Good single-player experiences in fighting games often feel like a lost art, typically limited to basic arcade modes or thin story offerings. While some recent titles like Tekken 8 show promise, this crucial element has largely been on life support. However, my recent hands-on time with My Hero Academia: All’s Justice at Tokyo Game Show revealed its ‘Team-Up Missions’ as a potential game-changer, offering the exciting and robust solo content that fighting game fans crave.
A Virtual World of Heroics, Not Just Fights
What truly sets All’s Justice apart is its unique approach to single-player. It features an entirely original narrative, developed in close collaboration with the manga and anime creators themselves. This engaging story unfolds within a virtual reality program, but don’t expect just a series of isolated brawls. This game encourages active exploration of its virtual world, allowing players to dive into side quests and simply soak in the vibrant atmosphere, which proved just as compelling as the intense fighting sequences. Let’s begin our tour through this exciting VR experience.
My heroic journey kicked off with Izuku ‘Deku’ Midoriya and Toshinori ‘All Might’ Yagi exploring the VR world of Team-Up Missions. We quickly received a distress call from Mei Hatsume, who needed our help with a Nomu whose programming had gone haywire. This sounded like a perfect job for a superhero! After a brief tutorial battle against the glitching Nomu, the rest of Class 1-A arrived to support Deku. From there, I was given the freedom to tackle more missions and explore the world at my leisure.
One of the most refreshing aspects of All’s Justice is that you’re not constantly being shuffled from one map marker to the next for the sole purpose of fighting. In fact, Deku and I soon found ourselves delightfully sidetracked. While we were ostensibly training with All Might, Ochaco ‘Uravity’ Uraraka called, urgently needing assistance. I zipped over to her, utilizing Deku’s unique Quirk for agile traversal. Each hero’s Quirk isn’t just for combat; it’s also essential for navigating the environment. Deku, for example, can swing through the city like a certain wall-crawling hero. Upon arrival, I discovered Uraraka was helping a distraught little girl find her lost cat. Immediately, the game had me charmed! The cat was perched precariously on a rooftop, and while Deku’s ‘definitely not web-slinging’ is fantastic for getting around, it wasn’t quite suited for a quick, direct rooftop rescue.
Thankfully, these are Team-Up Missions! A quick character switch to Uravity, a swift use of her anti-gravity powers, and I was airborne, soon reuniting the beaming little girl with her adorable feline friend. Producer Aoba Miyazaki emphasized that these kinds of interactions are crucial to capturing the true essence of My Hero Academia. While battles are undeniably important, the series also focuses on high school students learning the broader meaning of heroism – and that includes being present in the world and genuinely helping its inhabitants.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Superteam in Action
With the cat safely returned, it was time to get back to training with All Might. This essentially involved a heroic game of ‘Hide and Seek,’ where we completed tasks assigned by other Pro Heroes to gather clues about All Might’s location. The game truly let us loose, and not every task involved a fight.
Rest assured, All’s Justice is still a robust arena fighter. If you’re familiar with the genre, you’ll find classic elements like basic combos, unblockable attacks, character-specific special moves, a powerful ‘Rising’ mode, and spectacular ‘Plus Ultra’ ultimate attacks. You can even tag in your partners mid-combo for devastating team attacks when you absolutely need to decimate an opponent. The combat is incredibly fun, even when I found myself desperately mashing buttons against Endeavor, yelling ‘It’s fine!’ when it was most certainly not fine, before ultimately clinching victory.
Beyond combat, the game offers a refreshing variety of objectives. In one instance, I had to race to the top of a building against the clock. Ochaco couldn’t simply float straight up; we had to strategically use buildings as stepping stones. Each character brings unique traversal options to the table: Froppy can climb walls with ease, Bakugo can use his explosions for boosts, and Koda can even communicate with animals – a power I bet would be incredibly useful for finding more lost cats!
The world is also filled with engaging side missions involving both other heroes and ordinary citizens. During one stroll through an alley, a random villain decided to pick a fight. Let’s just say he chose the wrong neighborhood that day! I launched him through a rack of bicycles – a recurring theme, it seemed. Deku and his friends are heroes, but they’re certainly a menace to local bike shops, at least when I’m at the controls.
Becoming a Superhero in a Living World
The game world also features buildings where your team can heal between battles. Miyazaki mentioned that for those seeking a greater challenge, there are dedicated ‘challenge gyms.’ Interestingly, the main story map and the Team-Up Missions are seamlessly connected, allowing you to transition between modes just by exploring. She also revealed that completing the Team-Up Missions unlocks two additional modes: ‘Archives mode,’ where you can relive iconic fights from the series, and ‘Hero Diaries,’ which offers a glimpse into Class 1-A’s activities outside the anime, mirroring the freeform nature of the Team-Up Missions. The initial Team-Up Missions alone were charming, so having more unlockable content is a fantastic bonus.
Eventually, we tracked down All Might himself, leading to an epic showdown. I entered this battle with only Deku and Uravity against the formidable ‘Big Bad Booty Daddy’ of My Hero Academia. Things began poorly; a misjudged tag-in resulted in All Might catching both characters in a devastating combo, wiping out two-thirds of my health. I immediately activated Rising mode to cling to life, slowly chipping away at his health. At critically low health, I landed a perfect hit, chaining it into a tag combo that culminated in a spectacular Plus Ultra attack, delivering the finishing blow on the very last hit. It was an exhilarating conclusion to my time with All’s Justice.
My experience with My Hero Academia: All’s Justice left a strong impression not only with its fluid combat but, more importantly, with its dedication to crafting a world where players truly embody the role of a hero, not just a fighter. Much like real life, being a superhero isn’t solely about battles; the moments between the action truly matter. The cast of My Hero Academia isn’t just a collection of Quirk-wielding pugilists; they are students learning to be responsible heroes, and sometimes, saving a cat is the most heroic deed of all.