch and a welcome one. And with every character feeling unique with their own quirks and general move sets, I felt like there was a lot to learn.
The game also expands upon how we interact with the other members of our team. Most fighting games where we put together a team have assist moves and the ability to swap out, but All's Justice goes a step further. Continuing combos by swapping to our team quickly is easy and intuitive, and if we have enough of our ultimate "Plus Ultra" bar, we can use our team's moves as well. It not only makes each teammate we select more important, but thinking about how we can maximize damage by using our team is a common thought that I welcomed with open arms.
However, I did feel like some of the fights and CPU mechanics bordered on unfair or ridiculous. And some of the bigger fights in story mode, and in Team Up mode, enemies can have armor that we have to destroy before we can do some real damage to them. When attacking the armor, foes will not flinch and can attack you while you are mid combo, as they will not react. I dislike these kinds of mechanics because I can feel like enemies are able to stop any momentum that I might have. There were multiple times in these fights where I just had to give up and try again later because I was frustrated from not really being able to deal damage to them, while they were just picking me off fully open and attacking me mid combo.
The fights where we are taking on multiple enemies at the same time were another stain I wanted to be rid of. There will be moments where we have to fight multiple enemies at the same time, and some of these can be very annoying. This happened multiple times in different fights, but there’s one egregious example of the issue that sticks in my mind. I was fighting three versions of TWICE at the same time, and they have this move that can string you up and stop you from moving for a couple of seconds. I was constantly hit by this move over and over, with some periods of not being able to move lasting over 10 seconds. It happens so much that the time limit runs out, and I lose the battle. In these kinds of battles, it’s very easy to get stuck and be attacked multiple times. There are ways to break out of it, but even still is very easy to get sucked back into it. If I had a choice, I would avoid these fights like the plague.
Still, I wouldn’t say that I was turned off from the combat entirely. It felt great in the one-on-one fights, and I really enjoy the general feel of combat. These are little nuisances here and there, but I wouldn’t say it. The tracks from the experience were too much, to the point where I would put down the game completely. But these are points where I did get frustrated and had to take a moment to collect myself.
Now, combat is going to be the main gameplay mechanic we encounter in every mode, but there is a little bit of variety when it comes to how we get there. While story missions are more direct, Team Up missions have a little bit more to them. Here, we will run around the city, using our quirks to get around faster, completing an assortment of missions. Well, we can just go to the main missions and complete the chapter; we can’t find any side quests (or Urgent Missions) to complete. Some of these will give us assist characters, which can augment and increase our attack, defense, and healing. In a way, it feels a little bit like a rogue, like element, as these missions are optional, but can make us more powerful during the chapter. It’s nice to have the option. It can feel a little tedious from time to time, since if we want to heal up, we have to go to a store or pharmacy to heal ourselves, but it’s not as egregious as I’ve seen in other open-world games.
The only other gameplay element here that could be considered different would have to be heroes and diaries. While some of these personal chapters, if unique stories do involve combat, some of them include different challenges. These can range from something as simple as finding cats around a playground, to using Minoru Mineta’s balls to climb a building as fast as we can and get different checkpoints on our ascent. It’s not groundbreaking, but it is nice to have some variety, even if it is just a little.
As much as I was hoping My Hero Academia: All's Justice would be playable on the Steam Deck, like other anime fighting games, it just never stays stable enough to enjoy. Even on the lowest possible settings, there will be fights in stages that will dip below 30 FPS, sometimes even going into the high 10s. It's definitely not a game I recommend playing on the Steam Deck at the current time. Is it playable? To some degree yes. But enjoyable? Definitely not.
My Hero Academia: All's Justice is filled with original content and new ideas that work quite well. I enjoyed the amount of single-player content we have, along with the enjoyable stories with Team Up mode and little bits here and there with Hero's Diary. The vast amount of characters and a great amount of customizability keep me coming back to play more, even after I finished the stories. There are some mechanics in fights that can make it frustrating, but it wasn't enough to stop me from playing completely.
Unfortunately, the Unsupported rating from Valve is accurate here, and I can't recommend playing the game on the Steam Deck. The constant drops, even on the low settings, make it a worse experience overall when trying to play portably, so I would stick to more powerful handhelds and desktop PCs for this one.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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My Hero Academia: All's Justice is the best My Hero Academia game yet with a fantastic roster, but its difficulty spikes can be a frustrating nuisance.
