As far as video games go, few are weirder thanOne Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows. Of course, for fans of the anime, there’s a good chance that’s the reason for picking up the controller in the first place. But for all the charm, absurdity, and fan-service found withinOne Punch Man,there’s an equal amount of flaws to drag it back down to earth.
The real beauty ofOne Punch Manis the character customization, which gives players control of both looks and fighting style. While options are limited at first, making most look like an average NPC, the game adds a fair amount of diversity in the early hours, leading to a lot of varied heroes out in the wild. That leaves heroes feeling pretty unique, almost as if they could naturally fit into an episode ofOne Punch Man,depending on how players choose to build out their looks.
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Players are also free to switch out their fighting style at almost any point, with the only restriction being during a fight. The styles are fairly varied in terms of aesthetics, with some being a traditional foot-and-fist method of combat, while others utilize psychic powers or machine blasts. However, they all play pretty similarly, with only some slight variations in distance or timing.
While it’s disappointing, this is largely out 0f necessity, asA Hero Nobody Knowsfeatures a large and fairly randomized roster– fromS-Rank heroesto nobodies.Mortal Kombat 11-style combos that are specific to individuals would be almost impossible to master, though more variety between fighting types would’ve gone a long way.
That lack of variation becomes a major problem, as combat inA Hero Nobody Knowscan get pretty stale rather quickly. Plus, the combat itself often feels clunky and out of rhythm. Characters are constantly getting knocked down, where they are, for the most part, immune to damage for about four seconds before hopping back up. That would be fine, but it seems to happen every ten seconds or so throughout a match, constantly interrupting the flow.
As players fight, they steadily generate action points, which allow them to use super moves. These moves can be tailored to the player’s own taste, and offer more variation than anything else in the game, at least in terms of looks. Some are simple buffs to damage, while others are devastating power attacks, which can quickly whittle an opponent’s health bar down to nothing if performed correctly. These attacks are usually fairly easy to block or dodge, frequently leading to some frustration, but when properly executed they can mirror some of theOne Punch Mananime’s best moments.
Players will get the opportunity to fight some of the series' iconic foes, with creatures like Carnage Kabuto and Vaccine Man making an appearance. During these fights, players will regularly be tasked with holding out for Saitama or some other powerfulOne Punch Mancharacter. As his superhero name implies, Saitama is capable of defeating enemies in one hit, andA Hero Nobody Knowsremains true to that. However, Saitama isn’t that present in the story. He shows up for some key fights and cutscenes, but isn’t around all too often besides that.
After reaching a certain point in the story, players canunlock Saitamafor free battles, which are one of the more entertaining aspects of the game. In addition to Saitama, other iconicOne Punch Mancharacters join the roster, allowing for quite a few different combos of 3v3 battles.
Saitama is a special character, and players can choose whether or not to actually allow him to be picked. Even then, Saitama has an absurdly long countdown timer before actually being able to join in onmultiplayer battles, though that can be whittled down by performing well during a fight. Still, that usually means the fight is over before Saitama ever gets there.
There is a healthy dosage of absurdity scattered inside ofOne Punch Man’sfights, which the game’s most enjoyable aspects are derived from. Frequently, players will find themselves fighting against humanoid horses wielding variations of bats, metal pipes, and other melee weapons while meteors or giants threaten the battlefield. It’s all very strange, but in a lot of ways, that weirdness is what makesOne Punch Manso charming.
The story itself is fairly underwhelming. It’s mostly a way to sherpa players between fights with some loose narrative sprinkled in between. There are a few cool cutscenes and interesting moments, but it’s largely stuff that fans have already seen in the anime. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it would be nice to see a few more original pieces of narrative scattered throughout.
Largely, players will only be doing one of three things at any time– fighting, customizing their hero, and performing NPC quests. NPC quests typically involve running around the city and talking NPCs, which is just about as boring as it sounds. There will occasionally be some witty dialogue, but beyond that, it simply serves as an easy way for players to up their contribution points, which helps them progress to the next story mission. The English voice acting is also a special type of horrendous, and players will likely want to switch over to Japanese audio as soon as they get throughOne Punch Man’s opening cutscene.
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Without its strange charm, there’s nothing to separateA Hero Nobody Knowsfrom other fighting games. In fact, that charm is the main thing the game has going for it. There are other, better fighting games based on anime out there, from the relatively poorly receivedJump Forcethat at least boasts better fighting mechanics,to the more recentDragon Ball Z Kakarot.But for all thatOne Punch Manlacks in fluidity and grace, being part of theOne Punch Manuniverse makes the game worth experiencing for fans of the franchise.
The groundwork of a solid game is there– even if those roots mainly have to do with the character customization and world design. Mechanically, the game isn’t anything special, far from it, in fact. But that may not be why players are here in the first place. For those that simply want to experienceOne Punch Manas a part of the narrative, there’s no better alternative thanA Hero Nobody Knows,even if it would fall apart were it not forOne Punch Man’s recognizable heroesreminding players what universe they’re in.
One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knowsis available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
