For Newbies And Die-Hard Fans Alike, My Hero Academia: All’s Justice Is A Great Deep-Dive Into The Series

I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve completely missed My Hero Academia. It seems like it’s right up my alley, a fusion of the kinetic Dragon Ball and One Piece-style action that I love, fused with the superhero genre that’s always captivated me. However, for one reason or another, I’ve put off jumping into the manga and the anime alike, waiting for it all to come to a close so I can just burn through it at my leisure. I might be more invested in doing that run-through now than ever, thanks to My Hero Academia: All’s Justice.

ComicBook got to take part in a preview event for the game, testing out all the ways My Hero Academia: All’s Justice brings the bombastic action and colorful charm of the hit series to the world of gaming. With strong gameplay and a focus on revisiting the entire breadth of the franchise’s story that doesn’t get too lost in the weeds, All’s Justice is a lot of fun for fans and newbies alike.

Combat Is Key In My Hero Academia: All’s Justice

With combat a key element of My Hero Academia: All’s Justice, it’s a good thing that the primary fighting gameplay is strong. During the preview session, we got to play through a few chapters of Story Mode, explore the city in Team Up Missions, get some interesting backstory content in Hero’s Diary, and test out the standard 1v1 VS mode. The actual combat All’s Justice is the right balance of simple and deep, with a focus on giving players plenty of tools to utilize in combat — but leaving it up to them to determine how to approach it. The wide roster of fighters each comes with their own unique move sets and powerful abilities, although a consistent focus of the combat seemed to be rooted in keeping opponents on the back foot and using precise blows or strategic dodges to get them into position.

The combat arenas were typically fairly large, allowing for a good deal of movement and repositioning in the urban environment. Dodging an attack by quickly moving behind cover was quietly thrilling, especially if you could follow it up with a surprise attack that caught the enemy off guard. Likewise, going into a full barrage was rewarding, with the chipping away of basic attacks replaced by showy blasts that decimate characters. The movement and combat mechanics, key to the overall experience, are tight enough to be consistent across characters but with enough fluidity to fit various approaches.

There’s a consistent sense of weight to the characters even as they take flight or deliver punishing blows, a crucial element in games like this to keep the combat from feeling too airy or light. While some of the side missions in Team Up suffered from glitches, the actual combat mechanics that make up most of the experience were consistently tight and enjoyable. Whether the combat be in 1v1 match-ups or complicated by additional allies or enemies in Team Up Missions, the gameplay of All’s Justice is very impressive and flows incredibly well with the tight graphics.

Learning To Be A Hero

My Hero Academia: All’s Justice comes as the series is wrapping up after a decade of dominating the world of anime, serving as a recreation of the series, thanks to a story mode that goes from the very beginning to the concluding chapters of the adventure. Part of the way the game approaches this status as a love letter is by indulging in plenty of storytelling opportunities, whether that be Team Up Missions, highlighting character dynamics through unexpected missions, or the Hero’s Diary that reveals never-before-seen lore dumps. This approach is great for hardcore fans looking to revisit the series or for franchise newbies who want to learn more about the series.

Especially as someone who had missed out on My Hero Academia, these little asides were great windows into the world, doing a lot of great work helping charm the player and endear the characters to them. Team-Up Missions that require exploration of the city are also entertaining showcases for the characters, with a focus on character interactions. These missions do feel a little limited by the format, however, with the traversal mechanics for Izuku Midoriya especially feeling like a fun riff on Spider-Man’s web-swinging that never quite comes together.

Still, it’s hard not to have fun while playing All’s Justice. While all the deep cuts and references might have gone over my head, the game’s open approach to recreating the charms of the original storytelling makes it all very easy to fall into and embrace wholeheartedly. With strong enough core gameplay to justify a deep dive into the world of Midoriya and the rest of his fellow up-and-coming heroes, My Hero Academia: All’s Justice is a fun experience that will appeal to fans who love the series and to gamers curious about the entire experience.