My Hero One’s Justice 2 wants to be the definitive way to fight heroes and villains from the My Hero Academia anime. It mostly succeeds, but the game struggles to balance spectacle with control. Players get big, bold fights and a roster that covers most of the show’s cast, but the systems underneath often feel loose and unfinished.
Trailer, via BANDAI NAMCO Europe.
The Story Mode
The campaign follows the original story of the anime, letting players step into the shoes of Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, and others as they face off against the villainous League of Evils. It’s a competent retelling, but it leans heavily on cutscenes rather than letting the player characters talk to each other in meaningful ways. The pacing drags in the middle chapters, where the game spends more time showing scenes than letting players fight.
Battling Heroes and Villains
The core fighting system is built around superpowers, and it works best when players are allowed to chain combos and use their hero’s signature moves. Each character has a distinct set of abilities tied to their Quirk, and mastering those chains rewards careful timing. Matches against the game’s villain roster tend to be the most exciting, since the computer opponents are built to punish careless play and force players to adapt.
The problem comes when the game tries to manage large-scale battles across multiple characters. Some modes let players switch between heroes mid-fight, but the transitions can feel awkward, and the game doesn’t always make clear which character is being targeted during team attacks. That confusion can break the flow of a fight that otherwise looks spectacular.
Performance Across Platforms
| Platform | Performance Notes |
|---|---|
| Stadia | Runs smoothly online but can suffer from input lag during matches |
| PS4 | Frame rate drops during busy fights |
| PC | Best performance, though loading times can be long |
| Xbox One | Same frame rate issues as PS4 |
The game performs best on PC, where the frame rate holds steady even during chaotic fights. On PS4 and Xbox One, the frame rate dips noticeably when there are too many characters on screen at once. Stadia offers a solid online experience, but players report more input delay than on the console versions.
Where It Falls Short
The biggest complaint is the lack of polish. Menus can be slow to load, and some camera angles during fights don’t follow the action well enough to show what’s happening on screen. These aren’t fatal flaws, but they add up over a long play session.
Multiplayer modes are limited, and matchmaking can take a while to find a suitable opponent. The game also lacks a strong reason to return once the main story is finished, since the side content doesn’t offer much beyond replaying the same missions with different characters.
Final Word
My Hero One’s Justice 2 captures the energy of the My Hero Academia universe, but it never quite delivers the tight, responsive fighting that would make it stand out among other superhero games. The story mode is a decent recap of the show, and the fighting is fun when it works, but the rough edges keep it from greatness.
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