Parents' Guide to My Hero Ultra Impact

While the battles in this game can be repetitive, there's plenty of things to do to keep players busy. The storyline in My Hero Ultra Impact doesn't feel like an afterthought, and it presents some solid themes, including developing stronger self-esteem and being loyal. The plot involves Izuku Midoriya, who grew up wanting to be a hero but was born without a special Quirk power. When he tries to save a friend from being captured by a villain, Izuku's idol, a superhero named All Might, shows up to help and tells Izuku because of his act of bravery, he actually can become a hero. The boy then trains and begins to fight, facing off against new enemies and old foes, including a schoolmate who used to insult him.

The fight scenes have been designed to maximize drama -- characters yell, sink into a fighting stance, and charge toward their opponents. Players gather a team of characters whose special abilities will work well together, and select what order the characters will strike in. Despite the initial intensity, once the battle begins, though, players simply choose moves and watch the fight play out as each side takes its turn. There are different types of quests, which are basically series of battles you can attempt to power up your characters and advance. That's a nice element, since it lets players volley back and forth between the missions if they get bored or stuck. But there are a lot of game aspects to learn and remember. The tutorial doesn't go into depth about all of them, and while hints that appear as battle scenes load, that content often disappears too quickly to be read thoroughly. Fights aren't too difficult to figure out, but the battles stars to feel a little repetitive. At least characters reach new levels fairly regularly, though, and at least initially, My Hero Ultra Impact offers a fairly fast-paced experience -- and doesn't place much of an emphasis on spending real-world money -- which may convince people to keep playing.